COMPOSTING

Discovery installs EARTH CYCLER composting machine

Discovery has installed Earth Probiotic’s locally developed and manufactured Earth Cycler food waste composting machine.

iscovery’s ambition is to be a D zero-waste-to-landfill site and this on-site composter will process food waste at 1 Discovery Place – Discovery’s 5-star Green Star rated head office in Sandton.

Installing the Earth Cycler composting machine not only demonstrates Discovery’s commitment to supporting local manufacturing but also puts actions behind the company’s stated “commitment to responsibly [manage our] environmental impact and [minimise] the use of natural resources in our business.”

A data-driven approach

In line with Discovery’s data-centric operational

approach, the Earth Cycler automatically

generates on-line reports that enable the company

to accurately track organic waste volumes

diverted from landfill and the environmental

impact, in terms of reduced CO 2 e emissions, of this composting technology. These statistics can

then be easily imported into Discovery’s sustainability reports.

“When we designed the Earth Cycler, we knew that accurate measurement and reporting were key. All businesses need to measure and monitor their impact in order to build effective environmental impact minimisation strategies. The Earth Cycler measures inputs and outputs and thus makes it easy to calculate the positive impact of an organisation’s food waste recycling activity. Being connected to these machines also enables us to check the performance of the Earth Cycler and deliver, like a Tesla motor car, software updates over the air,” notes Gavin Heron, director at Earth Probiotic.

Located in the recycling/waste area at 1 Discovery Place, the Earth Cycler is operated by waste management company Wasteplan’s on-site team.

Prior to committing to installing the Earth Cycler, the unit was on trial for just under a year. “The trial unit performed well, but we added input guidance metrics to enable operators to easily comply with the food and carbon input recipe,” states Heron.

Remote operations

As the Earth Cycler is an automated unit with remote management capability, it has worked well in this lockdown period. The composter can be operated by small teams and remote management has enabled the Cycler to be monitored off-site, thus assisting with social distancing requirements at Discovery.

In addition to Discovery, Earth Probiotic’s Earth Cycler automated on-site food waste composting machine has been installed by Standard Bank, FNB, Tsebo (at the Kusile power station), Philip Morris International, and at various lodges in Botswana and Zambia.