Oppy helps turn waste into feed and fertilizer

You could almost call it a circle of life. Now all culls from Oppy's Vancouver warehouse are composted by Enterra—a local company that specializes in the development and manufacture of ecological insect protein—to become ingredients in processes that create fertilizer and animal food.

“Because Enterra produces animal feed and fertilizer, Canadian regulations require that the material they use must be shipped directly from the source to their facility and cannot be mixed in with anything else,” said Regional Operations Manager Tom Stewart. “We had to have a new, dedicated waste bin installed in Vancouver and started shipping organic waste to them in late August.”

Tom noted that it was necessary to switch waste removal companies in order to ship 100 percent of our organic waste to Enterra. The product and quantity they send varies but it is usually peppers, kiwi, apples, squash and melons.

“Steve Roosdahl and I have visited the Enterra facility and saw their black soldier fly breeding program and the process they use to prepare the organic waste to feed the insect larvae. They stop the larvae’s development at a specific stage and dry them out to be used for feed,” Tom explained.

The droppings the larvae generate while feeding are filtered off and used as fertilizer which is certified for organic crop production.

Enterra’s products offer a sustainable alternative to costly and resource-intensive feed ingredients like fishmeal, fish oil, soybean meal, palm kernel oil and coconut oil.

“It’s a very well thought out process (albeit a little bit stinky!!),” Tom summed up.

For more information:
www.enterrafeed.com
www.oppy.com

Publication date: Mon 26 Sep 2016