Bio Char from the Junk Mail soil special 2014

Bio Char

There has been a great deal of excitement generated about biochar, which I date back to when James Lovelock, (of Gaia theory), stated and I paraphrase, that the greatest hope to avoid runaway climate change was to make loads of charcoal and bury it. This of course resulted in quite a reaction to say the least and as ever people divided into entrenched camps to argue it out.

In case you don’t know, BioChar is not a new invention. When the conquistadors were travelling up the Amazon in the mid 16^th century they found a civilisation lining the banks of the Amazon for mile after mile and these people had made garden with rich deep soils mixing composts with crushed charcoal which was called Terra Preta. These soils are mined to this day by garden centres in Brazil and sold. The best book I have found on the subject is called The Biochar Solution and is by Albert Bates, published by New Society.  Biochar is comprised of charcoal, which is pyrolised organic woody matter, i.e. heated in the absence of oxygen, so just like normal charcoal but this material is crushed and used in soils after being prepared in a variety of ways. Albert Bates is very clear that there a good and bad ways of making charcoal and the bad ways can be damaging and polluting and so obviously do not fit into the ethos of the whole reason to make it in the first place. Also that Biochar is not a panacea which will ‘save the planet’ but, that as a way of building, particularly degraded soils Biochar has a massively important part to play. Probably the most important factor to realise is that building soil health, and sequestering carbon in the soil through applications of composts and mulches and through no dig techniques, are also incredibly valuable.

Charcoal is an incredible substance, just a fragment the size of a rubber on the end of a pencil can have a surface area equivalent to a small house. It is a sponge like structure full of pores, on its own it does nothing to the soil but as Albert Bates says acts like a coral reef in the soil harbouring an astonishing amount of microbial life by vastly extending the surface area of the soil. Kilometres of fungal strands in a cubic centimetre, and all the other kingdoms of life present in the soil, all the beneficial bacteria, protozoa providing a richer food web in the soil and sequestering carbon indefinitely.

~ Farewell to Richard, Hello to Ben!

I’ve been trawling the archives to find out when Richard and I went to a demonstration at the Houses of Parliament. It was in January 2003 and Richard had just taken over from Ralph Mackridge as co-ordinator of DCRN and has become the one with the longest staying power! Ken Orchard was the first, replaced by Carol Johnston, then Karen Evans and Ralph. I cannot find the original photo of that first trip we took, it was probably on a ‘real’ camera as there is a photo I took of Joan Ruddock and Tony Juniper as well and I’m sure I didn’t have a digital camera in those days; we had only just started using computers. Richard had already been working in the community sector helping establish the Proper Job resource centre, largely thanks to him still thriving today due to his continuing support since that time. He also worked with Torridge and Devon County Council helping to implement garden ‘waste’ and cardboard collections for 5000 household in Torridge and waste minimisation and recycling efforts for Devon County Council having to don a suit and tie and work in an office at County Hall, hard to believe! Richard has been a great support for myself and David Banks especially helping Refurnish in setting up new premises in Crediton, Tavistock and Buckfastleigh to name a few as well as encouraging and supporting reuse and recycling projects throughout the County, he will be a very hard act to follow.  ~ Nicky

I am Ben Bryant the new Coordinator of Devon Community Recycling Network from June 2016.
Firstly I'd like to say a big thank you to Richard Gomme for all his hard work in ensuring DCRN has given good value to the Devon Community sector up until now. He has left a strong legacy for me to continue which I hope to build upon by serving all of those in Devon interested in Recycling and sustainable waste action.


In my previous job as Recycling Officer for Teignbridge District Council I sat on the management team for DCRN and DCCN which provided me a good degree of knowledge about these sister organisations.  My eight and a half years at Teignbridge Council also puts me on a sound footing to take DCRN forward providing me a good knowledge of the local scene and an understanding of local authority, funders and partners of the DCRN.

I have previously worked in the private sector for Croner and then TNS Plc whilst living in London and got my first full time environmental job with Groundwork west London for whom I ran a Resource Efficiency Club, funded by envirowise (formerly WRAP) helping small to medium sized businesses make savings.  I moved back to my native Devon in 2006 to be closer to my family, my roots and the sea.  Working as an Envision Business Mentor for environmental charity Global Action Plan (GAP) I led another government funded Resource Efficiency Club to help businesses based in and around Exeter.

I became Recycling Officer for Teignbridge in 2007 and I really enjoyed helping the public by answering a whole range of questions about waste and recycling. I often found myself explaining away the complexities of recycling and why recycling things that are technically recyclable often becomes more difficult than it might be,  I mean how hard can it be?  Examples of recurring questions included "why can't we recycle more plastics" and "why has every district in Devon got a different recycling scheme".  It always baffled me how something so seemingly straightforward could throw up so many complications.  I believe the key to encouraging more participation in recycling is good communications and transparency. It is so importantly for people to know where the material is going and what will it become? 

So hopefully writing this blog providing news and views of community projects and real recycling options in Devon will help to that end.  The blog also offers an opportunity for DCRN and DCCN to work as one to better serve Devons communities.

Bio Char

the biochar debate

Charcoal’s potential to reverse climate change and build soil fertility

James Bruges

Published by Green Books £8.00

Charcoal is a very stable form of carbon that resists oxidisation and if incorporated into soils rather than burnt can not only sequester carbon but hold onto water and nutrients creating and maintaining very fertile soils.

James Bruges has written a valuable book on this subject just at a time when interest in this ancient technique is being rediscovered for the incredible potential it has in reducing atmospheric carbon. As James Lovelock says, “There is one way we could save ourselves (from global heating) and that is

through the massive burial of charcoal.It would mean farmers turning all their agricultural waste – which contains carbon that plants have spent the summer sequestering – into nonbiodegradable

charcoal and burying it in the soil … This scheme would need no subsidy; the farmer would make a profit.”

James Bruges tells of a recently rediscovered agrarian civilisation in the Amazon which collapsed finally, not because the soil was worn out as in nearly every other great civilisation,but because of the diseases brought by the Conquistadors which killed 9 out of 10 people. In fact the soils that they created, called ‘terra preta’ are still being used today as trucks regularly load up this ancient soil and sell it off at garden centres.

The only potential downside to Bio Char is that big businesses could take over bio Char in a big way for carbon credits for offsetting other polluting activities and, worse still grow crops just to make into char. Nevertheless I think there is a great opportunity for small composting groups to either get together with their local charcoal producer and get all the small stuff and dust to blend with their

best sieved compost (bio-char needs to be mixed with compost otherwise it will pull nutrients from the soil, which can detrimentally effect the crop rather than boosting it) and sell bags of bio-char compost, or to start making charcoal from some of the woody materials brought to their sites and pulverising

this to mix with compost, bearing in mind that charcoal dust is a pretty toxic substance so suitable care will have to be taken.

 According to further research undertaken courtesy of You Tube the production of Bio-Char involves a fast burn to create the char which is far preferable to the slow polluting slow burn that charcoal makers employ.

~ Plastics Recycling Guide in Devon

YOUR PLASTICS RECYCLING GUIDE

PLASTICS ACCEPTED AT DCC RECYCLING CENTRES
RIGID MIXED PLASTICS - PLEASE MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS CLEAN All plastic drink bottles (squash and put lid back on)
Plastic milk bottles (squash and put lid back on)
All plastic household cleaning bottles
Pre formed biscuit or chocolate box trays
Plastic sandwich containers
Yogurt pots, margarine tubs, Ready meal containers etc
Plastic fruit containers (unless made from expanded polystyrene)
Plastic flower pots (must be clean)
Containers for hand and other skin creams (must be clean)
Shampoo bottles (must be rinsed clean)
Plastic bags are acceptable if several are bagged into one bag (except Deepmoor and Macklins Quarry)
Not acceptable: cling film type material, contaminated plastic, any other type of plastic
BULKY PLASTIC ITEMS NOW ACCEPTED AT RECYCLING CENTRES,
(PLEASE MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS CLEAN)
Buckets, Bowls, Bins, Water Butts, Plastic Garden Furniture, Plant Pots, General Housewares, Plastic Children’s Toys (some metal inclusions are acceptable, Collapsible Crates, Clean Paint Pots NOT ACCEPTED IN THE BULKY PLASTICS CONTAINER Items not listed above are not accepted – such as:
Plastic Film, Plastic Bags, Builder Bags, PVC Doors, PVC Window Frames,
PVC Pipes and Guttering, Flexible Plastic (e.g. vinyl flooring and hosepipes), Video Tapes, Fibreglass (e.g. Bathtub) www.devon.gov.uk/bulky_plastics_acceptable_list_web.pdf
SOFT PLASTIC WRAP, FILM, BAGS etc SUITABLE FOR SUPERMARKET SHOP FRONT
PLASTIC RECYCLING BINS Plastic bags
Cereal packet plastic inners,
Frozen vegetable bags
CREDITON AND UFFCULME AREAS - contact local group directly
Uffculme Compost Magic - Contact email: compostmagic@hotmail.co.uk)
For Crediton area information see: www.sustainablecrediton.org.uk

~ D.I.Y. Clothes Swaps

Interested in running your own clothes swap? We’d like to help. Recycle Devon has put together a clothes swap event toolkit to enable members of the public to put on their own clothes swap a.k.a. a Swish. The kit includes a complete ‘How To…’ guide for each of the events and all of the equipment and materials that you might need such as coat hangers, hanging rails and a poster template. Additionally, Recycle Devon’s Re-Use Project Co-ordinator, Emma Croft, will be available to support and advise you throughout the process of setting up and running your event.

“Swishing is a great way to pass on clothes that we no longer need or want to someone else that can give them a new lease of life. Lots of communities

around Devon are holding their own events already and we want to encourage more towns and villages to swap not shop! Around 30% of clothes in our wardrobes haven’t been worn for more than a year which equates to about £1000 worth of clothes that could happily find a new home.” said Emma.

Sarah McDonald organises the Exeter Clothes Swap and her advice for anyone looking to organise something similar is “Just do it! If all of the organisation involved is what’s putting you off, then just rope in a few friends to help you. Either that or organise a small-scale swap in your front room with just your friends and family to make it simple. Clothes swapping is brilliant!” For further information, please contact:

Emma Croft, Reuse Project Co-ordinator at Devon County Council: emma.croft@devon.gov.uk or 07966 566435 or visit

http://www.recycledevon.org/ content/clothes-swaps Exeter Clothes Swap Events

https://www.facebook.com/ groups/280855638719312/?fref=ts