Composted Municipal Green Waste Enhances Tree Success in Opencast Coal Land Reclamation in Wales

Abstract

The United Kingdom has a problem in the disposal of municipal green waste (MGW). This is unsuitable for landfill, but when properly composted may be beneficial to tree growth. A formal controlled trial of the 11-year growth (height, diameter at breast height [DBH]) and survival of 3 tree species was evaluated on degraded former opencast coal land on the margins of UNESCO’s Blaenavon Industrial Landscape World Heritage site in South East Wales. Forest reclamation is considered a viable cost-effective approach to reclamation but success may be compromised by infertile and seriously compacted substrates, the depleted bio-geoecological system, and a lack of funding. In this trial, trees were (or were not) supplied, on planting, with 0.75 kg per stem of composted MGW – here a mixture of 40% domestic food waste and 60% garden waste. Results show that the application of MGW made no significant difference to either tree height or DBH. Survival rates were highest for Common Alder ( Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.) followed by Silver Birch ( Betula pendula, Roth) and European Larch ( Larix decidua Mill.). However, Silver Birch and Larch treated with MGW compost had significantly greater survival rates, whereas Alder had significantly lower survival rates, compared with trees planted without MGW treatment.

The Impact of Nickel Mining on Soil Properties and Growth of Two Fast-Growing Tropical Trees Species

“…e treatment of municipal green waste had growth rates comparable to untreated plants for mine site rehabilitation. e use of municipal green waste on degraded opencast coal land in South East Wales, the United Kingdom, had significantly greater survival rates, compared with trees planted without green waste [46]. Other studies have shown that the addition of compost not only increases soil fertility and plant biomass but also reduces the concentration of trace elements in plant species grown in metal-contaminated mine soils [47].…”

Vegetation Restoration Alleviated the Soil Surface Organic Carbon Redistribution in the Hillslope Scale on the Loess Plateau, China

“…In water-limited ecosystems, vegetation restoration is one of the options to prevent land degradation and soil erosion (Yu et al, 2016;Shi et al, 2019a). Ongoing vegetation restoration and climate change processes are having a far-reaching effect on soil carbon stocks, which creates an imbalance in carbon input/output ratios and results frequently in net releases back into the atmosphere (Haigh et al, 2019;Petrakis et al, 2020;van der Bank and Karsten, 2020). SOC is the most susceptible to changes in site conditions and is therefore the target of most evaluations (García-Díaz et al, 2016;Yeasmin et al, 2020).…”

Composted Municipal Green Waste Infused with Biocontrol Agents to Control Plant Parasitic Nematodes—A Review

“…In Germany, the yearly generated amount of combined organic waste (garden waste and other, compostable waste) was 103 kg per person [119]. The same data are 151.9 kg for Shiraz City [118] and 120 kg for England [120], which totals to 14.4 million tons per year for the UK [121]. The amount of MGW collected has a considerable variation over countries and within a country, locally, according to the location being urban or rural, and to local gardening practices and waste management traditions [119,120,122].…”

“…In Hungary, for example, less than half as much MW was incinerated, and less than one-eighth of MW ended up in landfills as was composted or recycled in 2019, when compared to figures of the late 1900s [128]. While dumping or landfill without any further use is still in practice, this practice raises environmental, social and financial concerns both in Europe (Wales) and in Southern America (Brazil) [121,129].…”