Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic produces compost of the highest quality – without using a grinder

Mar 30, 2017

Mendel University in Brno is the oldest independent specialized university in the Czech Republic. Its history dates back to 1864 when the first attempts were made to found an agricultural university. Today it has five different faculties; AgriSciences, Forestry and Wood Technology, Horticulture, Business and Administration and Regional Development and International Studies.

In November 2015 the company Elkoplast, partner and reseller of Big Hanna, placed a Big Hanna model T120 on the Mendel University premises to serve he university’s canteen. The canteen serves meals to students, university employees as well as the public and sits 250 guests. Each day the kitchen produce between 60-80 kilos of left overs and other organic waste which is put into the Big Hanna and turned into compost.

The Big Hanna is installed adjacent to the kitchen under a protective roof and the kitchen staff put waste here five days a week. The T120 is equipped with a screw conveyor to feed the waste into the composter and a 40L container where the finished compost is being kept to stabilize and mature. A user friendly touch screen panel with internet connection and an operating program monitor the composters internal process and temperature in real time and make it easy to survey.

Big Hanna composter Here is a picture that shows the rotating cylinder and how the movement feed the compost towards the outlet and then into the container. The space between the outlet and container should always be completely sealed, but here we want to show how it actually works.

 

 

This is how the compost from the Mendel University looks like. This model has no grinder since the waste is either finely chopped or consist of cooked food. Instead the bacteria do all the job and do it well, as you can see the compost is of very high quality.

 

 

Read more about the university here www.mendelu.cz/en/

Read more about our distributor in Elkoplast in Czech Republic here: http://www.elkoplast.sk/katalog/odpadove-hospodarstvo/kompostery-big-hanna

Read more about Big Hanna and our models here: www.bighanna.com

Seborga – a small town with a large environmental commitment

Feb 28, 2017

Seborga is a small municipality in the Liguria region located in the northwest part of Italy, right on the French border. Liguria, like many other Italian regions, has been struggling with a number of difficult issues surrounding waste management and long transports. But there are also success stories, like the one in Seborga. The small municipality with 320 residents has since 2013 completely rearranged its waste management, and by 2015 they managed to recycle as much as 72% of their organic waste. It was four times as much as the year before and the positive trend seem to continue.


Switching to a sustainable system

By installing a Big Hanna T120 and investing in local composting Seborga chose to take their environmental concern and commitment seriously and begin a change over of its entire waste management. The transition began in 2013, and relatively soon the municipality managed to take care of all their organic waste and thus avoid all their former costs for transportation and disposal. Instead they reduced their total waste management costs and gained a valuable by-product they use in municipal green areas.
 
Organic waste per month during 2016:
2016
ORGANIC WASTE
January
    898.90 kg
 
February
    744,10 kg
 
March
    825,61 kg
 
April
    792,84 kg
 
May
 1.089,00 kg
 
June
 1.617,46 kg
 
July
 3.009,86 kg
 
August
 1.627,37 kg
 
September
 1.182,20 kg
 
October
    952,15 kg
 
November
    888,90 kg
 
December
 1.092,80 kg
 
 
 
 
Total
14.721,19 kg
 

Pioneers in Liguria 

Enrico Ilariuzzi, Mayor of Seborga, is very pleased with the result of the change towards a more sustainable system.
   – We made careful calculations and work plans during several years and that work has led us both to decreasing costs and to lower fees. Furthermore, we have achieved important results in terms of recycling and sustainability.
   As the mayor’s assistant secretary, Lara Ficarra has followed the project closely. She has been responsible for following up the project and for quality checks and has only good things to say about the quality of the project and about the produced compost.
   – We are on the right track. So far, Seborga is the first municipality in Liguria that have implemented local composting of all the local organic waste, and to carry it out with the Big Hanna T120 has given us excellent results.
   Unfortunately, she has seen that the regional and national cuts at subsidies and other financial incentives has made it more difficult for municipals that want to change their waste management. But the cuts have also led to a new approach and the aim to optimize resources. As the economy strengthens in Italy and Europe, she believes that more regions and municipalities will be able to prioritize the issues concerning sustainability and recycling.
 
The positive results in Seborga have now also led to a shift to differentiated waste fees in the municipality. This is yet another positive step towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly waste management for the residents in the municipality.
 
 
Read more about Achab Group: www.achabgroup.it
 
Read more about Big Hanna and its composting machines: www.bighanna.com

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