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Oneida County Compost, the compost with guts! And, probably for sale this spring! Doubtless, some readers have wondered if the state and other folks had had enough of Bart and finished him off via some unmarked compost pile. Well, it was a near thing, but recent events are actually bringing rays of hope to our composting operations. First, our source separated composting facility was recently allowed to add deer carcasses (hence the inspiration for this article title). Adding roadkill to our operations is likely to increase our composting operations by 40–60 tons per year. As folks may or may not know, quite a few carcasses are picked up off Oneida County Highways each week, particularly during the fall rut. It seemed a shame to simply be throwing all that good nitrogen into ye’ olde dump so we’re now placing them into our food & paper waste composting operation. How’s it working? Hotter than Death Valley on the 4th of July! Joe informs me that above the place of internment, we’re seeing temperatures above 150 degrees! In a trial done earlier in the year, even the bones composted away! The temperature is an important consideration, since temps above 132 degrees for three days are sufficient for killing potential disease causing organisms known as pathogens. For the better part of four years now, folks have been asking about buying compost. To date we have been unable to offer compost for public sale due to a lack of state standards. Understandably, people start to wonder, “so, what’s wrong with this stuff”. That has been the irksome part, because our composts are “cleaner than dirt”. Well, after shouting, whining, wailing, begging, pleading, crying and offering compost kick-backs for nearly 4 years, yours truly and five or six distinguished individuals from DNR, academia, and industry will be deriving interim compost standards over the next month or two. Yes, that’s 30 – 60 days! Which means, that by this spring planting season we should have salable compost products available… Of course, we’ll wait until the ink drys to make our final pronouncement, so tune in next month for our continuing saga, “As The Compost Cooks”. |
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©2004 Oneida County Solid Waste Department
PO Box 400
Rhinelander, WI 54501
PO Box 400
Rhinelander, WI 54501
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