Beer and Hops

c*

I have two anecdotes about beer and hops.
The Central Park Conservancy, when they redid the Great Lawn, specified that
the soil provider had to include a large percentage of  beer making residue in
the soil mix. I even think they specified the brewery that it had to come from.
They received thousands of cubic yards of new topsoil. The lawn looks great.
I read in the New York times many months ago (sorry I don't have the exact
date) that the Dallas -Fort Worth post office contracted with Silver Creek
Materials Recycling and Compost in Lake Worth, Tx to compost some of the 500
tons of undeliverable junk mail per month that they have to dispose of. The
commercial composter mixed the shredded mail with discarded stale beer and soda
and wood chips. The beer and soda fed the compost bacteria and the process
works fine.
We had a similar experience at a NYC high school ,City as School, that does
closed bin composting in a greenhouse. They tried to compost shredded waste
paper and initially were not very successful because the paper wasn't breaking
down. The emulsions that are spread on paper by laser printers do not break
down very easily. When the students started mixing leftover soda (no beer!)
into the bins, the process worked much better.
Lenny Librizzi

Yvonne Savio wrote:

> One of our community gardeners would like to know whether the residue from
> beer making (spent hops and yeast) was good for compost.  It'd certainly be
> another great "used up" local biproduct to recycle!
>
> Does anyone have any knowledge/experience/suggestions?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Yvonne Savio
> Common Ground Garden Program Manager
> University of California Cooperative Extension in Los Angeles County
> 2 Coral Circle, Monterey Park, CA 91755
> Phone:  323-838-4532
> Fax:            (323) 838-7408
> Email:          ydsavio@ucdavis.edu
> Website:        celosangeles.ucdavis.edu
>
> Volunteers of the Common Ground Garden Program--Master Gardeners, Master
> Food Preservers, Gardening Angels (school gardens), and Community
> Gardens--help low-income county residents grow more of their own food.
>
> _______________________________________________
> community_garden maillist  -  community_garden@mallorn.com
> https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden

_______________________________________________
community_garden maillist  -  community_garden@mallorn.com
https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden