Applying bacteria technology to recycle waste, a Penang company is turning our mounting throwaways into liquid fertilisers, reducing the need for landfills.
The things you first notice arriving at Campbell Market in the early morning are its Victorian façade and the lively atmosphere pervading it.
The site has an odd past as a Malay cemetery. Today, it seems to be just a popular place for George Town dwellers to get ingredients for their daily meals. What you wouldn’t think of finding here is one of the newest pieces of biotech equipment. Sitting out back is a contraption that, for the past four years, has been grinding away all the food waste generated at this historical market.
This is a very compact composting machine produced by Bio-Regen, a company started by an Australian by the name of Ken Bellamy. With a background in theology and 10 years of experience as a certified financial planner, and equipped with a good deal of determination and a passion for biology, Bellamy managed to unveil a formula that seems to have eluded scholars around the world.
The idea that Bellamy came up with was to put together a self-supporting army of bacteria. The formula includes three key strands of bacteria: photovoltaic, which breaks down and digest organic waste; lactic, which prevents bad germs from proliferating; and yeast, which provides enzymes and other substances to help digestion. This mix is added in a liquid to the grinded food waste to form a soggy mixture, which is then left to ferment for about 28 days, until it is ready to be used as a liquid soil enhancer.
