2 July 2013 — Measuring carbon in soil, maintaining soil fertility in turf, biosolids – resource recovery, the new National Environment Protection Measures and Sydney Environmental and Soil Laboratory Australia at Landscape Expo are all covered in the latest edition of the Fertile Minds, the newsletter of the SESL.
“A breakthrough in the agricultural sector’s ability to measure soil carbon storage could provide a major boost to its participation in a carbon economy,” the newsletter says.
“Researchers at the Soil Security Laboratory at the University of Sydney have developed an instrument, the soil carbon bench, which can determine carbon levels from much larger samples, at greater accuracy and lower cost, than any existing technology.”
Meanwhile, Luke Jacovides writes that with an ever-increasing population in our major cities, increasing sewage waste is inevitable.
“Modern sewage treatment processes are excellent at removing nutrients from wastewater, but the organic solids, which are high in nutrients, need to be disposed of responsibly in order to avoid sending excessive quantities of potentially useful material to NSW’s already limited landfill areas.
“These solids are known as ‘biosolids’ and have a general resource recovery exemption under the Protection of the Environment (Waste) Regulation 2005 and the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act).
“This exemption allows them to be applied to land under the guidance of the Environmental Guidelines: Use and Disposal of Biosolids Products.”
Read the full stories at https://www.sesl.com.au/fertileminds/fertileminds.php