WASTE MANAGEMENT IN ACTION – ORGANICS
Soil regeneration in the South West AFTER MAKING A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO STANDARDISE ITS EQUIPMENT PORTFOLIO, CAMPERDOWN COMPOST LOOKED TO KOMPTECH AND CEA.
With two slow-running drums, Nick Routson of Camperdown Compost says the Komptech Crambo effectively works through contamination.
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arwon South West – an economic rural region of Victoria that stretches from the tip of Queenscliff heads to the South Australian border – is home to a range of agricultural and forestry industries that generate significant volumes of organic material. As such, the Barwon South West Resource Recovery Implementation Plan highlights increasing organics recovery as a critical opportunity for the region. According to the plan, engaging with industry and cross regional collaboration to aggregate volumes of organics will open up significant economic and environmental possibilities. The plan’s assertions should come as no surprise to Camperdown
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Compost, which has been a leading supplier of composting solutions to farms in the region for over 21 years. Operating a composting facility five kilometres out of Camperdown, the company primarily services waste material from the dairy processing industry. To support the industry in which it operates, Camperdown works with farmers to develop biologically sustainable farming methods – whereby farms improve their waste management standards, recycle waste and create compost for soil regeneration. To grow its operations and continue restoring nutrients to the region’s soils, Camperdown has lodged a planning application with the EPA to increase its composting capacity from
23,000 to 50,000 tonnes a year. While the application is still under assessment, it’s one in a long line of efficiency moves for the company. After dealing with regular machinery breakdowns, Nick Routson, Camperdown Compost Director, says Camperdown made a conscious decision to standardise its equipment portfolio five years ago. “We were operating a variety of machines from different brands and they were constantly breaking down, which put strain on operator time, as well as the economic viability of process,” he says. The problem often came down to design flaws, Routson explains, with the Camperdown team regularly having to restructure machinery to make it stronger. After hiring a
