Montichiari Begins Free Compost Distribution to Promote Soil Health
Free compost for the citizens of Monteclarensi, obtained from the separate collection of grass and branches. The Municipality’s project had already achieved good experimental results last year, but with the start of 2001, it will enter its most complete and organized phase.
Environmental issues and municipal initiative
The slow but steady depletion of organic substances in the soil is increasingly promoting the phenomenon of desertification. “In the collective imagination, the phenomenon of desertification is associated with the expansion of sandy deserts,” explains Valentino Leonardi, the Agriculture Councillor, “but the Po Valley is not exempt, as the organic content in its soils is progressively decreasing.”
In fact, agricultural practices like manure spreading or frequent green waste tipping in the past are now almost abandoned, replaced by the dumping of liquids that compact the soil. For these reasons, the Department of Environment and Agriculture of the Municipality of Montichiari intends to raise awareness among the population through the distribution of compost derived from plant waste.
Distribution and procedures
In the first months of this year, the Municipality will place containers called “Green Service” in residential areas of the city center and districts. These containers, shaped like parallelepipeds and made from slats of recycled plastic, allow residents to deposit, separately from other waste, grass clippings, pruning of trees, and all green material produced in gardens and orchards.
Green waste is collected weekly by the sanitation company of Gavardo and sent to its authorized composting center in Bedizzole. Here, through processes like shredding, pile formation, aeration by turning, humidification, and refinement with screening, after approximately 150-180 days, a “green composted soil conditioner” is produced. This, along with peat, forms the base of the soil that everyone knows and purchases in bags for gardens or for preparing potting mixes for flowers in pots.
Use and benefits
This results in a high-quality compost, suitable for natural fertilization of lawns, gardens, and vegetable patches. Montichiari citizens will be able to collect the product free of charge, limited to 100 liters per family for the year 2001, at the dedicated recycling point located in località Rampina di S. Giorgio.
Even the ASM of Brescia, sensitive to environmental issues and following the directions of the Environment Department of Montichiari, has considered the opportunity to proceed with the winter fertilization of flowerbeds, hedges, and trees present in the authorized landfill of “Cava Verde” using natural compost, as an alternative to more aggressive chemical fertilizers that harm the environment.
Francesco Di Chiara