SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The La Tahonilla Environmental Center, dependent on the area of Management of the Natural Environment and Safety of the Cabildo de Tenerife, has joined the pilot project Circular Communities of Community Composting of Tenerife, installing a vermicomposter with a capacity for 5,000 worms.
Specifically designed for the Center, the vermicomposter will process the vegetable and organic remains of La Tahonilla and will produce a fertilizer that is richer in nutrients than other types of compost, thereby improving soil fertility, and which will be reused in the facilities.
This project is promoted by the Area of Sustainable Development and Fight Against Climate Change of the Cabildo and is an alternative to the management of domestic organic waste. It is currently being developed in the municipalities of El Rosario, La Laguna and Tegueste and at the University of La Laguna.
“The installation of this vermicomposter will contribute to the objectives of sustainability and will also generate a reusable product in the center itself”, has indicated the Minister of Management of the Natural Environment and Safety, Isabel García, who added that starting these initiatives in the Cabildo centers “provides an exemplary bonus”.
For his part, the Minister for Sustainable Development and the Fight against Climate Change, Javier Rodríguez Medina, stressed that the sustainable management of waste “is the only way to achieve an island that respects the environment; for this reason, this initiative is valued and will serve as an example of good practice for other possible locations in both public and private nurseries and centers”.
In La Tahonilla, a prototype of its own has been built for the Center, different from those that have been installed in the municipalities, much more manageable and modular, which can be easily moved and enlarged or reduced. The purpose is to check its viability and if it can be replicated in educational centers.
The idea that the Environmental Center has its own vermicomposter has been promoted by the New Employment Opportunities Project (NOE) and the Tahonilla prototype has been designed by the technical team of the Employment Program for the Ecological Transition (PETE), with the technical assistance of David Ruiz, technician of the NOE Project.
Thus, on July 8, a talk with training objectives was given at La Tahonilla and this novelty was presented as a way to reduce the amount of recyclable organic matter that is transferred to the Tenerife Environmental Complex (CAT).
The La Tahonilla vermicomposter has been started up with around 5,000 worms to which remains such as coffee grounds, pasta without sauce, traces of meat and fish in small quantities, fruit and vegetable shells, egg shells can be contributed. , remains of fruit, flowers, pruning remains, vegetable textiles such as linen or cotton and paper without colored ink.
To provide the vermicomposter with organic matter, it is recommended to chop the green materials in proportions of between 5 and 10 cm and the dry materials between 1 and 5 cm.
So that the users of La Tahonilla can participate, there will be a water intake to wash their hands when providing material, a shovel, a bucket, and a weight, in addition to a container in which the leachate is collected, a reusable by-product of the supplied materials.
This new vermicomposter will remain under the supervision of qualified personnel who guarantee its proper functioning and that the ideal conditions are met to obtain the expected results.