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Blenheim Palace has announced a ‘groundbreaking’ organic waste project that will act as a ‘major step’ towards such sites meeting net zero sustainability goals
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 06 Feb 2024
Blenheim Palace is trialling a process of transforming organic waste into reusable material
The UK’s Blenheim Palace has announced a “groundbreaking” project that will see the heritage organisation transform its organic waste into reusable nutrient rich materials.
A Unesco World Heritage Site, the Blenheim Palace Estate will take waste including food, coffee, compostable packaging, card, manure, green horticultural waste, forestry waste and sheep wool and feed it into automatic waste composting machines supplied by Tumblebug.
Once processed, this organic material will be transformed into dry, odour free and sanitised material, reducing its weight by 90% while also removing water, pathogens, weed seeds and odour, all while capturing essential nutrients for use in soil conditioners, compost additives and organic fertilisers. A patented biochar filter princess will also use charcoal to remove impurities from the captured water so it can be reused.
“To become a net zero business by 2027 means we must look at every part of our operations and reduce our emissions, and we see this project as a major step towards achieving that as well as creating circular businesses from our waste,” said Roy Cox, managing director – Estates at Blenheim Palace.
“It’s vital that we work with partners like Tumblebug, and together we will find the best mix, or model, that is transferable to other businesses who face similar challenges.”
The partnership with Tumblebug will see its technologies used in a six-month pilot scheme funded by Innovate UK, which sees the project as a potential blueprint for the UK’s other estates to meet sustainability targets.
In addition to its waste composting, the project will also see the creation of an organic mushroom farm, while carbon removal technology will aid the reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into surface water.
If successful, Blenheim Palace says the project will be further developed to accelerate its pledge to achieve its own net zero targets.
Heritage
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