Reuse of Organic Domestic Wastes in Worm Farm

Summary

One of Alcoa’s successful cleaner production programs is a worm (vermicomposting) farm which recycles 350 cubic metres of food waste, paper handtowels, and scredded paper from its Kwinana alumina refinery and other operation sites. The vermicomposting farm operates at the Pinjarra refinery. Vermicomposting is a process whereby worms feed on slowly decomposing materials (eg, vegetable scraps) in a controlled environment to produce a nutrient-rich soil amendment.

Industry

Industry Sector	Specific Industry
mining and minerals sector	alumina refinery
agricultural sector	worm (vermicomposting) farm

Region

Kwinana Industrial Area, Kwinana, Western Australia

Applied Technologies

• biological treatment (vermicomposting)

Triple Bottom Line Aspects (direct at operational level)

Economic	operational costs of worm farm transportation costs
Environmental	less organic waste being landfilled air emissions from transporting organic wastes to worm farm
Social	increased employee satisfaction due to improved environmental performance of the alumina refinery

Additional Comments

None.

References

• Alcoa of Australia Ltd (2003) "Alcoa in Australia - 2002 Sustainability Report"
• van Beers, D, Bossilkov, A and van Berkel, R (2005) “Capturing Regional Synergies in the Kwinana Industrial Area – 2005 Status Report”, CSRP Report (for Project 3B1), August 2005

Last Update

23 November 2005