How To Recycle Agricultural Waste

It’s clear that over the past few years in particular, the UK has seen a notable trend in public and government interest around sustainability; largely driven by a greater awareness of climate change and environmental issues generally. In this blog, we explore how you can recycle animal manure, the commercial benefits of doing so and why you should recycle this particular organic matter.

Benefits of recycling agricultural manure

There are several commercial benefits of recycling animal manure, particularly for agricultural farms and businesses, livery yards, riding stables and for anyone involved in waste management. Let’s dive in to the key advantages:

Sustainability

As mentioned earlier, the increase in awareness around sustainability and processes means that businesses who recycle manure could attract customers who highly value this aspect. Agricultural manure in particular is nutrient rich and makes an excellent soil fertiliser, conditioner or compost. Once processed, manure and compost are able to be sold as Organic which is another appeal for consumers as well as an extra revenue stream for businesses.

Financial

Waste disposal costs can be reduced with the ability to manage and recycle waste yourself. An average horse will produce around 20kg of manure daily, so this could be a significant cost saving for equestrian facilities. Furthermore, any fibrous manure can be dewatered and the remaining substrate can be repurposed for animal bedding.

Renewable

Animal manure can produce Biogas, which is a renewable energy source, through processing it in anaerobic digesters. This can contribute to the diversification of energy in the UK. Biogas can be used to power your farm and surplus can be sold back to the grid for additional income.

Soil Quality Improvements

For agricultural businesses, this is a great benefit as the end product can be used in the fields, improve the quality of the soil and potentially lead to better crops and harvests.

Regulatory Compliance

The proper management of manure is subject to regulations. According to the UK Gov website, temporary piles or manure must not be placed anywhere where there is a risk of runoff and water pollution.

How can farmers process their animal waste?

Animal waste and by products will need different treatment in preparation for being able to recycle them for use as compostable materials. Ideally, the water content of compost should be around 70% water.

Slurry and Manure can be dewatered in order for it to be composted as it is too fibrous. This is because the raw material is often too nutrient rich to be spread immediately in this form. The fibrous material can later become a fertiliser for the farm or repurposed into animal bedding.

Abattoirs on the other hand, will need to process their animal by-products into a substrate that will then need to be composted for 6 months. This is because the raw material is often too nutrient rich to be immediately used in fields and soil fertilisation.

What Equipment do you need?

The type of equipment that you’ll need can be determined once you’ve decided on exactly how you want to process your waste. Here at PRM, we offer a variety of equipment for commercial
manure/substrate recycling as well as other agricultural recycling equipment for processing Animal by-products and Slurry Waste Management.
Fresh manure in general, has a high water content, so it needs to go through a process of dewatering to allow it to have suitable moisture levels for composting. If it’s too wet, you won’t be able to process it.

Our dewatering and manure processing equipment includes the following:
Industrial Conveyor Belts For Waste
JOEST Wheelie Bin Lifter
Screw Conveyor
Vincent KP Screw Press Series
Vincent Machinery – VP Series
Vincent Screw Press – CP Series

Unsure where to start? Contact Us to discuss your specific requirements with our team of waste processing experts.