Company to develop composting project

A COMPOSTING project is expected to be developed by Impetus Niugini Ltd in Lae later this year.
Programme manager Christian Portal said the project would be managed by the company with technical assistance from Soil and More Ethiopia and IFC, and support from stakeholders acting as providers of inputs for South Pacific Brewery Ltd (SPBL).
“The project’s landholding is two hectares of land in Lae, and it will be used for the preparation of compost and biochar,” Portal said.
“Demonstration farming will be carried out at Erap, Morobe, in an existing cassava farm that is owned by SP Brewery.
“The project will require both skilled and unskilled labour for its establishment and maintenance operations.
“The number of skilled and permanent workers proposed will be 40.
“It is expected that the project will generate income of US$3.3 million (K10.1mil) by year five and be in profit by the middle of year two.”
Portal said there were various socio-economic activities currently active around Lae like the agriculture cassava farms (SPBL and Rumion), sorghum production (Mainland Holdings), livestock (Ramu cattle), and the SPBL Cassava flour production factory that involves out-growers in the Markham Valley.
“All these activities generate waste that is generally not recycled or reused but dumped in designated areas,” he said.
“In Lae there are several sources of easily collected usable bio-mass that have been identified.
“The city’s management faces an immense problem with their waste like organic waste, green leaves and stems which is estimated to be over 16,000 million tons a year, dumped directly on the land near factories or driven to a landfill site, Second Seventh Landfill (SSL) which is a 40-year-old municipal solid waste 15-hectare open dumpsite without a bottom liner located at the Second Seventh of West Taraka in Lae.
“This is an environmental problem, which can be substantially alleviated by a compost and biochar facility.
“Besides alleviating the environmental problem, the project will introduce and promote the use of natural fertilisers and thereby offset the scarcity, high prices and uncertain delivery and logistics of chemical fertilisers.”