I interviewed LCC's Sarah Temple on the 'Meet the tide' project which designed our current bin system. 'Meet the tide' is UAL's platform for students to engage in sustainable art and design, and is something which Sarah is involved in.
This is a condensed version of what she had to say:
"The bins were designed by a final year UAL student called Chris Morley who was discovered at his degree show, and asked to help create the branding for the 'meet the tide' project. This led to him creating the red and green bin system we have today. Although its interesting that a lot of people find the bins extremely ugly!
It's interesting that you talk about food waste and compost because there is actually a project in the making at the moment to build a sustainable 'colour garden' at LCC. A man named Gary Martin is in charge, and the idea is to grow things for their colour and to teach student about the natural dye process, using things like red onion etc.
There was also another group of LCC students a few years back who set up a project called 'food for good', where they would go round all the restaurants at the end of the day, and collect the leftover food, and take it homeless shelters.
Another place in London worth looking into is a Kings Cross Restaurant called Acorn House, and it claims to have 0% waste!
It sounds like a very interesting project and I hope you are able to get some good ideas!"
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Some more versions of lightbulbs!!
Here are some more versions of lightbulbs I did using the banana just to see if I could make a better one, or we could use the original...
info-graphics with a cause
I saw this on the creative review website and thought it was a good example of using info-graphics and posters etc to raise awareness.
Commissioned by the Nike Foundation in support of The Girl Effect, London design studio Accept & Proceed created a series of infographic flyposters and handouts that were distributed at the London Summit on Family Planning held two weeks ago...
A&P were briefed to create bold graphic materials that would get the attention of the attending politicians, policy makers and world leaders during the lunch break at the Westminster summit, and communicate to them some of the facts and figures that The Girl Effect organisation is set up to tackle.
As well as the flyposters, A&P also created physical data pieces including one which involved hundreds of dollar bills pinned to a wall and spray painted with the message that preventing a teen pregnancy costs $17 a year and saves $235 a year.
There was also an A2 folded data sheet (printed by PUSH) that contained the key infographics and messages:
Of course, how much effect A&P's graphic work had on the delegates can't be measured, but by the end of the one-day summit, over $2.6 billion had been committed to provide access to contraception to 120 million girls and women in the world's poorest countries by 2020.
Commissioned by the Nike Foundation in support of The Girl Effect, London design studio Accept & Proceed created a series of infographic flyposters and handouts that were distributed at the London Summit on Family Planning held two weeks ago...
A&P were briefed to create bold graphic materials that would get the attention of the attending politicians, policy makers and world leaders during the lunch break at the Westminster summit, and communicate to them some of the facts and figures that The Girl Effect organisation is set up to tackle.
As well as the flyposters, A&P also created physical data pieces including one which involved hundreds of dollar bills pinned to a wall and spray painted with the message that preventing a teen pregnancy costs $17 a year and saves $235 a year.
There was also an A2 folded data sheet (printed by PUSH) that contained the key infographics and messages:
Of course, how much effect A&P's graphic work had on the delegates can't be measured, but by the end of the one-day summit, over $2.6 billion had been committed to provide access to contraception to 120 million girls and women in the world's poorest countries by 2020.
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Wednesday, 21 January 2015
Type of Decomposition
I thought it would be good to look at the different types of decomposition side by side so that we could see what other aspects we could focus on.
Microbiology of decomposition- Is the study of all microorganisms involved in decomposition the chemical and physical processes during which organic matter is broken down and reduced to its original elements. Decomposition occurs when active microorganisms interact with carbon which is then realised as CO2 and Nitrogen (NH4) to be used as food for plants.
Decomposition microbiology can be
divided between two fields of interest:
1. decomposition of plant materials
2. decomposition of cadavers and carcasses. Fungi does not have much of a role in the breakdown of animal matter. There are 5 stages in the decomposition of animal kingdom. The whole process takes up to several months.
2. decomposition of cadavers and carcasses. Fungi does not have much of a role in the breakdown of animal matter. There are 5 stages in the decomposition of animal kingdom. The whole process takes up to several months.
- Corpse is fresh carrion flies and blow files lay eggs around the opening such as the ears, mouth and nose to allow easy access inside the carcass.
- bacteria inside the corpse causes it to break down. the carcass starts to swell due to the gases that are being formed in the absence of air, anaerobic decomposition.
- skin is ruptured which allows gas to escape and carcass then deflates. Larvae or maggots or flies consume the soft tissue. other predators like wasps and beetles arrive to feed on the fly larvae.
- only cartilage, skin,bone remains. different groups of files and beetles and parasites take over.
- bones and hair remain which is left to the mice and volts to consume.
From our Founder's Blog decomposition of cadavers and carcasses. Fungi has a very small role in the decomposition of animal matter, this is left to animals or bacteria. There are 5 stages of decomposition in the animal kingdom the process takes several months to complete. corpse is fresh, carrion files and blow flies lay their eggs in the openings such as the nose, mouth and ears to allow easy access to the inside of the cabacteria inside the corpse causes it to break down. the carcass starts to swell due to the gases that are being formed in the absence of air, anaerobic decomposition.
Composting in cities - San Francisco
One million tons: That’s the amount of compostable organic waste San Francisco has collected since its composting program began more than 15 years ago. But things really started piling up just three years ago, when the city mandated composting for all city residents and businesses. Today, San Francisco collects 600 tons a day as part of its overall effort to achieve zero waste by 2020.
San Francisco may have been the first major U.S. city to mandate composting, but it is no longer the only one. Curbside composting has experienced unprecedented growth over the last three years. There are now more than 90 cities with such programs, according to Bruce Walker, solid waste and recycling program manager for the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability in Portland, Ore. Portland launched its curbside composting program in October, joining the likes of Boulder, Colo.; Salem, Ore.; and Seattle, among other cities.
The motivation behind these programs is simple: maxed-out landfills. Americans generate 250 million tons of garbage per year. Before San Francisco started its composting program in 1996, a city study found that more than one-third of all waste entering landfills could be composted instead. Today, between composting and recycling, the city diverts 78 percent of its waste from landfills. When Portland launched its composting program, it cut back its weekly garbage collection to every other week. Customers just weren’t producing as much trash.
Ultimately, San Francisco and other composting cities have found that it is cheaper to compost than dump garbage, because it extends the life of landfills by saving space. Diverting food waste from landfills also reduces carbon emissions and the risk of potential groundwater pollution. Plus, the end product of composting can be reused and resold as fertilizer.Portland’s original pilot program, according to Walker, found that customers were “generating 30 percent less garbage every month.”
But curbside composting is likely years off for most municipalities. Most major U.S. cities still don’t even have curbside recycling programs. Nationwide, the recycling rate is only 33.8 percent -- 3 percent of which represents composting of food waste -- according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Portland estimates that its composting program cost about $1 million to set up -- most of which has been spent on education efforts explaining how and why to compost. Advocates say those efforts shouldn’t be overlooked: If residents don’t know why they should be saving organic waste, they’re far less likely to do so.
http://www.governing.com/topics/energy-env/gov-curbside-composting-added-to-major-city.html
An info-graphic at LCC on recycling
Infographic in the LCC canteen by the water bottle re-filling station. The illustration/graphic design nature of this info-graphic is aimed to appeal to the student audience.
Municipal Compost
Municipal Compost is compost made directly from organic waste, rather than for example compost derived from peat. It is often used as a 'soil conditioner' rather than a straight compost due to its high nutrient content. The process of making it helps keep organic waste from going to landfills and also produces useful byproducts - gas and heat.
‘My overall feeling is that if you can get municipal compost then it’s worth using it somehow. That might be as a straight soil improver, mixed (after sieving) with leafmould to make your own potting mix, or mixed with bought-in peat free to make a rich mix for containers. I wouldn’t recommend using it on its own in containers, unless you’ve done a test run and found it works (I think all gardeners should be having fun with their own trials, which would also help build a much clearer picture of how these ‘municipal’ materials are doing). Use it to complement other composts/materials because it helps reduce landfill and has a much smaller ‘footprint’ than say peat-based compost.’ - John Walker
‘My overall feeling is that if you can get municipal compost then it’s worth using it somehow. That might be as a straight soil improver, mixed (after sieving) with leafmould to make your own potting mix, or mixed with bought-in peat free to make a rich mix for containers. I wouldn’t recommend using it on its own in containers, unless you’ve done a test run and found it works (I think all gardeners should be having fun with their own trials, which would also help build a much clearer picture of how these ‘municipal’ materials are doing). Use it to complement other composts/materials because it helps reduce landfill and has a much smaller ‘footprint’ than say peat-based compost.’ - John Walker
How is municipal compost made?
Food waste and green waste from gardens – grass and hedge clippings, prunings – is roughly shredded (to a width of 400mm) and then mixed with a small quantity of compost activator (contains micro-organisms and enzymes to promote efficient composting). This mix goes into a large, enclosed tunnel. Fans under the floor, blow air through the waste. The pile heats up as it begins to decompose, and the temperature is carefully monitored with probes. It must reach 60 oC for at least 48 hours so that pathogens and most weed seeds are killed. After a minimum of one week in the first tunnel, it is turned and transferred into a second tunnel, where the process is repeated. This helps ensure that the materials are thoroughly and evenly composted. The compost is then transferred out of the tunnel, mixed with other batches (to help minimise inconsistencies between batches), and left to mature for several weeks. The final step is to sift the compost through a large drum – removing anything larger than 20mm.
The EcoPark in North London distributes 60% of the finished compost to agriculture, 40% to community groups and allotments. The normal delivery size is a whopping 15 tonnes, the smallest is 7 tonnes. Plans are afoot to introduce 1 tonne bags this year. This willl be a boon for smaller growing projects.
Recycling and compost scheme in Southwark (council scheme)
What happens to my food and garden waste?
The food and garden waste we collect from households and schools in Southwark is taken to our integrated waste management facility.
When enough material is collected it is transferred into very large lorries and taken to a composting facility.
Composting
At the composting facility, the following process takes place with the biodegradable waste:
- It is shredded to make the particles smaller and water is added
- it is kept at between 60-70ºC
- Air is added regularly for over about a week, as bacteria uses up lots of the oxygen
- After being monitored for pathogens, it is removed and put on open windrows where it is regularly turned for up to six weeks
- Finally, it is put through a large sieve to remove contaminants to make it suitable for use as an agricultural soil improver.
The soil improver is used for agricultural purposes. It enhances organic matter levels in soil and supplies essential nutrients for improving crops.
http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/533/waste_management_facility/2363/what_happens_to_my_food_and_garden_waste
Food recycling in Hackney
Our blue bin service makes it easy to recycle food waste in Hackney. Use our postcode lookup to find out your collection day.
We provide free compostable liners to make it easier to put your food waste out for collection without making a mess.
If you want to compost yourself, we offer discounted compost bins and advice on community composting.
In Hackney we throw away 18,000 tonnes of food every year. That's enough to fill London Fields Lido every week.
The cleanest, easiest way of dealing with this waste is to recycle it.
http://www.hackney.gov.uk/recycling-bluebin.htm#
These bins recycle vegetables, peelings, fruit, bread, rice, pasta, teabags, coffee granules, fish, bones, raw and cooked meat, egg shells and cheese.
They also use compostable bin liners.
A community composting scheme
EAST LONDON COMMUNITY RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP
Nightingale and Landfield Estates, Clapton, London
In 2004 East London Community Recycling Project (ELCRP) were making a name for themselves by regularly winning awards; in just one year they collected:
- Best Community Initiative at the 2004 National Recycling Awards
- Best Community Initiative Composting Association Awards
- Special commendation for partnership working and innovation at the Composting Association Awards
They rounded off the year by becoming the first community group to receive positive
release accreditation, from the State Veterinary Service, for their food-waste compost. In 2005 they were becoming media stars, featuring on Radio 4's Costing the Earth programme, the One o'clock News and in national newspapers.
Not just Food Waste Pioneers
release accreditation, from the State Veterinary Service, for their food-waste compost. In 2005 they were becoming media stars, featuring on Radio 4's Costing the Earth programme, the One o'clock News and in national newspapers.
Not just Food Waste Pioneers
ELCRP are applauded for their pioneering kitchen waste composting but they also have a green-waste composting project at Hackney Marshes amenity site, collect dry recyclates from the same estates as the food waste collections, run a second-hand/recycling shop and have a programme of gardening and landscape improvements. Just as importantly they create employment opportunities for the long-term unemployed and people with learning difficulties as well as providing valuable experience in community initiatives for volunteers.
Background
The kitchen waste project began 12 months ago in Jan 2004 as a trial, just six months after the Animal By-Products Regulations were published. With all the uncertainty as to how the rules would be implemented by the regulators, the State Veterinary Service, this was a remarkable and brave move.
Whatever the system chosen by ELCRP, it would seem difficult for it not to have been an improvement on the one incorporated into the estate when it was built. This consisted of chutes at the end of each landing area, leading down to very large 'paladin' bins in the basement of each building. It was meant to be efficient and convenient, in practice it was unreliable because the chutes often blocked, smelly because they were very difficult to clean and a health hazard because the accumulated waste in the chutes and bins attracted infestations of rats, flies and other pests.
The Residents - the critical component
For the system to be a success it would have to serve the residents well by being easy to use and understand and cause less problems than the existing system. The prospect of keeping your old food waste in your apartment cannot have seemed attractive, however, ELCRP got around this problem by using a fermentation system to arrest the inevitable putrefaction. The residents are supplied with a 10 litre bin with a sealable lid, corn-starch biodegradable liners and a small bag of 'Bokashi' (bran inoculated a strain of yeast). The sealable lid not only prevents flies and maggots entering the food waste, it also provides a good growing environment for the fermentation organism.
Participation rates, the number of people signing up for the scheme and receiving a kit and instructions, are as high as 85% in Seaton Point high-rise block, the lowest rate of uptake is still an impressive 55%. The high rates can be attributed to the work put into knocking on doors, meeting residents and explaining what the project was about i.e. basic but intensive interaction with the community. The Tenants Association's (T.A's) have been a critical factor; if any of the T.A.'s on the estates approached by ELCRP are reluctant to adopt the scheme, it is not taken any further. The first principle is that the residents want and have ownership of a recycling project rather than it being imposed upon them as another 'deprived area improvement program' handed down from on high.
Collection
There are two collection teams: Michael and Greg, collect the food waste, Phil, Henry, and 
Tracy (and her helper Martha) collect the dry recyclables. Because of the high density of the households, a suitable collection vehicle might have been problematic to a less resourceful and imaginative group. The "toys for the boys" in this case are supermarket trolleys, cunningly adapted for the food waste by the addition of stackable lidded plastic boxes. This is a radical departure from the high spec. plant used by many waste management facilities and needs very little in terms of maintenance, parts or training, resulting in a greater degree of autonomy and reliability.
Tracy (and her helper Martha) collect the dry recyclables. Because of the high density of the households, a suitable collection vehicle might have been problematic to a less resourceful and imaginative group. The "toys for the boys" in this case are supermarket trolleys, cunningly adapted for the food waste by the addition of stackable lidded plastic boxes. This is a radical departure from the high spec. plant used by many waste management facilities and needs very little in terms of maintenance, parts or training, resulting in a greater degree of autonomy and reliability.
Although the capacity of the "vehicles" is small, it is only a short trundle back to the depot, a small one story brick building with two yards: one for the dry recyclables which are bulked up and transferred to storage by milk-float, the other is home to a large shed containing the "Rocket" system in-vessel composter, the maturation bays and a range of wormeries.
The Kit and the Animal By-Products regulations
Life hasn't been made easy for anyone trying to get to grips with the Animal By-Products Regulations (ABPR), but the task was especially difficult for ELCRP because of the lack of affordable, approved kit. The chosen in-vessel system "the Rocket" has an extra heat input, whereas the intention of the ABPR was that the required heat be generated by microbial action. ELCRP, and the Rocket's manufacturers argued and had to prove that it was a precautionary measure. The large surface area of a small machine meant that the heat generated could not be retained as easily as a larger system. The heating element ensured that the food waste on the outside of the cylinder was not chilled below an acceptable temperature. The SVS guidance on the ABPR has since changed to include this, making it much easier for anyone following in ELCRP's footsteps.
The food waste, cooked meat included, is loaded into the Rocket and composted for two weeks. The correct nitrogen/carbon ratio is achieved by adding cardboard (which previously used to block the chutes) and wood chips. The mix is kept constantly at a temperature of 60°C and heated to over 70°C for 1h daily to ensure that the time and temperature requirements of the ABPR are met. It is matured in either New-Zealand type composting boxes or worm bins.
Full monitoring and recording of readings and batches are kept by Jane, the Compost Manager, in accordance with a HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) plan. These have to be submitted to the State Veterinary Service (SVS) along with results of pathogen testing to ensure safe processing and compliance with the regulations. There has to be a series of negative pathogen tests to prove consistency of method before ELCRP will be given full SVS approval but they are well on the way, having received permission to release their compost for use.
A better environment
Residents are talking of a Pied Piper effect, as a rat hasn't been seen on the Nightingale estate for over 4 months and even the foxes walk straight past the bins on their way to richer pickings. As well as this and the reduction of bad smells and flies, there has been a programme of landscape improvements carried out by the project. The low-rise old peoples block has had raised beds built, the soil improved with the green-waste compost followed by a planting scheme. A number of improvements have also been made to the hard landscaping to improve accessibility and safety, including new fencing and gates which don't impede visibility.
Coverage
ELCRP collect dry recyclables on Nightingale, Landfield and Beckers Estates covering 21, 000 households. Food waste composting is also happening on the same three estates and has now crept up to 1000 households taking part. There is now a workforce of 35 including Sonia the Senior Office Manager and Cam Matheson, the Project Manager, and a host of volunteers.
http://www.communitycompost.org/index.php/casestudies/66-elcrp
Recycling human waste
Tonnes of human toilet waste recycled to help put food on the nation's tables
Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of human toilet waste from London is being recycled to help put food on the nation's tables.
The raw sewage is turned into fertiliser, known as a biosolid, before being sold to thousands of farmers.
Thames Water converts 275,000 tonnes of 'wet sewage' from London treatment plants every year.The strictly-controlled organic process allows toilet waste to re-enter the food chain in an eco-friendly way.
Thames Water said demand for biosolids outstripped supply because the product is cheaper than chemical fertilisers.
The biosolids undergo a series of checks, including tests for the bacteria Ecoli, before being transported to farms in the Home Counties.
Current bin system at LCC
The bins at LCC which are currently separated into recycling (green) - paper/cardboard/cans; and all other waste (red). For this project we could propose to change the bin system by adding a third bin for organic food waste. We could use the same overall design of the bin and use a different colour to differentiate it - e.g. blue.
Small-scale anaerobic digestion
A small-scale biogas reactor or anaerobic digester is an anaerobic treatment technology that produces (a) a digested slurry (digestate) that can be used as a fertilizer and (b) biogas that can be used for energy. Biogas is a mix ofmethane, carbon dioxide and other trace gases which can be converted to heat, electricity or light. Small-scale biogas reactors are typically designed to produce biogas at the household or community level in rural areas. The airtight reactors are filled with animal manure from the farm. Kitchen and garden wastes can also be added and toilets can directly be linked to thereactor for co-treatment of excreta.
| In | Out |
|---|---|
A biogas reactor is an airtight chamber that facilitates the anaerobic degradation ofblackwater, sludge, and/or biodegradable waste (e.g. animal manure, kitchen and garden wastes). It also facilitates the collection of the biogas, a mixture of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) produced in the fermentation processes in the reactor. The gas forms in the slurry and collects at the top of the chamber, mixing the slurry as it rises.The pressure exerted by the rising gas can be used to transport the gas to the collection vessel or directly to where it is going to be used. The digestate is rich in organics and nutrients, almost odourless andpathogens are partly inactivated.
The produced gas can be recovered and used either directly for cooking and lighting or it can be transformed into heat in a gas heater system or into combined heat and power (CHP) in acogeneration unit (MES et al. 2003; JENSSEN et al. 2004; WRAPAI 2009).
http://www.sswm.info/category/implementation-tools/wastewater-treatment/hardware/site-storage-and-treatments/anaerobic-di
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