[USCC] Urine-soaked Cardboard

[Cary Oshins]

The term "certified organic" in the US is reserved for food and fiber, so
compost cannot be certified.  Rather, compost can be "approved for use on
organic farms" which is done by certifying agencies. In fact, manure (and
the resulting compost) does NOT have to come from an organic source. Compost
does have to meet time and temperature standards.

To answer some of the other questions:

> 1) If I soak cardboard in hog urine and let it compost, will it result in
a balanced fertilizer? Will it be considered organic?
It is unlikely to be a "balanced fertilizer" using just those two sources.
Is it really just the urine or is it swine manure, which is very high
moisture? The only way to know will be to do a trial batch and have it
analyzed.

> 
> 2) If I feed only cardboard to worms, will the worms provide the Nitrogen
and whatever else to make it a balanced fertilizer?
Worms not add nitrogen. They also find ammonia toxic, and swine manure is
high in ammonia.

> 
> 3) How much does weight change during composting? Will a ton of cardboard
yield a ton of compost? 
Typically you lose about half the mass.

> 
> 4) If I don't wash the ink off of cardboard boxes before composting, can
it still be called organic? What if they are processed through worms?
Most inks were detoxified in the 80's and 90's and are not a problem.  There
were problems with Boron toxicity form compost with high cardboard content,
but I don’t know if that is still an issue.  Again, try it and let us know!
  

____________________________________
Cary Oshins
Assistant Director of Programs
US Composting Council
 
Celebrate International Compost Awareness Week, May 3-9, 2009
For more details go to www.compostingcouncil.org/programs/icaw/
Help support our industry. Become a member today!!!


-----Original Message-----
From: compost-bounces at mailman.cloudnet.com
[mailto:compost-bounces at mailman.cloudnet.com] On Behalf Of Edo McGowan
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 9:30 AM
To: compost at mailman.cloudnet.com
Subject: Re: [USCC] Urine-soaked Cardboard


A complex question, this--------"Will it be considered organic?" To be
effective commercially, one would need a lot of hog urine and thus that most
probably would come from a CAFO. But then considering how hogs are now
raised in these large crowded operations, one needs to know what is in that
feed stock (urine) besides urine. There may be large amounts of antibiotics
within the urine, some interesting pathogens, and hormones. Would the
average fastidious purchaser of certified organic really want this and can
you guarantee that it is totally removed or degraded by the composting? The
other is a technical question of antibiotics being there in the first place
and how might that affect the definition of "ORGANIC"?

Rufus Chaney, well-known in the compost science field, noted--------- "It is
clear that many antibiotics are
readily biodegraded during either anaerobic digestion or composting of
manure and biosolids. But not all are so rapidly biodegraded."

Thus from a marketing perspective, it appears that this "But not all are so
rapidly biodegraded" adds considerable complexity to the potential claim of
organic in the customer's mind and could have a back-lash in the market.

Dr Edo McGowan


> From: woundedegomusic at gmail.com
> To: compost at mailman.cloudnet.com
> Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:13:59 -0500
> Subject: [USCC] Urine-soaked Cardboard
> 
> Can anyone tell me...
> 
> 1) If I soak cardboard in hog urine and let it compost, will it result in
a balanced fertilizer? Will it be considered organic?
> 
> 2) If I feed only cardboard to worms, will the worms provide the Nitrogen
and whatever else to make it a balanced fertilizer?
> 
> 3) How much does weight change during composting? Will a ton of cardboard
yield a ton of compost?
> 
> 4) If I don't wash the ink off of cardboard boxes before composting, can
it still be called organic? What if they are processed through worms?
> 
> Thanks so much.
> 
> Bill Ross
> billross @t woundedego (dot} com