CSR+ Urban Organic Recycling Project

Rich 

Thanks for the comments. We are primarily focussed on an organic disposal stream of 1000 kgs per week which would be something like a vegetable store or food preparation kitchen and up. Our focus is more industrial and commercial. An example of an application would be a food store, or health care provider (Hospital). There will be no requirement for waste trucks collecting any longer but just the collection of the worm castings, the ration being about 10:1 as output. We would suggest then using the worm castings near the client or a local urban farming application or golf course turf care. The excess could of course be sent to vineyard in Niagara Lake.

We had our process analysied by the Toronto Atmospheric Fund engineering consultant and some of their finding we posted in our project overview. We create no green house gasses as we are aerobic. When compared to the Green Bin I would suggest our process has several areas of GHG reduction. The first is we have No heavy trucks collecting waste at source. We do collect worm castings if not used by the operator of the system but the worm castings amount is 1/10 of the original. The Green Box program is trucked, passed through an anerobic process and then the discharge is moved again by truck many miles outside of the city. The end product of the green box program while called compost is something of low value due to heavy plastic contaminents. I can provide the full TAF evaulation but it clearly outlines a substantial reducing using the CSR+ Vermi organic waste recycling.

As part of our plan we have two areas of focus, the first is the installation of our technology at the point of waste creation this can be grocery stores, food processors, health care, schools, hotels etc. The second is organic recycling centres where organics can be taken that are still close to the point of collection, these would be conventional waste companies. 

Thanks, not only composted but transformed into a more valuable soil amendment. The efficacy of worm castings significantly outperforms compost. As an example worm castings contain 30+ trace mineral that were created by the worm gut. Additionally the worm cast is surrounded by a membrane secretion which makes the cast hydrophylic. Worm casts contain 5 - 9 times the amount of water than top soil and releases the water as the plant requires it. The use of castings in a growing medium mix germinates seeds more quickly, creates a healthier and intense root ball and more fruit or product per plant. From an income perspective where high quality compost produces an income stream of $35 per ton, worm castings demand $300 - $2000 per ton.

The project has two sustainability aspects. The first of course is environmental whereby we are using a process to recycle to organics back to a high value soil supplement i.e. worm castings. The second is the financial sustainable model and this can be divided into two areas. The first is the cost of disposing of organic material which is expensive. The cost has easily doubled in the past five years and will continue to become more expensive. For the client who purchases the unit for on site use there is an elimination of their organic disposal charges. An example might be a larger grocery store with an organic disposal cost of $50,000 per year (550,000 kg per year). After a 60 months lease to purchase where the lease is paid with the current waste disposal dollars the annual fee is eliminated. Additionally there is a worm castings product being produced which adds a second revenue stream. The other application would be someone in the waste business and in that scenario they have two revenue streams, one the taking of waste (tipping fee) and then the sale of the worm castings.

Toronto is unique in that we are very good at source seperating or material especially organics. What we are not so good at is the final disposition of recycling. Mort Source Seperated Organics from Toronto is trucked miles from Toronto to land fill, anerobic digestion sites or compost sites. Destination like Niagara Penisula, Welland, Ontario, London, Quebec and Boston. In some of these cases compost is created that is high quality and in some cases of lower quality. In all cases there is a huge carbon foot print in the moving of the product to the processing centres and increased if the process is landfill disposed or even compost. The best solution is to recycle the organics close to the point of creation with the minimum of footprint and use the output as a growing medium close to the point of creation.

Tyson

A comprehensive government policy is a good idea for new emerging green initatives. We see the recycling of organics much like the implemntation of the BlueBox programs 25+ years ago. At that time little was recycled but with the bluebox program waste diversion went mainstream. Communities found that what they were discarding previously now had a value. We believe the GreenBox or seperated organics will start to play a similar roll and as importantly. Previously discarded organics have a real value.

Lon

Thanks for that suggestion. We actually looked at two project site, one was an old transfer station mothballed by the city. In that regard we were assisted by a City Council but alas were a bit late as a developer has put a bid on the site. The second location was Downsview Park in conjuction with an urban farming extension of the park. This site is perfect because of its central location and the fact the park is already involved in sustainability projects. The Downsview project is still under consideration. We will take your suggest seriously however and explore other City opportunities

At the moment our focus has been commercial source seperated organics. The reason is its predominately clean and devoid of contaminents. If by greenbin stream one is referring to commercial, i.e. grocery stores, hotels, food procesors, vegetable stores, resturant then these are all possible organic waste sources. The greenbox from some municipalities may be useable but it depends on the contaminent mix. We are looking at organics and any supply that is heavy in plastic contaminents is not ideal. We are looking to recycle organics back to a useable agricultural product, and plastic contaminents cause issues. Small quantities of contaminets can be removed via the process but larger contaminents such as diapers etc are problematic. Within Toronto there is a massive supply of Commerical Soure Seperated organics in fact that is the largest source.

We agree with that position. Government can always help alternative solutions. In other areas governments have implemented a landfill tax. This was the driving force in Europe for the implementation of alternative solutions. Where the landfill disposal costs are low alternative processes are handicapped. There is discussions taking place for Ontario to implement a landfill tax which will be helpful. We are also assisted at the moment by the increasing cost of synthetic fertilizers. As these cost continue to grow alternative soil supplements like worm castings become a competative alternative.

You make very valid statements. Many years ago municipalities implemented the blue box program that became the norm here and around the world. We believe it's time for the greenbox program to take the same dynamic especially as food sustainability becomes more an issue. Recyling of plastics, paper, cardboard etc is important and also a revenue stream. The recycling of organics can become the same. Organics recycled into the correct form becomes an income stream and a valuable asset. The Greenbox is elivated to the same level as the Blue Box

Currently over 40% of what is grown is thrown away. To grow this produce required nutrients from the earth. In the past organics were recycled and returned to the ground to add the nutrients back. Modern day practises in urban areas where a large percentage of food waste is created started discarding the organics via landfill or incineration. More recently efforts have been make to compost the organic discards but generally these operations are far from the urban community. What is required is a method of recycling organic close to the point of waste creation and then further be able to produce an end product that can be used as a highly effective soil amendment close to the urban area. The CSR+ WormWorks unit and process addresses both those activities.

The recycling of organic into a useful soil amendment is a global issue. World wide we dispose of over 40% of everything we grow. If this was recycled into worm castings and used to enhance the world soils it would assist in eleveating poverty by providing low cost organic matter to increase yields.

One can make the case that a resort in a holiday destination could recycle their organics on site producing worm castings that can then be given to the local farmers. In turn the local farmers grow produce to be sold to the hotel. The hotel wins by eliminating their waste cost and they in turn support the local agricultural communisty