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Who. Zero Waste Australia is a national NGO which is listed on the Environmental Register of the Australian Government Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. Kim Russell, Director of Zero Waste Australia Inc Background
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Who • Zero Waste Australia is a national NGO which is listed on the Environmental Register of the Australian Government Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. • Kim Russell, Director of Zero Waste Australia Inc • Background • Farmer, First irrigation farm to have ISO9002 Accreditation • Leader in the first on farm greenhouse Audits in Australia(1999) • Has been working in Greenhouse issues for a decade. • Zero Waste Australia has a determined interest in the return of organic materials from the waste stream to agricultural soils.
Year 2007 385 ppm Grandkids (X 5) up there Atmospheric CO2 and Deuterium Temperature Anomalies over the Past 420,000 Years (Vostok Ice Core Data) WHY? 400 We are Farming Here 350 300 Glaciations Grandparents Farmed in this Environment AtmosphericpCO2 , atm. 250 Deglaciations 200 150 -10 -5 0 5 IGBP 2000 International Geosphere Biospehere Project Deuterium-based Temperature Anomalies, °C
Example of Lifecycle Analysis (LCA)– Corn Chips from Paddock to Packet Project identified Pre-farm (5%) On-farm and (35%) Post-farm (60%) (To a box of 12 x 200gm packets) • Until then there was no clear understanding of which component/s of the chain should be concentrated on to yield the greatest GHG benefit. • 60% of post farm emissions were in the card board box that the 12 packets of chips were placed in.
Packaging- Nitrogen management Soil management- Water use efficiency composted instead of shipped OS and back. Use of nutrients from waste stream reduction in draw bar power requirements, improved sequestration = greater efficiency Biggest opportunities. • .
What is ZWA’s role? • Develop a robust approach to track the pathway of microbial rich organic material, (MROM) from its source to its destination incorporated into or applied onto a soil on a farm. • In the nineties- “paddock to plate” QA. • We need “Plate to Paddock” with the same confidence.
The key to marketing is to link the six steps along chain from the farm to the global market place. Achievingscale Primary Processing Commoditymanagement Manufacture Land& Water MarketingBranded Product Inputs R&D and Education
But how do we create a pathway so that, Solutions for Sustainability can be found? BMP’s EPA HACCP LWMP WWD= What Dad Did TOPCROP WDD VendorDecs ISO MDBC Model for Environmental Stewardship.
How does this approach help pull these Components together ? ISO Topcrop-plus HACCP LWMP VendorDecs EPA Topcrop BMP’s WDD MDBC Model for Environmental Stewardship. (1996)
Where are the farms? Where to start?
IAL • Network of 36,000 • Irrigation Farms. • Kondinin Group • Network of 10,000 • Farms.
To a field where we can map soils… North 1 EM- Soil Mapping
and we can compile these to clearly identify soil carbon Status measured perhaps in value of Carbon offsets and other values.
National Regional Or Catchment Farm Importantly we can accumulate actions on a scale that can demonstrate performance at all levels. Field
The products we are dealing with fall into three main categories 1. Compost 2. Biologically active fluid products 3. Char or Agrichar These three products all have benefits in reducing emissions (national level), reducing waste (regional level) as well as the listed agricultural benefits at the farm (local level).
The acceptance of such new approaches will be accelerated in the current situation where • fertiliser input costs have more than doubled in the past year. • There is an encouraging recognition of the soils place in addressing greenhouse and farm productivity issues. • Communiqué from Carbon Farmers of Australia and
nutrients the REALLY BIG picture
the current process of waste management is wasting valuable nutrients • Compostable, clean organic material which contains the nutrients necessary for the production of food is currently lost to landfill • Plants need between 60 to 90 nutrients, minerals and trace elements to be healthy • Chemical fertiliser only contains a few of these
farming is about food production food is about nutrients nutrients nutrients are the vitamins, minerals, and other substances in food that keep your body healthy and help it grow
seeks the capture of all nutrients in organic waste for conversion into a range of high grade soil amendments
used a standard barcode to identify and reward the individual household for clean source separation of waste
gives the farmer these benefits: • Increased yield • Improved crop quality • Reduced water use • Improved water efficiency • Improved soil structure • Increased microbial activity • Reduced nutrient leakage • Reduced fertilizer costs • Reduced erosion • Carbon sequestration • Increased land value
demonstrating a new economic system for ecological business from the soil to the city from the people understand it!