We were delighted to host the 1st symposium of the Waste Recycling Platform at the Model Farm (program_mini symposium_waste management). During our brief tour of the model farm, we learned about the buffer strip’s role between the agricultural fields and Nahalal stream by Dr. Roey Egozi, as well as the reuse of dredged riverbed sediments in agricultural fields presented by Dr. Smadar Tanner. Subsequently, Dr. Gil Eshel provided a brief overview of the long-term experiment in the field crops platform, followed by Dr. Yael Laor’s introduction to Rotary drum composting and Dr. Ezra Orlofsky’s presentation on the Constructed wetland for liquid digestate.
The first session of oral presentations began with an enlightening talk by Prof. Jililan Goldfarb from Cornell University, who is collaborating with Dr. Roy Posmanik on a funded BARD project, discussing valorization pathways for agro-industrial waste. Prof. Amit Gross from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev then presented his research on hydrothermal carbonization of human excreta. The session concluded with Dr. Ran Darzi sharing insights from our ongoing BARD project on plastic waste decomposition.
In the second session, Prof. Sabrina Spatari from the Technion presented her LCA project on nitrogen recovery from wastewater. Dr. Katie Baransi Karkaby and Mr. Omar Asi from the Galilee Society showcased their GIS-based model for decentralized composting in Shefa-Amr, while Dr. Yael Laor presented her work on the distribution of residence times in rotary drum composting of livestock manure (Yael Laor – rotery drum composting).
We concluded the day with a productive discussion on ‘Where are we now and where do we go?’ As we are well aware, there have been numerous unsuccessful waste management initiatives in the agricultural ecosystem. However, we are optimistic that through knowledge sharing and collaboration, the Model Farm can serve as an ideal platform to demonstrate viable ideas that will truly make an impact. Let us join forces in this endeavor.
