The municipal waste company Vivo is taking part in an information campaign on the subject of organic waste.
Here, those responsible explain why.
District – In households with organic waste bins across Germany, on average one third of the organic waste still ends up in the residual waste.
That's around four million tons of valuable biomass that is wasted and not recycled every year.
In the district of Miesbach, only around twelve percent of organic waste ends up in the residual waste bin.
Nevertheless, Vivo, the district's waste disposal company, is taking part in the "28-day bio-bin challenge" that the Bio-bin Germany campaign is launching.
We asked Annerose Hünerfeld, head of recyclables collection at Vivo, why the district is involved.
Ms. Hünerfeld, the district quota for organic waste looks good. Why is the Vivo still taking part in the challenge?
There are two reasons for this.
We live from the fact that we get clean, separated organic waste.
This is a real resource, and we want to raise awareness of it.
We promise ourselves that pre-sorting will be even cleaner.
And reason number two?
We want to further reduce the twelve percent of organic waste that ends up in the residual waste.
Why should this resource be burned at high cost when it can be used well and sensibly at the same time?
How is the organic waste used?
Clean organic waste is the basis for the production of high quality compost and electricity.
How big is the recyclable potential of the twelve percent in the residual waste bin? Why does it matter?
We are talking about twelve percent for a total of around 12,000 tons of organic waste per year.
Around 1,500 tons of organic waste end up in household waste.
This corresponds to about 500 tons of high-quality compost.
How are these twelve percent determined?
The data is based on the results of the last analysis of the recyclable potential in residual waste and bulky waste from 2011.
What does that twelve percent consist of?
Almost ten percent kitchen waste and a good two percent garden waste.
Since when has there been a biowaste bin in the district?
In March 1990, Miesbach was one of the first districts in Germany to start a one-year pilot project for almost 10,000 residents in parts of Bad Wiessee and Holzkirchen.
Due to the pleasingly high amount collected and the excellent quality, the organic waste bin was introduced across the district in the following two years.
How did the introduction go?
Each individual household was informed in writing and questioned.
If there was interest, direct personal advice was given on site in the households.
The basic equipment - bio bin, kitchen bucket separation list - was free of charge.
We currently process around 11,000 tons of organic waste per year.
Overall, the bio bin is very well established.
That's exactly what the twelve percent show.
The bins for each house are very comfortable.
Above all, the weekly emptying has contributed to the high level of acceptance.
More than just compost: the organic waste is reused in so many different ways at Vivo
The term recyclable fits perfectly for organic waste.
Because what accumulates as waste in the kitchen and garden can still be used and processed in the Vivo plant in Warngau, as Hubert Wirl, deputy manager of the composting plant, explains.
This was converted into a combined dry fermentation and composting plant in 2010 and processes organic waste into high-quality compost.
And not only that.
“We also produce high-energy biogas in our four tunnels, each of which is 30 meters long.
This in turn is converted into heat and electricity.” Composting then takes place in two composting tunnels.
There the material is converted and screened.
The finished compost soil can be bought from the Vivo: a cubic meter costs twelve euros.
The compost soil in a 45 liter bag is available for EUR 4.90.
The electricity generated is fed into the grid, and the heat generated is used nearby - at the Vivo headquarters in Warngau and via district heating in the neighboring commercial area.
In this way, not only is waste disposed of and fresh soil obtained, but energy is also generated.
What is allowed in the bio bin?
We explain what is allowed in on our separation list, which is available on our homepage www.vivowarngau.de.
Our facility also creates citrus peels and even nut peels, which many people don't even know.
Bones are also allowed in the organic waste.
They are even good because they support bacterial growth during composting.
What does the system not do?
Our biggest problem is plastic bags in which the waste is disposed of.
This also applies to those that are sold as compostable.
They shouldn't go in the organic waste because they have to be laboriously fished out on the conveyor belt.
Our system won't be able to process them in seven weeks.
Composting doesn't take long enough to break down.
What also does not belong are stones, cat and small animal litter, cigarettes, charred wood, ashes and animals.
It's also about keeping an eye on the target product.
And that should be high-quality compost.
Here's how it works
Anyone who uses Instagram can follow the organizer's channel under #biotonnenchallenge under the keyword "Aktion Biobin Deutschland" and will receive a daily post from November 7th, which playfully motivates people to collect organic waste perfectly separately.
Users follow the Biobin Deutschland/Facebook campaign on Facebook.
As a reward, all challenge participants take part in the raffle for the Biotoni, a pre-sorting container for organic waste.
All you have to do is send a screenshot of one of the 28 posts to info@vivowarngau.de.
A selection of the posts is also available at www.vivowarngau.de.
The registration also works as a screenshot of one of the publications to the Vivo email address.
If the challenge gets tricky, the Vivo waste consultant will help on 08024 / 903886.
ddy
