By Chanu Kelaniyangoda, Technical Assistant – Organics at Repurpose It
I was honored to have the opportunity to participate in the Australian Organics Recycling Association (AORA) Conference 2023, after winning the Komptech Young Professionals Scholarship.
My goal was to improve my knowledge on organic recycling and the circular economy. This year the conference commenced with a demonstration day and covered topics such as future food waste, common vision of organic recycling, industry challenges, growing markets, process refining and the future of the organics recycling industry.
The AORA demonstration day, hosted by Repurpose It, was a great success. About 20 pieces of machinery were on site, including high-speed grinders, shredders, screens, JCBs, loaders, and excavators.
It was fascinating to see the Terra Nova subsoil amelioration machine demonstration which gave a hint of real-life compost application on farmland.
The second day of the conference was at the Pullman Albert Park and opened with AORA National Executive Officer John McKew’s welcome speech.
Something he said caught my attention; “if you are not part of the solution, maybe you are part of the problem”.
In my experience with the agriculture industry, I have been exposed to various practices that are less sustainable and can be improved upon. Since I started working at Repurpose It and have attended the AORA conference, my perspective has changed. I want to change the direction of the agriculture industry for a more sustainable future.
The second day of the AORA conference was all about understanding the policies and government involvement in the organic recycling industry. A few speakers represented the state government’s vision, the current policies and the gaps that industry needs to fill.
Member for Albert Park, Nina Taylor, spoke about current policies and opportunities that the government has invested in for the organic recycling industry, including the circular economy markets fund to provide jobs, increase organic waste collection, and produce high-quality organic recycled material.
Penny Wensley, former Governor of Queensland and patron of Soil Science Australia, talked about how to improve unmanaged organic waste material and the new opportunities in the growing waste management industry. Her approach was more towards how to use the end products, such as compost and mulches, to improve Australian soils.
The natural branding speech by Michael Dosser, from Results Group, was my favorite of the day. He explained that Eco Mark labelling technology is the future of natural branding and how it safely creates high-resolution laser to remove color from the outer layer of fruit and vegetables. This will reduce the use of nondegradable stickers/packaging which are a contamination issue for organic recycling.
The third day of the conference covered what is happening in the recycling industry and how the industry is contributing to the circular economy. These discussions were mainly about how different businesses are involved in producing organic recycling material, the art of making good compost for Australian soils, the improvement of modern technology related to organic recycling, and how to reduce the contamination levels in food organics garden organics (FOGO).
Lawrence Di Bella, Company Manager of Herbert Cane Productivity Services Limited demonstrated how the sugar cane business has used its end product (sugar mud) as a soil amendment in farmlands over the past decade. His data showed that this practice has improved the soil amelioration, giving positive results over time. This is a great way of putting carbon back into the soil ecosystem.
Bill Grant, Research Fellow, Federation University, and Dr Stephen Ockerby, of Agsights, explained how important it is to add organic material to ameliorate Australian soils and how to keep microbes happy and alive. This will maintain the soil ecosystem by managing available nutrients for plants.
At the conference, there was a lot of talk about how to reduce organic contamination levels. What I learnt was that educating the community could be the key to changing their behaviour.
For example, where I work at Repurpose It, we have a series called Living with Purpose hosted by Jamie Durie. This shows the community how to take part in the circular economy. Once people understand recycling it could lead to behavior change and eventually reduce the contamination levels in our FOGO bins.
This will make sorting easier for industrial composters, allow the community to make the right choices on what goes in which bin, and could reduce the amount of material going into landfills – helping to complete the circular economy.
