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August 2009

Welcome to the August 2009 edition of Fertile Minds, which is full of nutrients.

Spring is around the corner. Now is the time to start planning spring plantings, which means soil amendments. This issue includes an article that explains how to optimise soil nutrients for best growth.

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

• Updated Waste classification guidelines
• New Contaminated Land Management Act amendments
• The Loam Ranger – Inter-laboratory proficiency testing
• Optimising nutrients for healthy spring growth
• Client profile: Knowla Livestock
• RailCorp RISI permit for SESL
• A toilet-led water saving
• Did you know ... ? – Rock wallaby update

Updated Waste classification guidelines

In April 2008, the NSW Department of the Environment and Climate Change (DECC) brought out new Waste Classification Guidelines. Part 1 of the Guidelines has just been revised (released 1 July 2009). It explains, in six basic steps, how to classify your waste for disposal. We will explain what the revision means for you when we have come to grips with it. In the meantime, you can download the update from http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/waste/envguidlns/index.htm.

New Contaminated Land Management Act amendments

The NSW Government revised the Contaminated Land Management Amendment Act 2008 in December 2008 to allow sites to be cleaned up more efficiently while reinforcing the “polluter pays” principle. The changes came into force on 1 July 2009. The changes are explained in point form at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/clm/clmactreview.htm.

The Loam Ranger – Inter-laboratory proficiency testing

Dear Loam Ranger,

How do I know that the test results you send me are correct?

When we send you your test results (soil, plant tissue, water etc.), we are confident of our results. But how do we know that they are accurate? And how do you know they are?

SESL participates in a continuous program of inter-laboratory proficiency testing under the auspices of four testing authorities: NATA (the National Association of Testing Authorities), Standards Australia, ASPAC (the Australasian Soil and Plant Analysis Council) and the USGA (United States Golf Association).

ASPAC and the USGA send participating labs regular sets of material samples (generally every quarter) identified only by a code number. We analyse the samples just as we do our clients’ samples, and then send the results back to the authorities. The authorities then compare our results against their standard results, and let us know how we went.

If we have made a mistake, we can track the sample record back through the testing process and identify where we went wrong, and therefore correct our procedure. But we’re pleased to say that we’re always correct. And that’s how we know.

NATA and Standards Australia set the standards that we are required to follow in our work.

Click here to find out about QA, QC and NATA accreditation (360 words, 2 minutes)

Optimising nutrients for healthy spring growth

Spring is just around the corner. Here in SESL’s neighbourhood spring flowers are already out.

Nutrient availability in spring can determine a crop’s or sward’s growth for the entire growing season. If nutrients are lacking or unbalanced when the plants start to grow, yields will be compromised. Now is your best opportunity to optimise nutrients for best growth. (You can always add or adjust nutrients later, of course, but by then you will have lost the part of the growing season.)

So now is the time to get your soil tested and to act on the results.

Why do we harp on soil testing? (Apart from the fact that it’s our core business, that is.) Because testing is the only way to know what’s present in your soil. It’s not visible to the eye, and even apparently healthy plant growth is not an indicator of best plant growth.

Click here to read about how to get the best out of your soil (840 words, 3 minutes)

Client profile: Knowla Livestock

SESL is proud to be associated with Knowla Livestock, a leading cattle stud and meat producer in the Barrington Tops area of NSW. Ted and James Laurie have been SESL clients for several years and we are proud to consider them friends.

Knowla has an enviable reputation in the district, and even around Australia, as an innovative cattle enterprise and as a breeder of top-quality sires.

Ted and James represent the fifth generation of the Laurie family to live at Knowla, since the family settled there in the 1880s. The brothers have been farming since the early 1980s.

The brothers have a reputation as top cattle judges. They’ve been judging cattle since they were teenagers, and appear regularly at numerous agricultural shows in Australia and the UK.

In 2000 they were awarded the title of Hunter Beef Producer of the Year. Earlier this year they were selected in The Land’s “10 Of The Best” series, the only beef enterprise featured.

Click here to read more about Knowla Livestock (400 words, 2 minutes)

RailCorp RISI permit for SESL

For obvious reasons, anyone working in a rail corridor faces danger and must therefore be judged competent to be there. RailCorp requires all such workers to have Rail Industry Safety Induction (RISI) training.

SESL staff now have RISI training and certification. This is relevant to a number of our clients, and means that we can now enter rail corridors (under RailCorp authorisation) to assess sites and collect samples without immediate supervision.

During a recent 1-day induction course at Burwood, in Sydney, SESL staff underwent a series of tests to verify that their sight and hearing were good, were taught how to read track signals, were instructed on what safety vests to wear, and were taught what to do when a train approaches. Certification requires that workers not have drug or alcohol problems and that they be fully insured for work in rail corridors.

SESL staff are now certified to carry out all of our usual work in what RailCorp unambiguously calls the “Danger Zone”. This will comprise mainly contaminated land assessments and waste classification and exemption work where, for example, previous railways administrations have used asbestos in constructions or coal in fill.

A toilet-led water saving

Every time we flush a toilet, we pour up to 10 L of clean potable water down the drain. Over a year this adds up enormously.

At the SESL lab, we have taken a big step towards reducing our water use by installing a very simple product in our men’s toilet.

Click here to see how we have saved 98% of our urinal water use (240 words, 1 minute)

Did you know ... ? – Rock wallaby update

In March 2008 we ran a story about the program to rescue the brush-tailed rock-wallaby from extinction. Fewer than 500 of the southern form of these wallabies remain in the wild. SESL is one of the sponsors of the captive breeding program at the Waterfall Springs Wildlife Sanctuary, on the NSW Central Coast.

On the whole, things have been going well. In February 2009, two captive-bred wallabies born and raised at Waterfall Springs were released into the Shoalhaven River region, south of Sydney, where no more than 5 animals remained. The aim is to boost the population to a self-sustaining level. The two females had been kept with a breeding male in the hope that they would be carrying young on their release.

In April, 23 rock-wallabies (including eight with pouched young) were airlifted by helicopter to an inaccessible mountain summit in the Warrumbungle National Park in the NSW mid-west. Fewer than eight wallabies remained in the Warrumbungles.

Click here for more information on the wallabies (300 words, 1 minute)