Green SXM Pilot Compost Project
The Green SXM Pilot Compost Project is an add-as-you-go pile designed and scaled to process the waste created in a restaurant that serves between 400-500 meals a week.
We have a business providing us with shredded cardboard – a good source of carbon which can be broken down quickly. Recycling cardboard is the most eco-friendly way of treating paper waste, however we lack facilities in Dutch St Maarten so composting it is the next best alternative.
The final feed-stock is chipped wood, mostly from trees brought down in Hurricane Irma. Downed trees don’t actually need to be composted, they can be piled up and allowed to rot naturally. While this happens, they provide a great home to many critters. However, space is often an issue, and we find that most of the Irma plant debris in the neighborhood was indeed taken to the dump. (Unmanaged wood piles can also become a fire hazard.)
Click HERE for more about aerated compost – and information on building your own!
Looking for smaller scale composting? Click HERE.
Goal of the Pilot Project
The main goal of the Pilot Aerated Static Pile Compost Project is to look at ways of reducing waste going to the landfill. Organic waste causes numerous problems at landfills, and up to an estimated 51% of waste could be composted.
Click HERE to learn about our landfill issues.
ASP Archives & Key Dates
May 2018
Cumulative: 840 liters / 29.5 cubic feet / 755 lbs / 343 kg
- 19th May 2018- Batch One Begun:
Introduction to Aerated Static Pile Composting – Why ASP & Starting a Large Pile - 23rd May 2018 – Compost Reaches Thermophilic Stage:
Growing Pineapple Tops & Temperature Update
June 2018
Cumulative: 1320 liters / 47 cubic feet / 1269 lbs / 575 kg
- 14th June 2018 – Batch One Full, Chamber 1 turned to Chamber 2.
- 18th June 2018 – Batch Two Begun
July 2018
Cumulative: 1320 liters / 47 cubic feet / 1269 lbs / 575 kg
August 2018
Cumulative: 2720 liters / 96 cubic feet / 2569 lbs / 1165kg (estimated)
- 9th August 2018 – Using Batch One & Calculating Carbon:Nitrogen Ratios
- 16th August 2018 – Batch Two Full: Calculating Net Carbon (2.27 tons per batch!), Sheet composting/lasagna gardening & Clay Pot Irrigation
December 2018
- 3rd December 2018 – Batch Three Begun
February 2019
Cumulative Batch 1, 2 & 3: 4080 liters / 144 cubic feet / 3854 lbs / 1748 kg (estimated)
Saving 6.72 metric tonnes of greenhouse gasses!
- 10th Feb 2019 – Batch Two Finished and Screened
- 11th Feb 2019 – Batch Three Full
- 13th Feb 2019 – Batch Four Begun
March 2019
April 2019
Cumulative Batch 1, 2, 3 & 4: 5400 liters
- Batch Four Full
- Batch Five Begun
May 2019
July 2019
Cumulative Batch 1-5: 6720 liters
- 10th July 2019 – Batch Five Full
