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Introducing composting in a community
Joaquim Moura*, Luis Armondi**
The objective of this project is to reduce - through
decentralized composting - the volume of organic
waste sent to landfills by 30 small Brazilian municipalities located in a tourist area of outstanding biodiversity. Due to the environmental importance of the
region, these municipalities make up the Mantiqueira
Federal Environmental Protection Area (EPA) and
must manage their waste strictly as required by Law.
The project's pilot phase focuses on an area in the
municipality of Resende, in Rio de Janeiro state, and
the other 29 municipalities are kept informed of (and
stimulated by) our initiatives through the internet.
The technical solution for community composting is
relatively easy; harder is to "dynamize" institutional
partners to be more productive and daring to implement effective and urgent innovations. This project is
being developed by a partnership that brings together
teams from the Mantiqueira Federal EPA, the Resende
Municipal Environmental Agency, local neighborhood
and business associations (ACVM, Mauatur) and regional NGOs (ABIDES, Pró-Bem-Viver) volunteers.
Keywords – community composting, organic waste
reduction, institutional challenges
INTRODUCTION
As in the rest of the world, in Brazil the generation
of urban waste already seems unmanageable, degrading increasingly larger areas and causing rising
costs for municipalities. To reverse this process, in
2009 the National Solid Waste Law was promulgated, which established rules to avoid increasing pollution. It included targets for the gradual reduction of
recyclable and compostable wastes sent to landfill
(see table).
Despite the law, most Brazilian municipalities are
not technically or financially prepared to achieve
these targets, especially with regard to compostable
organic waste.
The predominant waste management model
among Brazilian municipalities is to hire a company
to collect the mixed urban waste and take it to a
sorting station, where they try to separate its organic portion for composting (Menina, 2014) - but the
final product is always highly contaminated and
impracticable for food production.
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* Joaquim Moura, consultant for Resende’s Municipal Environmental Agency, has worked with community gardening
since 1979. He translates Urban Agriculture Magazine into
Portuguese (28 issues). (jmoura@agriculturaurbana.org.br)
** Luis Armondi, agricultural engineer, environmental consultant, the project’s main collaborator.
Today only a few NGOs demonstrate the feasibility
of community and decentralized organic waste management (Abreu, 2013), producing organic fertilizer,
saving energy and public resources, and avoiding
greenhouse gases emission.
In Brazil, notable examples of NGOs working in
this direction are the projects "The Buckets Revolution" 1 (community composting), and "Compost Sao
Paulo" 2 (home worm-composting in boxes).
Our project 3 seeks to encourage "individual" and
community composting in small open areas using
wire mesh bin composters.
BACKGROUND
In April 2014 a technical team from the Mantiqueira
Federal EPA decided to offer the 30 municipalities
included in the region collaboration to achieve the
goals set out in the new Law, focusing mainly on
composting organic waste (about 50% of the total
waste collected and usually neglected).
Ten municipalities confirmed their interest in this
partnership with the EPA and local NGOs. Since
then, action has been taken in a pilot area (the region of Visconde de Mauá, Resende RJ), where there
are more experienced volunteers to help develop the
project. The other municipalities can share their
opinions and suggestions online and at periodic
meetings, where they discuss adapting the pilot
solutions to their own regions.
With its cold
climate, waterfalls
and pine forests,
Maua is a famous
tourist area, where
nature is the main
attraction,.
The project focuses on two small
local towns that
total 3000 people,
but on weekends
this number can
even triple.
Currently
the
county of Resende sends a truck to Mauá three
times a week to collect the mixed garbage, and take
it to the municipal landfill 50km away. The monthly
regional total is around 90 metric tons, including 40
tons of organic waste.
PILOT PROJECT’S TARGET
Our target for the pilot area is to redirect 15% of the
organic waste (from local businesses and homes)
from the municipal landfill – by the end of 2015.
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METHODOLOGY
The project features two aims: (a) to disseminate a
practical, inexpensive system of decentralized composting, suitable for small open areas; and (b) to
organize, with the local government, minimal support to residents and business owners to ensure the
system’s success and permit increasing its scale.
Equipment needed
Our system is based on two cylindrical compost bins
made of welded wire mesh. While one bin receives
fresh waste, other bin’s older waste decomposes and
becomes organic fertilizer. Every three months (average time for a family to fill a bin) the compost in
the previously filled bin is ready for use.
The composter’s size can range from 1m high
and 0.8m in diameter, or bigger, depending on the
waste produced.
To motivate residents, we prepared informative
printed materials for distribution.
Disseminating the Project
The community was divided into two groups (business and residences), each with its own approach.
To address the businesses, which are mainly
linked to tourism, we organized visits to all restaurants, inns and hotels in the area by a team of officers from Resende Municipal Environment Agency and
representatives from local business associations.
During these visits, the team explained the importance of sustainable organic- waste management
to the environment and the local economy.
The team showed them a photo album of waste
problems and solutions, and handed out a leaflet
with instructions on how to use wire mesh composters, and what fill them with.
With respect to the
residents, the project
enjoyed the support of
the local neighborhood
association.
Visits were made
to homes with gardens, since we believe
the owners would be
more interested in
producing their own
fertilizer in loco.
Operation
Participants were instructed to fill the composter
with raw vegetable scraps, such as peels, stems,
leaves, and coffee grounds – always covered with
dry materials (grass clippings, leaves, weeds, etc.) If
the volume of waste produced is too large, and the
composter fills too quickly, it can be made larger –
or the system may include a third composter.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
Considering that only the local volunteers are actually disseminating the method, the more than 30 systems already set up in the region 4 demonstrate its
feasibility. The main obstacle for the spreading of
the local decentralized composting of organic waste
in areas dominated by homes with yards is the low
productivity of the municipal service, legally responsible for waste management and provided with the
resources needed to do it.
Today, more than ever, and mainly for cultural,
financial and institutional reasons, municipalities are
reluctant to adopt unusual but more effective innovations. It is then up to the NGOs to research viable
alternatives to our problems and encourage communities and government agencies to adopt them.
NOTES
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2
3
4.
agriculturaurbana.org.br/iniciativas/baldinhos.htm
moradadafloresta.org.br/composta-sao-paulo
amigosdemaua.net/projetos/GT-CONAPAM/resende
(same as above plus:)/composteiros_instalados.html
REFERENCES
Abreu, M.J., (2013). Gestão comunitária de resíduos
orgânicos. Tese de mestrado. Universidade Federal
de University of Santa Catarina
Menina Siqueira, T (2014). Compostagem de
Resíduos Sólidos Urbanos em São Paulo. Tese de
mestrado. Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos