BY AUSTIN LYNCH

The way in which organic waste is handled by local authorities is set to be revolutionised, thanks to new process being piloted here in Fermanagh.

Known simply as the ACU (Accelerating Composting Unit), this device simply speeds up the natural composting of organic waste in a controlled way, killing all harmful bacteria in the process, to ultimately produce a completely clean and hygienic end product, which is capable of being reused.

This system, which has been used successfully in Finland for over 20 years, is now being manufactured, under licence, by a company in Newtownbutler.

The company who have the Irish licence for this process, is Preseco (Ireland) and it is the company's directors, Peter Lynch, John Prunty, Barry Murphy and Liam Strain who are responsible for bringing this highly innovative process to Ireland.

A trial of this new process is currently under way at the Silverhill Sewage Plant in Enniskillen, using a scaled down model to show the entire process at work, from raw, untreated waste to clean end product. Trials are also under way with Monaghan County Council.

Today, more stringent environmental regulations all over the world, and especially in Europe, will profoundly change waste treatment over the coming years.

Increasingly, the composting of waste will have to meet bio-safety criteria, satisfy supervision needs and obtain authority approval, while the end product, among other things, must fulfil strict requirements on hygiene.

If councils and local authorities continue to manage waste in traditional ways, this will result in ever increasing costs.

So, believing that the time was right to introduce a new method of waste treatment into the domestic market, the directors of Preseco (Ireland) became interested by in-vessel composting. They travelled to a waste exhibition in Birmingham to learn more about the different methods of waste treatment.

At the exhibition, they met representatives from Preseco in Finland and they were impressed by the mechanical simplicity of their machine, combined with its ability to change waste into compost.

After travelling to Finland on a number of occasions, to see the ACU's operating at locations such as food factories, sewage plants and landfill sites, the local directors signed contracts and are currently manufacturing three ACU machines for order. Preseco (Ireland) also intend to operate an in-vessel composting site in the near future.

Barry Murphy, one of the company's directors, explained that the ACU is capable of composting up to 40 tonnes of 'compostible' waste per week, 'waste that will not have to be incinerated or have to go to landfill'.

Composting is when fungi and bacteria, in the presence of oxygen, convert organic matter into CO2 heat and humus.

In the Preseco ACU, the temperature of the composting material (inside the drum) is approximately 60–70º Centigrade, which allows for simultaneous sanitation and pasteurisation. This heat is naturally generated by the composting process.

During the trial at Silverhill, a mixture of peat and sewage sludge is added into one end of the rotating in-vessel composter and, approximately five to seven days later, a compost that can be safely used as a soil conditioner emerges at the other end of the cylindrical drum.

After a period of maturation, of between two to three months, this compost can be used by local councils in parks and flower beds or could even be bagged and sold. Thanks to the ACU, waste has become a useful, reusable product.

This system produces no run-off water, minimal noise and no bad smells and uses the latest technology to run a cost-effective system.

The ACU is fully automated and the process can be monitored remotely by computer. The process is designed for local use and does away with the need to transport waste long distances

Peter Lynch, another Preseco Director, said that through the 'Herald' he and his co-directors had to pay a special word of thanks to Tradelinks for their advice and support and, also to First Trust Bank for supporting the company's development.

Preseco (Ireland) believe that their initial customers will be local authorities and that the ACU provides a modern solution for waste treatment.