Festival season is underway in various countries around the world. In the last few weeks we’ve had some huge events, including Coachella in California. Things kick off in the UK next month before a busy summer and autumn. With all of these festivals though, it is good idea to think about what happens to all of the waste. Could it potentially do some good and become fertiliser? A project in Australia certainly thinks so. Let’s have a closer look.

National Folk Festival

The NFF is one of the most popular festivals in Australia. It’s an incredible event, welcoming tens of thousands of visitors every year to Canberra. In fact, it recently celebrated its 60th anniversary.

What makes NFF special is it has so much to offer. There are music and dance venues, community arts and crafts workshops, a bush camp, visual art, storytelling and poetry, craft stalls, bars, food providers, and more. It’s incredibly diverse and vibrant.

However, every year the festival produces a massive amount of waste. A large volume of this is organic, including food scraps, paper plates, and compostable cups. So, it could potentially do a lot of good. Sadly, for decade all of the rubbish simply went to landfill. In the last two years though, there has been a significant change, looking to turn it into fertiliser instead. This is a great example of a circular economy and can massively help the environment.

What happens now?

Martin Royds, a farmer from nearby Braidwood, around an hour from Canberra, now takes all the organic waste. Several tonnes of the rubbish is brought to the farm in trucks, laid out, and combined with high nitrogen insect frass. Adding a biological inoculant introduces beneficial microbes. This supercharges the composting. After a while the waste is covered to create anaerobic conditions.

Amazingly, in a year all of the organic waste becomes a nutrient rich fertiliser. It is then spread on paddocks and pastures. Ultimately, it creates healthier soil and encourages grass growth. The land is then suitable for livestock grazing in the future.

There are plenty of positives with the soil-first approach. Most notably, it means the waste is no longer buried in landfill. As a result, it doesn’t release methane into the atmosphere. Instead, it breaks down naturally and becomes a usable agricultural product. It improves soil and animal health. Even better, it can increase production and reduce costs.

Will it catch on?

The idea certainly has merits as you can see. It could be viable in countries all around the world too. It’ll be interesting to see if it does catch on. However, it does require a change in thinking and approach. Education is crucial.

Do you need to order fertiliser?

There are a lot of concerns about farming and food supplies at the moment because of the trouble in the Middle East. So, alternatives to using traditional fertilisers are definitely worth a look.

If you do need fertiliser though, you can rely on JS Hubbuck Ltd. We’ve been supplying it for decades, providing reliable deliveries for clients across Northern England and parts of Scotland. We have all the credentials we need to store and transport products safely. So, contact us today to learn more.