COMPOST SA Return it to the Earth Industry Overview Still organic material is going to landfill and our soils are deficient of organic matter. Organic material is not a waste stream and is not suitable for landfill. It is a resource that South Australia can not afford to be sending to landfill and instead must be utilising it to rejuvenate our states nutrient depleted soils. COMPOST SA Return it to the Earth Industry Overview Compost SA shows that over tonnes of organic matter was processed and returned to the earth as a resource last year. COMPOST SA Return it to the Earth Greenhouse Friendly Organic Sources Recycled (2004/2005) Tonnes Recycled Benefit of Recycling (tonnes CO2 Eq) Equivalent trees planted for CO2 adsorption Equivalent cars off the road Food Organics Garden Organics Timber Organics Organics - other Total COMPOST SA Return it to the Earth Landfill & Alternative Waste Technologies Landfill is where material is buried & wasted in the ground. Organics are the most problematic material to manage in a landfill: - Severe greenhouse gasses (CH 4 ) are emitted - Significant Odour - Vermin - Leachate (contamination of groundwater) - Subsidence (instability) Along with Landfill, Alternative Waste Technologies (AWTs) are very cost prohibitive and would severely raise the cost of Local Government Waste Management. Along with Landfill, many AWT do not sustainably utilise the resource. COMPOST SA Return it to the Earth Sustainable Value of Compost - Water savings - Soil salinity levels lowered - Reduced crop disease & reliance of chemical sprays - Additional nutrient value & less chemical fertilisers required - Improved quality and nutrition of produce - Improved germination - Increased yield - etc COMPOST SA Return it to the Earth Cost of Visual Contamination Compost Roadmap recently showed that visual contamination is the single largest barrier and cost of processing domestic kerbside collected green organics The problem has a double negative cost impact: 1. Significantly increasing the cost of production and increase the OH&S risk to processing workers 2. Adversely affecting the value and applicability of the finished products COMPOST SA Return it to the Earth Contamination Costs Councils