Managing green waste

Global warming is the biggest issue which confronts the world today and recycling on any form can only be encouraged. On Top Of That Municipal Park Managers, also face the double edge sword of how to manage green waste issues, and conform to stringent environmental regulations within tight financial constraints all at the same time, Calderdale council in West Yorkshire are proactively managing to find some solutions to this difficult and complex problem.

Calderdale Parks and street section have managed to go a stage further and attempt to collect and turn into useable compost 1000 tonnes of leaves collected on the roads around the borough of Calderdale.

The project has been simmering away for a few years with Mark Dempsey Parks and street Section Support services Manager who states” we initially had the idea after seeing a project in Epping, Essex where a Golf course was being top dressed with recycled compost, other influences over the years have been a visit to Sita’s processing area at Clifton Moor, Preston, an amenity sports trial set up by Bingley sports turf institute and seeing municipal compost production facilities in Voorschoten in the Netherlands”.

The Parks and street section have spent £130,000 on a capital investment to improve Calderdale park depots with schemes such as holding bays for materials used regularly in parks such as horse manure and green waste and address foul and contaminated run off leachates to sewerage and drains. Another significant breakthrough for the section was being allowed to use a facility at Milner road, Sowerby Bridge which was basically a concrete bund 20 metres by 30 metres and 3 meters high. Having this has meant that we can now start to process up to 1000 tonnes of leaf cleaning waste into compost, the process takes only 6 weeks to complete initially mixing leaf waste with woodchip at a rate of 4 to 1, stacking, turning and screening to remove large items of debris and litter contamination, temperatures of 55degree C have been recorded.

“We are already seeking to find alternative storage sites for the processed compost”, states Mark. Recycling Action in Yorkshire granted £20,000 towards the project. The compost material is going to be used in many different ways as end product with most being used as top dressing at two of Calderdale’s green flag parks at Manor Heath and Wellholme. Other uses include to establish wildflower planting schemes.

Calderdale Recycling