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April 2009
Welcome to the April 2009 edition of Fertile Minds, your fount of edaphic wisdom.
In the last issue we met the staff of the Prep Lab. In this issue we meet the staff of the Analytical Lab, and SESL is pleased to introduce our world-class lab manager, Luzmila Abercrombie. We also flag exciting changes at SESL that ultimately promise to achieve international best practice and reduce turnaround times.
If you have any questions you would like answered in Fertile Minds, please write to info@sesl.com.au. If you have any special requirements, we would be pleased to talk with you and tailor a package and price. Please contact the office on (02) 9980 6554 or write to us at info@sesl.com.au.
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In this issue
- The Loam Ranger – Using testing to improve management
- World-class lab manager
- New lab info management system
- Recovered fines – new exemptions
- Meet the staff – the Analytical Lab
- Did you know ... ? – Geophagy, or soil for lunch
The Loam Ranger – Using testing to improve management
Dear Loam Ranger,
What's the point of testing?
Testing of soil, foliage and water is an essential tool in the care and maintenance of turf and crops.
There are two stages in using testing: first, getting the basic chemical conditions right for optimal growth (getting it right); and second, devising and tuning fertiliser programs (keeping it right). Different types of testing are used in each stage.
Click here to find out what to test for and when (700 words, 3 minutes)
World-class lab manager
SESL is pleased to introduce our world-class laboratory manager, Luzmila Abercrombie, who joined us late last year. Luzmila’s extensive background in running international soil laboratories makes her an invaluable asset as SESL’s work expands and new procedures are introduced.
Major growth in SESL’s business has outstripped our previous capacity to handle sample testing and reporting, so Luzmila has arrived at exactly the right time to apply her wealth of experience to completely restructuring the lab’s work.
Click here to read all about Luzmila (500 words, 2 minutes)
New lab info management system
Major improvements are afoot at SESL. Recently we announced our new ICP-OES gizmo, which has simultaneously increased our analytical capacity (and accuracy) and decreased turnaround times. We’re currently working on even bigger improvements that promise to achieve international best practice, cut turnaround times, reduce the opportunity for error and improve staff flexibility. This is our forthcoming Laboratory Information Management System, or LIMS.
Click here to read about what the LIMS will mean for you (600 words, 2 minutes)
Recovered fines – new exemptions
Recovered fines are defined as "a soil or sand substitute with a typical particle size of less than 9.5 mm that is derived from the processing of mixed construction and demolition waste, including residues from the processing of skip bin waste." That is, they are a waste-derived product that is recovered by separation at recycling centres. Much of the material comes from skip bin waste and is therefore highly variable.
If you produce recovered fines from construction or demolition waste or use them to make soils for land application, you need to know that the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) has replaced the previously contentious General Exemption with two new exemptions.
The use of all waste materials as soil amendments or components is governed in NSW by the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (the POEO Act). All wastes so used must comply with the associated Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2005 – they must either be individually licensed or be specifically exempted. Recovered fines are exempted. The exemption specifies the conditions that you are legally required to follow if you produce recovered fines or use them in soil. These conditions relate to maximum contaminant concentrations, a written statement of compliance, permitted uses, testing and record keeping.
The previous exemption did not take account of the difference between continuous production and batch production. Consequently, batch producers were required to sample far more frequently (on a per-tonne basis) than continuous producers, and thus had to spend far more on testing.
Under the new exemptions, batch producers must sample (and test) on a per-tonne basis (specifically, 10 samples per 400 t), and continuous producers must sample (and test) weekly (some contaminants) and fortnightly (most contaminants).
Meet the staff – the Analytical Lab
In the last issue we met the staff of the Prep Lab. Once they have prepared your samples for testing, the tests begin in earnest in the Analytical Lab. Meet Ian King, Daniela Trpcevska, Susan Nguyen and Katie McBryde.
Click here to read about how your samples are analysed in the lab (800 words, 3 minutes)
Did you know ... ? – Geophagy, or soil for lunch
In some cultures around the world, eating soil is considered normal. In particular, people in parts of Africa, India and the USA regularly eat certain soils.
This is not as bizarre as it sounds. Soils contain minerals, and these minerals can supplement an insufficient supply in food. The practice of pica, defined in Western culture as an abnormal craving for non-food substances, becomes the practice of geophagy ("earth-eating") in other cultures. (Note, however, that pica is common in children, and where this occurs in situations where old lead-based paint has been stripped, lead poisoning and brain damage are possible.)
Traditional cultures cannot have known that soil contains essential minerals that may be lacking in the diet, nor that it contains clays that bind plant toxins. But trial and error would have shown that the ingestion of soil or certain clays would have made toxic plants edible (in situations where there was nothing else to eat), or would have kept people healthy.