An 'Introduction to Composting' lecture is delivered yearly to undergraduate Civil and Environmental Engineering students and postgraduate Masters of Environmental Management students at The University of New South Wales by the Recycled Organics Unit.

The lecture provides an overview of the composting industry in Australia, and its importance in terms of reprocessing organic "wastes" into reusable products, thereby avoiding landfill. Types of composting technologies are reviewed, and key process stages in typical facilities is presented, as follows:

• The Composting Industry in Australia
  - What is industrial-scale composting?
  - Need for environmentally sustainable development
  - Uses for the recycled products – key to reversing land degradation
  - Composting facility process diagram & site layout
  - Types of composting technologies & relative performance
  
  
• Composting Facility Management - Process Control
  - Feedstock and receival
  - Preparing the mix
  - Composting phase
  - Curing and screening
  - Final product preparation
  - Quality testing
  - Storage / bagging / sale
  

Download the lecture slides.