At Sonnenerde, the following waste materials are gladly accepted, processed, and refined:
- Green and shrub cuttings (gardens, parks, …)
- Controlled and certified sewage sludge
- Controlled and certified paper fiber sludge
- Controlled and certified food sludge in organic quality
- Rootstocks
- Brick rubble (exclusively hard-fired clay roof tiles)
Green waste
Garden and park waste is our most important raw material by volume for composting! Sometimes there is a lack of understanding that we cannot accept this waste free of charge. The processes of preparation, shredding, mixing, piling, and sieving the product are unfortunately so complex that these costs cannot be covered by product sales.
Therefore, we also have to charge a fee for private deliveries.
Larger quantities of green waste — such as those collected at municipal collection sites — are shredded on-site by us and then picked up.
Sewage Sludge
Sewage sludge is one of the highest-quality raw materials for soil production. However, this requires a low heavy metal content. The permitted limit values for this are precisely regulated in the compost ordinance. We emphasize that we only accept the highest quality level, with the limit values listed in the table applying.
The type of pressing does not matter to us — we can accept all types of sludge (lime or polymer pressing, primary sludge, digested sludge, cleaning of sedimentation tanks, etc.)!
Paper Fiber Sludge
For the production of our biochar, clean waste from the paper industry can be accepted. Since any heavy metals present may become concentrated during the carbonization process, special attention must be paid to the cleanliness of the raw material.
Another exclusion criterion is a too high mineral content—for example, the calcium content must be below 10%. A high carbon content is important—the higher, the better.
Organic Sludge from the Food Industry
For the production of our organic quality products, sludges from food processing are accepted, e.g., milk sludge or jam sludge. It is important that these are free from sewage and chemical, non-degradable substances such as various cleaning agents.
Before any negotiations regarding acceptance can take place, a valid analysis certificate of the sludge must always be presented.
This applies generally to our company: No sludge may be delivered without a “cleanliness certificate”!
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