Organic waste recycling is starting to take off in Gauteng with a number of large businesses looking to maximise their recycling percentages by including food waste in their recycling programmes.
Northgate Mall in Johannesburg, Menlyn Mall in Pretoria and Philip Morris International’s Leonard Dingler factory are three entities that have taken up the challenge with the assistance of Earth Probiotics’ “Earth Cycler” composting machines, to reduce their carbon footprint by diverting food waste from landfill using on-site composting.
Developed and manufactured in South Africa, Earth Probiotic’s “Earth Cycler” can process up to 5,000kg of organic waste on a flow-through basis per month. Organic waste includes food waste as well as contaminated paper/cardboard.
“A key benefit of the Earth Cycler is its ability to measure and record input and output loads,” explains Gavin Heron, owner of Earth Probiotics. “This data can then be used to calculate the carbon footprint and landfill airspace saving. Between November 2021 to May 2022 at Norgate Mall, the Earth Cycler processed over 14,000kg of organic waste, which equates to a carbon emission saving of more than 8.5 tonnes CO2e.”
At Philip Morris International’s Leonard Dingler Factory, an Earth Cycler was installed to process both food and tobacco waste, which once converted into compost, is then bagged and given to staff to use in their food and floral gardens. The factory has saved 617kg/tonne of Carbon Dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere.
All of these environmental initiatives not only contributed to reducing organic waste going to landfills, they have also eliminated risks associated with the fact that many landfills around the country are rapidly running out of space
Earth Probiotics are a member of the Organics Recycling Association of South Africa, which represent the organics recycling industry and are committed to seeing more organic waste diverted from landfill.
For more information on how you can recycle your organic waste please visit www.orasa.org.za please feel free to contact us at info@orasa.org.za if you need further assistance.
