ENRICH360®
The enrich360® was created to combat the billions of kilograms of food waste that end up in landfill annually. When food waste is sent to landfill, methane is released into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas that, along with CO2, are major causes of climate change. Emission of methane has increased by 15% since 1750, with the majority of these emissions coming from the agricultural sector. We are always considering the impact our farm and restaurant have on the environment and aware of the huge difference we can make by farming in a more sustainable way. It is with this in mind that we decided to make an investment in the sustainability of our farm and purchase an enrich360®, a machine that turns food waste into fertiliser.
Green Olive at Red Hill is an enrich360 Certified Farm and Gold Certified for Food and Waste.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The enrich360® recycles food waste into fertiliser through a process that includes dehydration, sterilisation and volume reduction. Food waste produced in the restaurant and from the farm gardens is simply put into the machine without any additives and the enrich360® works its magic. The product is a pellet of fertiliser, 80 to 93% smaller than the original waste volume. All food can be put into the machine which means we have significantly reduced our waste going to landfill.
This means we can now compost:
- All food waste from the restaurant such as food left on visitor’s plates and bread scraps
- All food waste from the kitchen such as vegetable scraps, peels and off cuts
- Green garden waste
- Coffee grinds
We have also swapped to 100% compostable napkins for visitors and compostable paper towel for use by staff in the kitchen. This means that we can put all napkins and paper towels into the enrich360® instead of sending them to landfill.
Filling the machine with waste
Spreading compost on the garden
We use our compost to grow farm fresh ingredients for our grazing platesTASTIER, HEALTHIER PRODUCE
By using enrich360®, we are able to give nutrients back to the soil that are removed when produce is harvested. This reduces the need for chemical fertilisers which cause a lot of problems including: harmful effects on aquatic flora and fauna due to chemical runoff, increased air pollution and depletion of nutrients from the soil, reducing the quality of produce grown in the soil. By using a natural fertiliser made from the produce that was actually grown in the soil, we eliminate the need for chemical fertilisers and the natural process of decomposition can occur. This means we can give nutrients back to the soil which helps improve the nutritional value and tastiness of the produce! It also means that we are able to continue the cycle of paddock-to-plate back to paddock again, continuing the natural life cycle of our produce, and ultimately making our farming practice more sustainable.