Refining the processes involved in recycling coir growing media
Title: Development of sustainable recycled growing media
Funder: Growing Kent & Medway, Innovate UK
Industry partner: Overland Ltd
Term: April 2023 to March 2025
Project leader: Matevz Papp-Rupar
The majority of strawberry and raspberry producers are growing their crops in virgin coir substrate which is discarded as waste after one or maximum of two cropping seasons. Growers have therefore become reliant on a continuous supply of virgin coir that is shipped from South Asia increasing the carbon and environmental impact of the current system. Moreover, the costs of virgin coir and its transport have been increasing recently and are becoming unaffordable. Developing a cost-effective way to recycle spent coir would allow growers to repeatedly use the same product, increasing the sustainability of their production, whilst reducing their carbon footprint as well as their production costs. Overland Ltd has worked with NIAB scientists in developing a way of recycling coir that offers better crop yields and quality than directly re-using or composting the coir. However, further work is required to refine the process.
The project
Working with NIAB, Overland will further optimise their recycling processes to reduce the risk of pests, pathogens and weeds and decrease the energy input. They will investigate potential microbiome imbalances in recycled media and the scope for further reducing disease risks using biocontrol microbes. They will design recycling and mixing processes to produce uniform media with suitable chemical and physical properties for soft fruit production. In parallel, the performance of the recycled substrate will be evaluated in commercial production to develop wrap around agronomy for recycled material. Finally, a comprehensive lifecycle analysis of soft fruit production will be conducted comparing recycled and virgin media.