Commercial Composters
Commercial composters is the same thing as industrial composters but apparently the composters do not like to be called ‘industrial’, they prefer the term ‘commercial’.
Commercial composters process organic waste (green and kitchen waste) into ‘compost’ and they sell most of the compost to the farmers. Compost is used to improve the quality and nutrients of the soil, while fertilisers is used to improve the nutrients of the plants.
Processing organic waste into compost would fall under the ‘waste management’ pillar; selling “compost” to farmers would fall under the ‘agricultural’ pillar.
The composting business under attack
Commercial composters are feeling the heat from the chemical industry on two fronts. They believe the petrochemical companies like BASF, TotalEnergies (TotalEnergies Corbion), Mitsubishi Chemicals, Versalis (Novamont), PTT (NatureWorks), etc. are surfing or hijacking the popular composting movement for two reasons.
On one hand, the chemical industry is trying to send so-called compostable plastics waste to commercial composters because most plastic recycling doesn’t work, so “greenwashing” the inexistent plastic recycling process into terms such as ‘composting’ and ‘circular’ sounds politically responsible to the ears of ill-informed decision-makers. By the way, most compostable plastics contain a fossil-based co-polymer called PBAT which is literally poison for the soil. This is why … the very few….commercial composters who process compostable plastics, cannot claim that their compost is organic. BASF is behind the PBAT industry and look at what BASF have done with fertilisers: industrial fertilisers are now highly toxic for humans, fauna and flora and for the ecosystems.
PBAT and the Third Reich Connections (FREE)
On the other hand, commercial composters need ‘organic’ waste as a feedstock to produce compost …. that’s their bread and butter. The chemical industry is trying to divert organic waste intended for commercial composters (it’s their feedstock to produce compost) to make bio-based plastics, so the commercial composters are also attacked on the supply chain side.
Should chemical companies run the composting process?
Do you really want the chemical industry to mix ‘chemical stuff’ into our compost and to process our organic waste?
Use your common sense.
Chemical companies need “bio-based” terminology to pretend they’re cleaning up their reputation … but at the end of the tunnel bio-based or fossil-based plastics is the same.
The chemical industry needs the “bio-based” thingy to make their industry appealing to the public because … apparently …. the appeal to work for chemical companies or oil companies has fallen dramatically.
The commercial composters are doing a great job to convert organic waste into compost. Instead of giving EU grants to chemical companies for “imaginary”circular projects, some of the money should go to composters and to small farmers.
The chemical industry makes billions in profit per year and do not need EU tax payer money.
However, there are a few good “bio-based” ideas out there …. but they’re not the most visible ones.