strategy
Recycling agricultural waste
Synonyms:
Managing farm wastesUtilizing agricultural wastes
Using agricultural wastes
Context:
Pigs are able to utilize only 50% of the feed they consume, the rest of which is returned as waste. In management terms this is considered a poor return on investment as well as poor use of resources. Implementation:
The Berrybank Farm piggery in Victoria, Australia, produces a daily average of 275,000 liters of sewage effluent with an organic solids content of approximately 2%. This compares to the sewage output of a town with a population of about 50,000 people. The waste management system developed at Berrybank Farm recovers all the waste and transforms it into various by-products that can be used on the farm, such as flush water for farming, gas for electricity, and fertilizer. The system is a seven stage process comprised of 1) automatic continuous collection; 2) grit removal; 3) slurry thickening; 4) primary digestion; 5) secondary digestion; 6) biogas purification; and 7) a co-generation thermic plant. Initiated in 1989, the waste management process of Berrybank Farm started producing electricity in 1991. Each day the farm recovers: approximately 7 tons of waste solids at 35% dry matter, to be used as fertilizer; 100,000 liters of recyclable water; 100,000 liters of mineralized water, used as fertilizer; and, 1,700 cubic meters of biogas, able to run a co-generation electricity program with a daily output of 2,900 kW of electricity. Broader:
Farming organicallyRecycling materialsRecycling organic wastesManaging local agricultural resources Narrower:
Recycling animal waste products Facilitates:
Reducing amount of agricultural waste productsReducing nitrogen and phosphoric pollution from animal production Facilitated by:
Marketing compost Problems:
Insufficient recycling of materialsInsufficient utilization of renewable biofuels
Organic wastes
Underutilized agricultural wastes
Values:
Wastage Organizations:
European Cooperative Research Network on Recycling of Agricultural, Municipal and Industrial Residues in Agriculture Subjects:
Societal Problems → WasteAgriculture, Fisheries → Agriculture
Agriculture, Fisheries → Farming
Management → Management
Economics → Resource utilization
Type Classification:
D: Detailed strategies Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
