Organic Waste in Newfoundland and Labrador: A Review of Available Agriculture, Fishery, Forestry and Municipal Waste Literature

摘要

Re-utilisation of organic wasteis globally widely employed to maximise both economic and environmental sustainability of human activities. Re-utilisation of organic waste nutrients of biochars producedfrom such wastes do offer a criticalelementfor enhancingsoil fertility and thus supporting sustainable agriculture. Newfoundland and Labrador produces a variety of organic waste streams ranging from municipal tofarm, fishery and timber production. We carried out abest estimate of the amount of these waste streams with a goal to understand the potential utility of each as a source of nutrients or biochar for sustaining agricultural activities in the province.udMunicipal sources, i.e.municipal organic wastestreams and wastewaters, and fishery waste wereestimated to offer the largest potential fornutrient recovery.udDairy industry is the largest producer of nutrient rich organicwaste among agricultural activities. The dairy industry might possiblyproduce most ofthe nutrients required to fertilise their ownland base; notethat the dairiesin the provincestill import a significant portion of their feed and that is reflected in the waste stream.Nutrients currently available in the estimated waste streams are likely sufficient to support most fertilisation needs of the current land-base, orudnearly double the current land base in the caseofphosphorus. Given the estimatedbalanceof wastenutrients in the province any expansionin agriculturalland base wouldrequiresupplementary imports of fertilizers or,preferably, an integrated livestockand crop agriculture expansion. A secondary estimation was carried out to assess the value of the same organicudwaste streams for biochar production. This offered an alternative to nutrientreutilisation, an alternativethat isalso in supportof soilfertility. Sawmillwaste,that carried little nitrogen and phosphorusvalue, was alsoincluded in biochar estimates. Theassessment has shown a significant potential for biocharproduction mainly for fishery and municipal organic waste. However,pursuing a biochar agenda for these materials wouldrequirea trade-off with the nutrientslost during pyrolysis.udThe assessment presented here confirms that organic wastes are a valuable resource for agriculturalproduction and sustainability. However specificdecisionsudwould require amore detailed analysis of the geographic integration of waste streams and agricultural production.