Living Earth
Compost
EDGE TRM831 / EDGE TRT622
South Australia
Introducing
Digging deeper Living Earth has been rejuvenating soils for future generations across New Zealand for 30 years. A team in South Australia is now bringing the company’s ‘natural soil superfood’ to Australian markets. To date, Living Earth has composted enough green waste to build a garden the width of a road from New Zealand to Australia. While the figurative green road, made from more than two million tonnes of organic waste, is paving the way for better soil outcomes in New Zealand, it’s also having tangible results across the ditch.
Project Highlights
Key outcomes and benefits of the project
Living Earth has expanded into South Australia, leveraging its 30 years of organics recycling expertise from New Zealand. The company now offers compost and mulch to agricultural, landscape, and retail markets, helping rejuvenate soils sustainably.
By recycling organic waste, Living Earth Australia reduces greenhouse gas emissions and improves soil health. However, contamination from non-compostable materials remains an ongoing challenge in their processes.
To support increased waste processing, Living Earth Australia has invested in EDGE Innovate’s TRM831 and TRT622 trommel screens. These machines enhance production capacity, ensure reliability, and require minimal upkeep.
The EDGE TRM831, the largest trommel in Australia, and the TRT622 have doubled Living Earth Australia’s production capacity. This advanced equipment helps the company efficiently process larger waste volumes and meet growing market demand.
NEW MARKET LEADER
Living Earth Australia was launched 12 months ago, harnessing the processes, expertise, and products of the New Zealand organics industry. A subsidiary of the Integrated Waste Services Group, Living Earth Australia will bring a range of composts and mulches to the agricultural and landscape industries, as well as retail outlets.
Grace Barila, Environmental Manager, says Living Earth Australia is an opportunity for IWS Group to consolidate its organics recycling processes. “We’re confident we can go out to market in a larger way,” Grace says. “We’ve been processing organics for several years for councils and wanted to improve those systems. We know we can provide good quality products to help rejuvenate our soils.”
Each year, organic waste in landfills generates about 13 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. The National Waste Plan has set an ambitious target to half organic waste sent to landfills by 2030 and commits states and territories to roll out food organic garden organic (FOGO) collection services. The aim is to convert organic waste into recycled organic products such as compost.
Through organics recycling and the return of compost back to soils, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced but there are also additional benefits such as improved soil health and biodiversity, increased agricultural productivity, enhanced food security, and water quality. Grace says this is particularly important in South Australia where the local agricultural industry is struggling to work with depleted soils.
IWS Group, supported by environmental management company Ennovo, processes about 50,000 tonnes annually of FOGO from local councils, producing a range of compost, mulch, and soil enhancements. The products have recently been AS4454 certified. Additionally, the South Australian site meets quality assurance and quality control standards set by Living Earth New Zealand.
Grace says an onsite laboratory provides real-time data to ensure products continue to meet strict standards. The site also has a native nursery where compost products are batch tested alongside the grow-out of native plants for large-scale revegetation works. Living Earth focuses on creating compost that is used as the foundational ingredient in all its mixes, helping to promote long-term soil health.
“Our ultimate aim is rejuvenating soils for future generations,” Grace says. “Our ethos is all about sustainable development and reducing waste. Laboratory testing provides evidence that our products are working well according to nutrient level, moisture content and particle size grading. But at ground level, we have farmers who are noticing the difference in their crop when using our compost. Farmers love our products.”
Grace says there has been a marked increase in the amount of FOGO that needs to be processed. Living Earth Australia has restructured its facility to cater for larger volumes of waste and produce more varied products.
CONTAMINATION
However, contamination continues to be a challenge. While South Australia has led the way in introducing plastic bans, Grace says there’s still confusion about what is compostable and what isn’t. Plastic bags, garden equipment and pots, among other things, continue to be found in FOGO bins. To that end, Living Earth Australia has invested heavily in machinery to help remove contamination, purchasing an EDGE TRT622 trommel screen and an EDGE TRM831 mobile trommel screen – the first in Australia – from industrial equipment supplier FOCUS Enviro.
“The TRM831 is the largest wheel mounted trommel on the market, not alone in Australia. It seer scale provides operators with unrivalled production rates, ideal for operators seeking to boost their production capabilities. High-capacity processing equipment, such as the TRM831 will play an important role helping Living Earth Australia meet its plans for expansion.”
The EDGE TRM831portable trommel not only guarantees huge production rates but offers ultra reliability with minimum upkeep, says FOCUS Enviro’s Ryan McParland. “Trommel screens from EDGE Innovate are simple to operate and are designed to require minimal maintenance. Customers know they will start up and consistently process large volumes of material day after day without any of the major upkeep you would associate with other products such as star screens. That’ the biggest selling feature of a machine like this.”
Like all well designed products, the EDGE trommels supplied by FOCUS Enviro are smartly designed to make operating them simple. They are loaded with a number of smart features such as an intelligent load management system that ensures the unit is running at optimum capacity at all times whilst minimizing the risk of blockages occurring, all the operator needs to do, is to keep loading in the feed stock. Full remote functionality over all major functions such a feeder speed and screening angle comes as standard, allowing the loader operator to stay in complete control from a safe distance whilst a 180 degree remote controlled radial fines conveyor reduces the need to constantly move screened material.
“To further reduce the changes of bridging or drum overload, EDGE Innovate has complimented its intelligent load management system with a larger designed hopper opening and supplied industry leading belt widths to allow a smooth flow of material through the trommel” Ryan says.
Trusted Expertise and Industry Leaving Products
FOCUS Enviro has firmly established itself as a premier supplier of organic and waste processing solutions, not only in Australia but also in New Zealand. Many leading waste management companies trust their expertise and industry-leading products to enhance their operations. “Our service goes beyond simply providing equipment,” says Ryan. “We fully invest ourselves in our clients’ businesses, ensuring the solutions we deliver meet their specific needs.”
In the project with Living Earth Australia, FOCUS Enviro’s engineers thoroughly analyzed their feedstocks, making precise adjustments to parameters like drum speed, screening angle, feed rate, and the aggressiveness of the drum lifters. They also selected the appropriate screen media to ensure the finished product met stringent quality standards—all before the final handover was completed,” Ryan explains.
Also with a focus on capacity, the TRT622 tracked trommel screen, the largest track mounted trommel available in Australia and has proven pedigree amongst the organic waste processors. Its heavy-duty construction design and high manoeuvrability have made it a popular choice here in Australia. With a 6.9-metre-long screen drum, it provides advanced screening options and is driven by a direct four-wheel drive system with a variable drum speed of 0-30 revolutions per minute.
Again, Ryan points to its enhanced features such as hydraulic load sensing and automatic sequential start-up that ensures ease of use and minimal supervision as to why the TRT622 as been so positively received here in Australia. Its customization has lent itself to being able to flourish in many applications. Thanks to a wide range of various aperture meshes, drum styles such as punch plate, woven mesh or fully welded punch plate drums with scrolls all of course interchangeable; has allowed the EDGE TRT622 to excel not only here in Australia but also in North America.
One of the unique features of the EDGE TRT622 trommel screen is the radial remote controlled fines conveyor that can place more than 1000 cubic metres of material in a single stockpile – almost 10 times that of traditional trommels, Ryan says.
“The EDGE TRT622 tracked trommel screen is designed for maximum productivity and has been proven in the Australian market,” Ryan says.
“It will allow Living Earth Australia to double its production capacity.”
Paul Bowden, Asset and Carbon Development Manager for Ennovo, says reliable operation for a long time, with consistency, is a critical step in Living Earth Australia’s production process. Machinery that is extremely well built for durability and minimal downtime were key requirements. Equally as important was after-sales support from a supplier with good stock on parts and who would support the servicing regimes and preventative maintenance standards. “FOCUS Enviro had great communication throughout the procurement process and delivered the machine and critical parts on time,” Paul says.
“They also spent time with our service team and operators throughout the commissioning of the plant and made sure training and operation were set up from the beginning.”
Grace says the new equipment and partnership with Living Earth is already bringing benefits in the form of increased contracts with local councils. Living Earth Australia products created from local government FOGO and green collections will be redirected back to the councils, closing the loop on organic waste. Bulk products are delivered to local farmers and will be stocked at IWS Group transfer stations and supply yards. As it continues to look at new initiatives to support the community, Living Earth is introducing the Hulka Bag – a convenient delivery service of its mulch and compost products in flexible cubic-metre bags.
What Our Clients Say
Relevant Products
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TRT622
Largest track mounted trommel available in Australia
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TRM831 Trommel
THE LARGEST MOBILE TROMMEL ON THE MARKET
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