New plant will produce 1´280 tons of compost

THE compost plant in Calvia, which was officially opened yesterday, will treat 2'000 tons of organic waste a year and produce about 1'280 tons of compost a year. The plant has been built by the Council of Majorca at a cost of more than 2.9 million euros. The opening was attended by Maria Antonia Munar, the President of the Council of Majorca; Miquel Angel Borras, head of the Council's environment department; Mayor of Calvia Margarita Nájera and Mayor of Andratx Eugenio Hidalgo. The construction of the plant falls within the objectives of the master plan on waste disposal to deal with 56 per cent of the organic part of rubbish (remains of food and offshoots of gardening, among others), which comes to more than 100'000 tons a year. second compost plant will be brought into service shortly. It is being built at the technology park in Can Canut and will have a capacity of nearly 135'000 tons of organic material a year. A Council spokesman said yesterday that municipalities will have to adopt a rubbish collection system whereby organic remains are collected separately, and separation of rubbish at home will also have to be promoted. The experience with the Calvia plant will be used to set in operation a first stage consisting of the selective collection of organic waste in markets, hotels, restaurants, etc. This system will later be extended to the home. The spokesman also went on to say that experiments are now being conducted in collaboration with the Balearic University, to produce a high quality compost which can be marketed at a competitive price. More than 20'000 persons have followed courses on domestic compost making and similar activities organised by the Council to promote this way of recycling rubbish. Special courses have also been held in local schools.