Greening Shopping Malls With The Hungry Pig  

The Climate Spectator has a post on a NSW shopping mall that is installing an "organic waste management system" called the "Hungry Pig". While it sounds like it will only be used for composting, you'd think biogas production and cogeneration would be a worthwhile addition as well - Fair Enough.

Erina Fair – the shopping centre on the NSW central coast co-owned by GPT Group and Lend Lease-managed Australian Prime Property Fund Retail – is set to recycle 250 tonnes of waste (the equivalent to 20 garbage trucks, apparently) as part of its effort to meet a 'zero net waste' goal. In what Lend Lease is describing as a world first, Erina Fair will install an on-site organic waste management system that uses in-vessel aerobic composting technology. The Australian-developed "Hungry Pig" technology could potentially recycle up to 40 per cent of the centre’s total food waste, transforming it into organic compost, to be used on the landscaped grounds of the centre and donated to local schools.

“The important aspect of the technology is that all the size reduction of food waste and mixing occurs inside the composting chamber, so there is no spillage or mess that would otherwise attract pests or cause odour,” said Angus Campbell from the Recycled Organics Unit, which has worked closely with Erina Fair to develop a system that meets the centre’s waste management needs. “The current capacity of the facility is five tonnes of food waste per week but we plan to expand this to manage the centres waste disposal costs and to further increase environmental benefit,” he said.

Erina Fair also plans to use a $652,000 grant it was recently awarded by the NSW government to install water harvesting systems that would reduce the centre’s annual water usage by more than 15 per cent. It has also installed LED lighting in its car park and emergency exits that will improve lighting efficient by up to 90 per cent in refit areas.