“We are 40 per cent less expensive than imported
equivalents. Even so, our margins are still good because we are in business to
make satisfactory returns on our investment”
Dr Hansel
Beckford commenting on their company Knockalva Enterprises Limited plans to
make compost
Compost is great for growing plants. However,
competition to inorganic fertilizer hasn't materialized....until now.
Enter Knockalva Enterprises Limited, why are vying
to become a large scale supplier of Compost to the Bauxite industry as reported
in “Start-Up
Knockalva Enterprises To Make Organic Fertiliser”, Published Friday March
18, 2016 by Steven Jackson, The Jamaica
Gleaner.
The company was started by co-chief executive
officers Dr Hansel Beckford, a crop physiologist, and Max Keith, a chartered
accountant, and will be selling the following organic fertilizer products:
1. Fertiliser
2. Potting
compost
3. Garden
soil
So who is their planned market?
Knockalva
Enterprises Limited Organic Fertilizer - Why Organic Fertilizer is needed to
solve Organic Waste Problem
When Knockalva Enterprises Limited is up and
running, they'll be selling their product under the Easi-Gro Brand in the
following:
1. 10
lb and 20 lb packages for the retail trade
2. 50
lb and 100 lb bulk supplies for commercial users
The company plans to start selling their organic
fertilizer by the end of May 2016 to the following interested groups:
1. Bauxite
companies
2. Coffee
farmers
3. Sugar
cane farmers
4. Landscapers
and Gardeners
Already, they've projected sales of JA$168 million.
However, they do have competition from Ecowells Limited, an organic Fertilizer
manufacturer as noted in the article “Waste In,
Fertiliser Out - Ecowells Turns Trash Into Compost”, Published Monday May
14, 2012, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Ecowells Limited has three different products:
1. Compost
2. Compost
Potting Mix
3. Worm
Castings
Ecowell Limited probably uses the same techniques as
Knockalva Enterprises Limited to make their compost. Locally sources organic
material such as grass cuttings, fruit peelings as well as animal droppings
from farmers is then heated in a process similar to making coal. However, the
temperature is maintained at 110F and 150F for between six and eight weeks to
kill harmful bacteria.
Then dentritovores such as worms, bugs and special
bacteria decompose the remaining organic material ready to be packages in their
various products. This means that the production of Organic Fertilizer is a
great way to recycle organic material into agriculture instead of throwing it
away in landfills being thrown into landfills or being washed into stream,
causing algae to grow.
Knocklava Enterprises Limited will have to have
prices cheaper than Ecowell Limited offering which are priced as follows:
1. JA$450
and JA$480 for a 20 lb bag
2. JA$900
and JA$1,000 for a 60 lb bag
3. JA$1,000
for a 100 lb bag
4. JA$6,000
per cubic yard
However, it’s good to note that Ecowell Limited and
Knockalva Enterprises Limited only recycle premium organic waste. What about
recycling other types of organic waste in Jamaica?
Organic
Waste Competition coming - Recycling everything organic to make fertilizer and
biofuel
What has me interested is that Knockalva Enterprises
Limited or other startups that are bound to come along can also recycle human
waste from sewage to produce compost with drinking water as a VAP (Value Added
Product) as predicted in my blog article
entitled “Water
Wastage at MICO - How Waste Water Recycling and Rainwater Harvesting benefits
Agriculture”.
Other startups can also recycle other types of
organic waste, such as wood trimmings from bush and even waste meat and eggs
like those the Downtown Vendors attempted to sell from the Riverton City Dump
as pointed out in my blog article
entitled “How
Discarded Meat from Riverton City Dump is still being sold in Downtown Kingston”.
Another startup can even recycle coffee grindings
into fuel pellets as is the case with UK startup Bio-Bean as noted in my blog article
entitled “How
Bio-Bean is making Biofuel from Coffee Waste as Coruscant looms”.
Cooking Oil can be recycled into Biofuel as HERO BX
plans to do in the Caribbean as noted in my blog article
entitled “HERO
BX commercial-scale biodiesel plant - How Jamaica can recycle Cooking Oil to
supply US$614.92 billion market”.
Hopefully, the lifelong friends who started
Knockalva Enterprises Limited will get the funding they need. Organic
Fertilizer can potentially break our dependence on imported fertilizer by
recycling the waste that we already produce.
In the process, as more organic fertilizer makers
come into Jamaica, they might recycle human waste from sewage into drinking
Water and potentially solve our drought problem. While they're at it, they can
also recycle our organic Garbage, coffee waste and cooking oil waste into
bio-fuel that can be used to run generators and even motor vehicles one day.
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