Bioconversion is a big word for a simple idea. Mostly, it’s
composting.
And University of Georgia

scientists are using it to eliminate waste problems.

Simply put, bioconversion is turning materials that can be
toxic to
the environment into safe,

value-added products. It’s the wave of the future as more
and more
landfills fill up and close.

At the UGA Bioconversion Research and Demonstration Facility
in Athens,
considered by waste

management experts to be one of the best in the nation,
researchers
study how to handle waste.

“We’re taking the university’s waste products, from animal
bedding in
the barns to leaves and

grass clippings, and composting them,” said Wayne
McLaurin, an Extension
Service
horticulturist with the UGA College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

“The composted product is then put back into the university
landscape
as mulch and soil

amendments,” he said.

But the university is just one of Georgia’s waste producers.

“For example, Georgia food processors produce millions of
tons of by-products
and waste every

year,” McLaurin said. “Getting rid of all that waste is a
big economic
burden for industry.”

The state is urging a 25 percent reduction in solid waste
going to landfills
over the next two years.

The bioconversion research focuses on trimming waste volume,
creating
alternative products,ÿ preventing groundwater pollution,
developing
soil amendments, using hard-to-convert compounds and minimizing
odors.

The new facility is a cooperative effort between the CAES and
Georgia
Tech.

The seven-acre facility has four acres of windrow composting,
complete
with viewing windows to

view the layers of compost. It also has, among other things,
enzyme
digestion tanks for composting

chicken carcasses from poultry farms.

Right now, the windrow composting includes four piles eight
feet high,
10 feet wide and more

than 200 feet long. Each stack reaches about 140 degrees
inside. And
each has to be turned once a

month to incorporate all the material.

“When you compost, the original mass is reduced by 70 percent
in the
breakdown,” McLaurin

said. “It’s great to have the compost in this kind of
facility. People
can see the stages the compost is in, the process it goes
through and the
ways we use it to make the university grounds beautiful.”

“This project allows us to use all our waste,” McLaurin
said. “It saves
landfill space and saves all

our dumping fees. It makes a usable product out of a waste
product.
And we’re helping nature

recycle.”

Twice a year, the UGA scientists offer training in waste
management
and composting for city site

managers, landfill compost operators and workers from
private operations.

“During these trainings, we offer hands-on experience in all
the phases
of composting,” McLaurin

said. “We’re able to discuss the biological process, the
materials
you can use, the chemical process

and the application of it, and all the University-generated
materials
we’re working with.”

The next compost training will be in March. To learn more
about it,
contact your
county extension
agent.