Innovative ideas drive sustainability: case studies on...
Transcript of Innovative ideas drive sustainability: case studies on...
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Innovative ideas drive sustainability:
case studies on land reclamation.
Dr Julie [email protected]
School of the Environment & Natural Resources,
University of Wales, Bangor.Co-workers: Mark Nason, Sue Tandy, Davey Jones, John Healey.
Presentation at ‘Recycling Organic Resources to Land’, Manchester, April 2007.
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EU LIFE -Environment funded project
TWIRLS – Treating Waste for Restoring Land Sustainability
www.bangor.ac.uk/ies/TWIRLS/TWIRLS_home.htm
Alfred McAlpine Slate
UPM Kymmene (UK)
Welsh Assembly Government
Soil Science Institute of Athens
Titan Cement S.A., Envar and United Utilities are also gratefully acknowledged.
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• Recycle organic and mineral wastes;• Add value to wastes by composting;• Produce ‘soils’ fit-for-use and safe;• Restore degraded land to economic, social or conservation end-uses; • Feed directly into Policy;
The TWIRLS partnership
• Engage with stakeholders.
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Why Recycle?
Waste MinimisationEurope produces around 2000 million tonnes of waste per year, growing by around 10% per year.
Soil ProtectionMore than 16% of the EU’s total land area is considered degraded in one or more of soil vital functions e.g. fertility, erosion control, water infiltration, microbial biodiversity and carbon sequestration. EU Thematic Strategy.
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Schist quarry, Kamariza, AthensSlate quarry, Wales
Former steelworks, Wales Former colliery, England
TWIRLS DEMONSTRATION SITES
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TWIRLS project Demonstration Sites (1)
Using municipal solid waste compost to restore a Greek hard-rock quarry to native pine forest.
Area: Parnitha National Park, nr Athens, Greece.
Site: Black schist quarry, at 1000 m elevation, owned by Titan Cement.
Problems: Low soil organic matter; Low soil water-holding capacity; Periodic water-logging due to compaction from trafficking.
Solution: Add organic matter using municipal solid waste (MSW) compost produced in Athens; Restore pine forest by planting nursery-grown Aleppo pine; Create loose-tipped mounds of quarry waste to minimise waterlogging.
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Demonstration Site 1
Waterlogged, quarried-out area Experimental layout
MSW – Fly tipping vs. reclamation Mounds reduced pine mortality by 25%
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TWIRLS Demonstration Sites (2)
Using composted green waste, biosolids & paper sludge for biodiversity conservation & short-rotation coppicing on a
brown-field site.
Area: Shotton, Deeside, N. Wales, near SSSI and RAMSAR site.
History: Steelworks established on reclaimed land in 1896. Closed in 1980s. Much of the site has been re-developed as Shotton Paper Mill, owned by UPM Kymmene (UK), but contaminated land remains.
Problems: Low soil organic matter;Low soil water-holding capacity;Contaminated (mostly with aromatic hydrocarbons).
Solution: Co-compost soil with organic wastes to remove or stabilise pollutants;Add organic matter to made land as composted wastes;Create biodiverse habitat by seeding with native meadow wildflowers;
Produce biomass crop on marginal land.
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Demonstration Site 2
Percentage PAH removal after composting and landspreading contaminated soil. Values represent means ± SEM (n = 6).
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
composted CS compostedCS+GW+BS
compostedCS+PP+BS
compostedCS+GW+PP+BS
uncompostedCS
Rem
oval
of T
otal
16P
AH (%
)
after composting 7mo
after composting &landspreading 16 mo
2005
2006
Contaminated soil
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TWIRLS Demonstration Sites (3 and 4)Using composted green waste, biosolids & paper sludgewastes to create acid heathland at a rural slate quarry.
Area: Blaenau Ffestiniog and Bethesda, Gwynedd, N. Wales;Surrounded by Snowdonia National Park.
History: Slate extraction for more than 200 years, now owned by Alfred McAlpine Slate; 730 Mt slate quarry waste in Gwynedd.
Problems: No soil or vegetation; No soil organic matter or plant nutrients;Low soil water-holding capacity.
Solution: Add organic matter and nutrients as composted wastes;Seed with heather and upland grasses.
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Demonstration Site 3
0
100
200
300
CP CPP CS CSP P
Compost
Bio
mas
s (D
W g
m-2)
Before landforming. Experimental layout of plots.
After landforming – 0.5M m3 moved. Compost plus slate sand was ‘best’.
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Demonstration Site 4
Broadleaf woodland restoration on slate waste.
Compared the effect on above and below ground biomass of NPK mineral fertiliser with an organic amendment of biosolids + paper waste matched in N.
Organic amendment resulted in greater tree growth and a more active soil microbial biomass than mineral NPK fertiliser.
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Site 4. Fertiliser effects on selected soil quality predictors 18 months after tree planting into slate waste.
Fertiliser treatment P
value
Semi-
natural
woodland
No
fertiliser
Biosolids-
paper mix
NPK
Microbial biomass mg N kg-1
21 a† 135 b 29 a < .001 137 b
Respiration mg C kg-1.h-1
0.40 a
3.29 b
0.44 a
< .001
2.63 b
Microbial diversity (Simpson's Index 1/D)
4.3 a
6.8 b
5.3 a
0.036
7.2 b
† Main effects labelled with same letter were not significantly different (P<0.05)
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Site 4. Compost manipulation for target species
Composts are neutral pH and high in available N and P;
Disadvantageous to slow-growing heathland species;
Industrial by-products were mixed with finished composts to modify properties to suit acid heathland establishment on slate waste;
Sulphur wastes and water treatment sludges containing iron hydroxide [Fe(OH)3] are by-products from petrochemical and water treatment industries.
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Addition of waste elemental sulphur (S0) to composted green-waste is an efficient method of reducing the pH (left) to approaching that of heathland soil whilst Fe(OH)3-sludge wastes bind phosphate solubilised by the pH change (right).
Rate of application of S (% DW)
0.0 0.3 0.5 1.0 1.5
pH
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Solu
tion
PO43-
-P(m
g l-1
)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
FeOH addition rate (g DW kg-1)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Soi
l sol
utio
n P
(mg
l-1)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65Green waste and biosolids compost, no sulphurGreen waste and biosolids compost, plus sulphur
Site 4. Compost manipulation for target species
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TWIRLS Satellite Sites• Woolley Colliery – managed by Envar. Monitoring the use of a single application of biosolids and paper sludge wastes to reclaim acid generating colliery shale to agricultural land.
• Farms in Flintshire & Cheshire. Monitoring the repeated use of paper sludge waste to improve arable farmland.
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In-Vessel Composting: EcoPOD® systemComposting is the process of stabilising organic matter.
Mixing feedstocks Filling pods
Aeration ductingTemperature probes for process control
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D uration o f com posting (days)0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Tem
pera
ture
(o C)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70 2 hours
2 days
Greenwaste
Greenwaste + paper
Deinking paper waste is beneficial in composting.
Adding paper waste to green waste results in better composting because it stimulates microbial activity, creating a longer thermophilic phase and better pathogen kill.
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Composting treated biosolids wastes is safe.Material E. coli CFU x 103 g-1 DW
By PAS 100 method 28 day composted paper fibre+biosolids
Below detection (Bd)
56 day composted paper fibre+biosolids+greenwaste
39
Paper fibre 150 Biosolids 230 Greenwaste 12,000
Salmonellae CFU
By PAS 100 method 28 day composted paper fibre+biosolids
Bd
56 day composted paper fibre+biosolids+greenwaste
Bd
Paper fibre Bd Biosolids Bd Greenwaste Bd Composts containing biosolids met critical human
pathogen limits using PAS 100 – specified methods.
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Summary
• Recycling organic resources/wastes to land is important for soil function -> is important for humankind;
• Land application must be done responsibly and underpinned by rigorous science-based knowledge;
• Organic wastes play a critical role in the reclamation of post-industrial and degraded agricultural land;
• Balanced organic wastes outperform mineral fertiliser in both plant and soil microbial biomass;
• Composting is a means of stabilising organic wastes for safe land application;
• Legislation can be a barrier to returning organic wastes to land and to innovation (…..discuss!!);
• TWIRLS Best Practice Manuals due out later in 2007.