Top quality compost from Big Hanna is used by Val-de-Marne departement, France

The ‘Val-de-Marne departement’ is one of the three departments that form a ring around Paris. Val-de-Marne decided in 2014-and 2015 to convert their food waste to compost and installed two Big Hanna composters – one model T120 at their Technical department office area and one model T240 at the school Lycée Adolphe Cherioux. In the Big Hanna composters food waste from the canteens are composted. The produced compost has been analyzed and reaches the result NFU 44-051 (click here). The compost is being used in parks and gardens in the department and also in many growing trials.

At my visit in beginning of October Mr William DESCAMPS Charge of projects at Délégation générale au Développement Durable and Mr James THEBAULT (Conseiller technique) in Val-de-Marne departement gave me a guided tour at the installation in their Technical department.

Compost from Big Hanna being used in Lasagna Bed

The technology they are using in their trials is called ‘Lasagna bed’ and of course it is the lasagna that gave the name to the ‘Lasagna bed’, layers on layers on layers on layers…

It is a technique of putting layers of brown waste (straw, leaves), green waste (mowing grass) and compost, which could fertilize a soil.

When using the ‘Lasagna bed’ technology in their different trials the compost comes from Big Hanna. The compost is stored in compartments like the one in the photo after discharged from the Big Hanna.

We visited the test site at Valenton Technical department and the results are very promising showing that the Lasagna beds with the compost from Big Hanna are giving plants extra nutrition. The pictures below show a hazel plants, the one on the left has ‘normal’ soil and the one on the right is planted on a lasanga bed. As you see in the picture to the right it is both higher and much more vigorous.

Another study – Ebipol, by UPEC, Université Paris-Est Créteil

The Ebipol scientific experiment done by was started in 2014 (see video) and on my visit I saw the pictures from this study – very impressive! Flowers were planted on ‘Lasagna bed’ with Big Hanna compost, as well as on sterile soil – ‘Terre Nue’ and on topsoil ‘Terre Vegetalisee’.

De första slutsatserna visar en mycket större utveckling av plantor på odlingslotten med en „Lasagnebädd”. Lasagnebädden fungerar som ett kraftfullt naturligt gödningsmedel. Som kan ses på „Terre Vegetalisee” och „Lasagna bed” -bilderna, hjälper det också till att förhindra utveckling av ogräs.

As you can hear in the video (in French) this project aims to reactivate the biological activity of soils using building embankments or inert soil from deep soils, recovered during construction sites in Greater Paris. ‘If we spread inert soils on urban wasteland in a layer of one meter and we add a ‘Lasagna bed’, we are generating a new fertile soil, explains Philippe Mora, professor at the UPEC. The introduction of earthworms facilitates the process. They favor the degradation of the vegetable matter and will incorporate the lasagna bed in the soil by plowing it.’

This is an on-going project which will be under observation for five years in total.

First Big Hanna installed at a Zoo, the Akron Zoo in Ohio

The Akron Zoo in Ohio, United states of America installed the first Big Hanna composter to be used at any zoo or aquarium in the world earlier this spring. The Big Hanna will make it possible for the Akron Zoo to divert 47 tons of organic waste away from landfills.
“It represents a great example of the sustainable practices happening in our community and is a clear demonstration of our conservation mission in action,”
Doug Piekarz

president and CEO, the Akron Zoo

On April 23:rd this spring there was an inauguration of this exiting project at the Akron Zoo. The Big Hanna is installed in a newly built building that holds a skylight for natural daylight and a passive solar wall to help heat the building in winter and lower the temperatures in the summer.
The Ohio EPA and Summit ReWorks worked together with the Zoo to help fund and plan the project and now they can start compost. In the composter Akron Zoo will mix food waste and animal waste generated at the Zoo together with absorbent material like wood shavings, shredded straw and sawdust. The finished compost will be used on the Akron Zoo premises for soil amendment in flowerbeds.

Susteco AB is proud to be a part of Akron Zoo Green initiatives. On Akron zoo’s website they write about how they implement green practices in their work and what they have accomplished so far.

https://www.akronzoo.org/green-operations

“We believe that being “green” is a process of decision making at all levels of the organization; it is not a destination that we will ever arrive at. Sustainability requires constant adjustment, change, and improvement as new opportunities, practices or technologies are developed. We began our journey two decades ago with the formation of our Green Team. Since that time we have achieved many successes and work to continuously expand our sustainability efforts in a myriad of ways.”
Our distributor EC ALL Ltd can give you more information about Big Hanna installations in the United States of America.
www.ec-all-ltd.com
sales@bighannausa.com

More information about the Akron Zoo, www.akronzoo.org

Articles about this project:
Cleveland.com
Ohio.com

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