[USCC] Composting & PREVENTING Foul Odors

[John A. Crockett]

This morning I got the following as part of an e-mail from a new friend:

"they (referring to a composter using AgBag, composting food residuals) have
a huge facility on a road I used to live on. I'm afraid that the neighbors
aren't as enthusiastic about it as the consumers are...the stench in the
summer is hideous and the huge trucks that come and go on a small country
road all day are really awful."

I believe that, We, as the composting industry, have a responsibility to
society and our environment, to compost without releasing foul odors or
endangering ground water quality.  

If anyone has cross section profile oxygen and CO2 data from passively
aerated windrows that shows oxygen levels in the center > 10%, and active
bacteria population > 5.0E+8, per gram, dry weight, I would like to see the
data, and is it replicated.

It was over 13 years go that I got my first set of oxygen and CO2 meters,
and very quickly my meters convinced me that passive aeration by convection
does not provide enough oxygen for the aerobic microbes to work up to their
potential, that full time forced aeration is vital, 24/7, and full time does
not mean on/off, intermittent, it means on, all the time, adjusting the rate
of air flow to maintain oxygen > 17% without too much cooling.

I've also learned from our hands on research that the off-gas from early
stage food compost, the way we pre-process, the feedstocks we use, must go
through our Dynamic Bio-Filters to remove the foul odors.  While there may
be claims that keeping the oxygen > 15% will prevent foul odors, my research
has consistently shown that even when oxygen is maintained > 17%, that we
need to bio-filter.

Our own experience with our Dynamic Bio-Filters is that they work best when
we turn the medium at least once every other week, re-hydrating as
necessary.  With our technology, the cost is zero, because it is an integral
part of our managing our compost, to provide the microbes with the best
working conditions that we know how to provide.

So, the bottom like is:  We have the tools to prevent foul odors, and we've
got to use those tool, so that neighbors are not subjected to foul odors
from our composting operations.

Working Together to Create a Sustainable Environment,
John A. Crockett, a.k.a. Dr. Mike Robe
Mother Nature's Farms
(845) 225-7763
http://www.magicsoil.com/
jac at magicsoil.com