2. SUCCESS
“Certified Organic”
In a world under the shadow of bad news stories, wars, epidemics,
political struggle and environmental challenges, it is great to break
some GOOD HOME-GROWN NEWS!
During 2014 Certified Organic Solutions have been working closely with
Lismore City Council on an ‘Australian first’ program to achieve organic
certification status for kerbside food and garden waste. In November
Lismore City Council succeeded in becoming the first local council
waste and recycling centre in Australian to achieve this worthwhile goal.
This is important news for the certified organic food industry and a great
step towards achieving a sustainable environment in Australia. It opens
up the potential for this success to be emulated by local councils across
the country.
Lismore City Council achieved the certification through AQIS registered
Australia Certified Organic (ACO) by putting in place an educational
program among residents to make them more sensitive to what was
placed in green waste, screening processes to remove plastics and oth-
er inorganic materials from the kerbside waste as well as shredding,hot
composting, stringent product testing and cleaning/hygiene controls.
The news means certified organic producers from right across the
Northern Rivers can purchase certified organic compost from Lismore
Recycling & Waste Centre and maintain their own organic certification.
3. Picured Above: Ben Debs and the Certified Organic Solutions Team
with Lismore Mayor Jenny Dowell at the media event celebrating the
anouncement of organic certification.
“The certification from Australia
Certified Organic is another feather
in Lismore’s cap and something we
have wanted to achieve for quite
some time,” Waste Operations
Coordinator Kevin Trustum said.
Now we have a full complement of
composting products that are 100%
certified organic.”
“That’s excellent news for organic
producers and excellent for us in a
business sense.”
“We have totally closed the loop on
our green waste services and that’s
something we can all be proud of. It
means local organic producers can
buy local, and the money we gener-
ate can go into investigating and
implementing further sustainability
and recycling initiatives.”
“The local community wants Lismore to be a model of sustainability and
being named the first council in Australia to gain organic certification for
compost made from kerbside food and garden waste shows we’re really
serious about achieving that vision.”
“A model that can now be
emulated across Australia”
This very positive and innovative project was a venture into uncharted
territory for the Lismore City Council Waste and Recycling Centre, but
with guidance from experienced staff at Certified Organic Solutions and
close liaison with the ACO, all the challenges have now been addressed
and the first certified organic compost has become a commercial reality.
The model developed in this success has the potential to be adopted by
other local Councils. It offers them the opportunity of creating a much
needed new income stream, bolsters environmental credentials, and is
a huge positive for local certified organic growers, who often struggle to
find affordable certified farm inputs that are essential for the success of
their growing cycle. A win-win outcome all round!
4. Ben Debs
If you have a conventional farm
and would like to make the transi-
tion into the certified organic food
industry, or you hope to manufac-
ture an organic food product, or
would like to bring green waste,
organic fertilizers and mulches
to the rapidly growing certified
organic market, then talk to Ben
and get some practical, experi-
enced advice on how to make this
dream a commercial reality..
Always an innovator who thinks outside the box, and with a drive that
frequently finds him attempting the supposedly impossible - Ben is
a solutions oriented thinker and can assist you in understanding the
complexities of the certication process, plan for your transition and
get across the certication paperwork. Realising the challenges facing
people new to the certified organic food industry, and having constantly
5. advised people pro bono, Ben has
now created the support service
Certified Organic Solutions. Firmly
based on the belief that organics is
important for our individual health
and a sustainable future for the
planet, it is a business specifically
designed to support people at the
transition into certification.
Ben has hands on experience with
the certification of ‘conventional’
farms, retail shops, value added
manufacturers and he assisted
a wide range of individuals and
businesses in entering the certified
organic food industry. Food Ccom-
panies he has assisted include
Green Grove Organics, Junnee,
with involvement in initial set up and
he has also worked as food and
ingredient specialist in assisting
organic manufacturer Whisk and Pin with manufactured organic product
development..He initiated the first certified organics imports into Aus-
tralia, and was instrumental in developing processes to import organic
food into Tasmania when it was deemed in the industry to be too difficult
Testing
Testing involves collecting and analyzing representative samples of
compost from production batches for meeting process optimization,
safety, certified organic compliance, and market standards.
An accurate representation of the area/volume being sampled can be
obtained if multiple samples (usually at three places in a pile or wind-
row) are mixed together and industry standards suggest it is best to
take samples after the compost pile or windrow has been turned.
Typically, samples are labeled and assigned an ID number, with the
date, source, etc. and a test sample log book is kept that records ID
numbers and the analysis results for verification by the ACO staff during
annual auditing. Certified Organic Solutions have developed a template
to assist in each stage of verification that certified organic standards are
being met.
6. Stage 1: Educate the public to be
selective in their input to green waste
collections. Screen collected waste.
Stage 2: Shred & hot compost to re-
move pathogens and chemicals and
build the organic micro-environment.
Stage 3: Monitor and scientifically
test batches for safety and ascertain
they reach certified standards.
OrganicCertificationisthe
consumer’s guarantee
of food purity.About Certified
Organic Solutions
We offer a unique consultancy
and support service to help you
negotiate the red-tape & plan-
ning involved in gaining “Certified
Organic” status within the organic
food industry. If you are :
planning to start an organic farm,
or
you’re a conventional farmer
wishing to convert to organic farm-
ing status, and access the premium
prices available to certified organic
growers, or
you plan to produce “valued
added” organic products or
you produce organic farm inputs
such as green waste, mulches and
biological fertilizers
- we can help you make the transi-
tion, understand the principles and
negotiate the red tape and planning
to achieve full organic certification.
7. Just a decade ago, most public
officials and business owners
thought of kerbside green waste
materials such as grass clip-
pings, food scraps, and sludge as
a problem they had to dispose of.
Now it can be seen as a valuable
resource that builds revenues
for local councils, helps expand
and sustain the certified organic
farming industry and assists in a
movement towards a sustainable
environment.
Hot Compost
A hot compost pile can reach temperatures of 49-77 degrees Celsius in
just a few days, and if done correctly, compost can be produced from
organic matter in around 4 weeks. The temperature of the pile must be
monitored because remaining at a temperature of 65 degrees Celsius
or higher for even just a few hours, will kill beneficial microorganisms
that are an essential part of the composting process..
Typical green kerbside waste - fresh grass clippings and dried shred-
ded leaves work great because they’re already in small pieces, and the
grass clippings are full of moisture. Organic matter is shredded into fine
pieces. Adding in previously produced compost or soil, which will be full
of micro-organisms jumpstarts the process. As the pile is built, water is
added to keep the organic matter moist.
Over the next month the daily temperature of the pile is monitored and
recorded Between one and five days, the temperature should rise, be-
tween 49 and 77 degrees Celsius Once the temperature cools to below
43 degrees Celsius which is usually between 4 and 7 days, the organic
matter is turned to introduce oxygen. This will then heat the pile back
up. The heat kills all pathogens and breaks down chemicals.
