This page provides links to a wide range of information relating to soil and compost and other related issues. Much will be technical in nature, outlining new developments in soil science or the management of compost and soil. Some will be commercial, including announcements of new products available from Earthcare. Maybe some will just be fun or interesting or simply a story that has tickled our fancy and might also tickle yours!

Whatever we aim to make this section interesting, informative and dynamic. We will be constantly adding to the content so please bookmark this page if you have any interest in the management and improvement of soil and compost.

The initial list of articles, releases, stories, etc is detailed below. Just click on an item to go to that item. Good reading!

1. URGENT ACTION NEEDED TO PROTECT EUROPE'S DAMAGED SOILS

2. EARTHCARE WINS GOVERNMENT AWARD FOR INNOVATION

3. SOIL - NOT JUST A LOAD OF DIRT

4. SOIL-LIFE TEST KIT

5. COMPOST MATURITY TEST KIT

6. BIODEGRADABLE FOOD CYCLER BAGS

7. COMPOST - THE WAY FORWARD

The degradation of Europe's vital soil resources will continue and even accelerate unless prompt action is taken now, according to a new report by the European Environment Agency and the United Nations Environment Programme.

"The sustainable use of soils is one of Europe's greatest environmental, social and economic challenges," said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director. "Although often overlooked, soil is a natural resource that is no less important to human well-being and the environment than clean water and clean air."

The report, "Down to earth: Soil degradation and sustainable development in Europe: A challenge for the 21st century," was released to coincide with the annual meeting of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in December 2000. The 32-page report outlines and quantifies the threats to Europe's soils and proposes solutions.

"Soil degradation is part of the systematic abuse of the European space, its territory and the natural resources involved," said Domingo Jimenez Beltran, the European Environment Agency's Executive Director.

Soil provides a large number of different services which we depend on and which we often are unaware of until it is too late. Soils are being over-stressed by Europe's dense settlement patterns and intensive economic activities and by acidification, erosion, contamination, and changes in climate. Growing demand for food production, living space, leisure and tourism facilities, infrastructure and industrial production will only increase the pressure.

In some parts of Europe, the degradation is so severe that it has reduced the soil's capacity to support human communities and ecosystems and resulted in desertification. Because it can take hundreds or thousands of years to regenerate most soils, the damage occurring today is for all purposes irreversible.

One third of Europe's soil may be affected (with over 150 million hectares suffering high erosion risk). The situation is critical in the Mediterranean countries (e.g. Spain with 18% of land affected and losses of 28 tonnes of soil per hectare per year) and around the Black Sea (e.g. Ukraine with 41% of agricultural land affected by erosion risk in 1996).

Soil degradation is not only occurring in the Mediterranean countries, it also affects Central Europe. Austria's agricultural land is losing 9 tonnes per hectare per year and countries like Ireland and Iceland are also vulnerable. It is expected that over the next 50 years the risk of soil erosion by water will increase in 80% of EU's agricultural land.

In the decades to come, the sustainable use of soil will be a great challenge, comparable with the global concerns about changes in climate and biodiversity.

Further information: Down to earth: Soil degradation and sustainable development in Europe. A challenge for the 21st century. ISBN 92-9167-398-6. Published by the European Environment Agency (www.eea.eu.int).

BACK TO TOP

Earthcare Wins Government Award For Innovation

Technology and Consultancy company Earthcare Ltd, has won £44,625 in a government run competition aimed at encouraging innovation in England. Earthcare Ltd, has won a Department of Trade and Industry Smart Award for a project looking at the development of a special soil activity meter which will help provide essential information on soil quality.

The company says that there is increasing concern over the declining quality of soil, and its project proposes the development of a meter which will carry out a biological test based on the production of carbon dioxide from soil which will complement standard chemical and physical data.

Donald Wood, Earthcare's managing director, said: "The firm provides products and information for gardeners, growers and farmers. We are delighted to have the opportunity to develop this exciting new product at a time when customers are looking to use more organic methods. Part of the work will be carried out by The University of Reading Soil Science Department".

BACK TO TOP

Soil - Not Just A Load Of Dirt!

Everyone is familiar with soil. We play on it, grow food in it, dump things in it and generally take it for granted. But soil is not just a load of dirt, it is a living material teeming with a diversity of living creatures as rich and varied as any tropical rainforest. It's amazing but true!

Worms may not be as fast over the ground as leopards and tigers, and moles may not be as attractive as giant pandas, but they have an equally important place in the survival of our living planet earth. To see most of these creatures we have to use a magnifiying glass or microscope and explore the world of microbiology, a vast and underexplored part of our living world. Under the microscope we see a world created within a complex architecture of solids and spaces. The solids comprise clay, silt and sand while the spaces are filled with air and water. Communities of microscopic bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes inhabit these spaces and feed on the remains of dead plants and animals (organic matter) mixed with the solids by worms as they burrow and feed. Soil is certainly a hazardous place for microbes. Their world is constantly being turned upside down by earthmovers - worms and moles. There is the risk of being eaten by grazing protozoa or predatory nematodes and worms, and the danger of chemical attack from sprays and fertilizers.

There is one fact that we ignore at our peril - without these subterranean creatures our soils wouldn't be able to support the growth of plants, and without plants we would have no food, no fibre and there would be no oxygen in the air for us to breathe. Not a pleasant prospect! So why don't we take more care of our soils and treat them with the respect that such a precious living material deserves?

One of the reasons is that it's difficult to know if a soil is alive or not. With most living organisms you can tell when they are dead - fish float on the water, flies lie on their back with legs in the air, and we stop breathing. How do we know if soil is alive so that we can tell when its dead? Trying to find worms in soil is a good start. But what about more scientific tests? All of the traditional tests you can do on your soil are for chemical properties like pH, which tells you the acidity of your soil. What is needed is some sort of quick and easy way of checking the health of the soil. We now have the answer! Building on 20 years of years of experience we have brought together the very latest in scientific technology together with rigorous scientific evaluation to come up with a Soil Health Check, and at the heart of this concept is a Soil Life Test Kit which allows you to measure how well your soil is breathing.

BACK TO TOP

Soil-Life Test Kit

There is increasing awareness within Europe and North America of the declining quality of our soil, one of our most precious but overlooked natural resources. This is reflected at the political level e.g. the proposed UK National Soil Protection Strategy (Royal Commission on Enviromental Pollution, 1996 Nineteenth Report on Sustainable Use of Soil, Cm 3165. HMSO, London) and at the consumer level e.g. increased demand for organic produce certified by the Soil Association.

Unlike soil physical and chemical properties, for which standard tests are available, there are currently no generally used biological tests for soil quality, although there are methods potentially available. A soil composed of little else than sand with available elements essential for plant growth may support plants but only temporarily. The future possibilities of soils depend upon the microbial life.

An abundant microbial life indicates that the soil has been built up to a state of fertility which is relatively much more permanent, and hence sustainable, than when the microbial activity is less. One of the main characteristics of living organisms is the production of carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the products of respiration. For example, an adult man produces about 330 litres of CO2 per day. Similarly, soil produces up to 18 litres of CO2 per square metre of land per day - we call this soil respiration. The more active the soil population is, the more it breathes (respires) and the more CO2 is produced. A healthy soil contains a more active microbial population; the problem is that we cannot see these creatures with the naked eye. We may obtain glimpses of them under the microscope, but all we are really able to observe is the end result of their activity. A more active population will be reflected in higher rates of soil respiration.

Our Soil Life Test Kit is based upon the production of CO2 from soil and will provide essential information on soil health which will complement and add value to standard chemical and physical information.

BACK TO TOP

Compost Maturity Test Kit

Each person in the UK produces on average half a tonne of household waste every year, but at present only 8 per cent of this waste is recycled by councils. The Government plans to double this figure by the year 2003 to recycle 5 million tonnes of household waste. Almost 25 percent of household waste is food and garden waste such as leftovers, vegetable scraps, grass clippings, prunings. This material, sometimes called Œorganic waste¹, can be easily made into compost and then used as a fertilizer. Compost which undergoes adequate decomposition will normally result in a product that will increase plant growth, improve soil fertility and may also reduce soil-borne diseases.

Under some circumstances, however, compost may not fully mature during the composting process. This means that it does not undergo sufficient breakdown to become a stable organic product. If this happens then the compost may smell badly and reduce plant growth. This is because unripe compost reduces the amount of oxygen available for plant roots and can produce toxic organic acids.

Based on the biological process of respiration, the Solvita Compost Maturity Test Kit allows the maturity of compost to be tested quickly on site. The method is a widely recognized compost test procedure in the USA. It has been tested in Germany by the environmental agency LUFA (Landwirtschaftlich-Umwelt Forschungs Amt) which found it provided "excellent corroboration of the more time-consuming Dewar Self-Heating test". Solvita is officially recommended in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The method forms the basis of the Woods End's Quality Seal of Approval ("QSAP") program. This is one of the first integrated aproaches for independent and highly-qualified registration and certification for compost and related products.

The Solvita Compost Maturity Test Kit will assist councils in persuading more people to use locally produced compost as a way of recyling waste and also reducing the use of non-renewable peat-based products.

BACK TO TOP

Biodegradable FoodCycler Bags

Each person in the UK produces on average half a tonne of household waste every year. More than 50% of this waste, including a large proportion of packaging, could be recycled, but at present we dump 85 per cent of our rubbish in enormous holes in the ground (known as landfill) .

Under a new European Landfill Directive the UK Government will be required to reduce the amount of rubbish going into landfill by 60 per cent over the next 15 years. As a result, the Government is planning to bring about a Rubbish Revolution on our doorsteps by giving a massive boost to compulsory recycling.

The UK has a long way to go to catch up with other countries in Europe. In the UK at present only 8 per cent of household waste is recycled by councils, compared to 45 per cent in the Netherlands. The plan is to double this figure by the year 2003 to recycle 5 million tonnes of household waste. Almost 25 percent of household waste is food and garden waste such as leftovers, vegetable scraps, grass clippings, prunings. This material, sometimes called Œorganic waste¹, can be easily made into compost and then used as an excellent natural fertilizer.

The thing that puts most people off collecting their kitchen scraps is the smell and mess from rotting food. We can overcome this problem with our multi-purpose 100 % Compostable Bag. Our specially designed bag provides a covenient, hygienic way to gather kitchen waste. It is environmentally-friendly, smell-free, leak-proof and breaks down as rapidly as green waste during composting.

BACK TO TOP

Compost - The Way Forward!

There¹s going to be a lot more compost produced over the next few years, mainly by councils who are having to recycle more household waste. So we¹re going to see more and more bags of different types of compost appearing in garden centres and DIY stores.

This is a welcome development because it means firstly that less biodegradable material will be dumped in big holes in the ground which can cause environmental pollution, and secondly that there will be less need to use peat-based garden products which involve the exploitation of a precious natural resource.

Compost can be one of the most valuable sources of fertility for your soil, not just because it contains N, P and K but because it provides organic matter which feeds the soil microbes and improves the structure of your soil. It is ideal for organic growers who rely on a healthy soil population to enhance the natural cycles upon which sustainable soil fertility depends.

The soil contains one of the richest and most diverse communites of microbes found anywhere on our planet. But it is also one of the most impoverished communities, exisiting for most of the time in a state of near starvation. When we use soluble inorganic fertilizers we provide a quick fix, supplying in a convenient form the main nutrients required by plants. But the effect is often short-term and these artificial fertilizers do nothing to feed the soil microbes.

Compost feeds the soil population, and leads to a build up in the long-term fertility of the soil. It provides energy and nutrients for the soil microbes enabling them to grow and multiply and supply N, P, K and micronutrients in a balanced form. Microbes also assist in the formation of good soil structure which is important for the supply of air and water in the soil.

Various organisations are currently putting together standards for compost based on detailed analysis of the individual components e.g. nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn). This is not an easy task, particularly when we don¹t fully understand the ecological effects of these elements in soil. This reductionist approach is favoured by regulatory authorities, and enables the product to be labelled with a comprehensive set of data. But what is the consumer to make of these numbers? Does it really matter if one bag of compost has 90 mg Pb kg-1 and another has 45 mg Pb kg-1?

We are faced with the same problem when we look at the information provided on a food product. What we really want to know are: Is the product good for me? Is the product safe?

We can ask the same about compost: Is the compost good for my soil? In other words will it produce a healthy soil ? Is the product safe? In other words does it contain any toxic chemicals?

We are currently working with the leading scientists in the field to develop techniques which will allow us to obtain quick and reliable answers to these questions by measuring the response by the microbes in soil.

BACK TO TOP