From sludge to soil - circular economy
Our Altogether team got a first-hand sniff at how ‘sludge’ – read: sewerage – collected from our recycled water communities is converted into a nutrient-rich, low odour product, called Biomix.
After being collected by Veolia the sludge is taken to the Loop Organics Ravensworth Compost Facility in the Hunter Valley. Here it undergoes a process of aerobic composting (meeting strict requirements) to turn it into something that can be added to soil to grow crops and rehabilitate former mine sites, reducing the need for traditional chemical fertiliser.
Loop Organics has a small, but passionate, team with a broad depth of experience from farming and agronomy to environmental science and chemistry as well as operators and truck drivers.
Loop Organics Regional Manager and local farmer, Matt Brown said: “Imagine a community where organic by-products are responsibly returned to the earth to produce bumper crops, that grow more food for us to eat… in a continuous loop!”
“Our collaborations with innovative, sustainably minded organisations – like Altogether Group and Veolia – deliver positive benefits to people in our communities and to the environment, leaving a lasting legacy which we are all incredibly proud of”.