Did you know that during normal "non-corona" operations, we produce up to 100 kg of compostable waste per day in the entire Old Market Hall? As we are constantly striving to be more environmentally friendly, thanks to Slovenská sporiteľňa, we purchased an industrial electric composter at the beginning of 2021, which can turn this waste into valuable compost, which can be used in the ecosystem again.
Our long-term effort in the Old Market Hall is to minimize the amount of waste we create together. In addition to the ban on the use of plastic straws in operations and the introduction of backup cups for all hot and cold drinks, we regularly sort all waste.
Since 2017, we have also introduced the sorting of compostable waste for waste sorting, first at the regular Street Food Parks, and last year special sorting stations were added at Saturday's food markets. Compostable waste makes up the largest part of our waste - vegetable and flower clippings from farmers from Saturday markets, leftover food, used dishes and packaging from Street Food Parks, waste generated during beer brewing in the basement of the market, and a lot of other "invisible" waste from businesses and market events.
However, we were not able to process this waste ourselves, so we exported it. "We felt the need to find a way to process it more efficiently on our own. Thus was born the idea of building our own composter, which would reduce not only the amount of municipal waste but also the impact of its removal on the environment and our neighbors, "says Jana Vašáková from the Old Market Alliance, which coordinates this pilot project.
Thanks to Slovenská sporiteľňa, we succeeded at the beginning of 2021 and invested in an industrial electric composter. It is a closed system with filtration, which decomposes the waste due to the increased temperature. Temperatures above 70 ° C will destroy all pathogens. The resulting mass is constantly heated and stirred, thus speeding up the process of producing valuable and reusable compost. We will be able to convert up to 50 tons of waste per year.
"We are pleased that, within the framework of Slovenská sporiteľňa's partnership with Stará tržnica, we were able to support the purchase of a composter, which will help convert tens of tons of waste into compost every year and thus contribute to a greener and more modern Bratislava. We have been dealing with green topics for a long time, we save paper, energy, we do not use billboards, we breed and support bees, we were recently the first bank on the market to introduce ecological payment cards, ”explains Dáša Juríková, brand strategy, and development director.
The composter is currently in the zero testing phase - we are at the beginning, we are learning to work with it. We have a long way to go before we can officially launch its operation. Our goal is to give the compost in the future to traders, farmers, who will then use it to grow fruit and vegetables, which you can then buy from our market. In addition, we would like to use the composter for the benefit of our surroundings, whether to compost fallen leaves from the square or to make the composter service available to our neighbors.
For the Old Market Hall, the own composter means a reduction in the volume of municipal waste by up to 80%, for our neighbors it means less burdened by a garbage truck, less noise when weighing waste, and less odor from municipal waste. We are looking forward to being one step closer to wastelessness again and can thus contribute to a greener Bratislava.
