At Selva Negra very little waste is created that is not utilized in another process. Can you imagine an establishment that only sends one barrel full of trash to the dump a day? Most establishments, almost regardless of size produce an immense amount of trash, now picture an animal farm, a vegetable farm, hotel, restaurant, chesses and sausage producer, and much more generating only one barrel full of trash. Where does the rest go? There must be unwanted waste generated from all those operation, right? Well, there is, but it's mostly utilized in other operations. For example, the pigs get fed the excess food of the restaurant, and they in turn provide meat for the restaurant, as well as manure for compost to grow vegetables and coffee to be served at the restaurant. The coffee production uses compost from the pigs and other sources produces coffee as well as wastewater that produced methane gas to roast the coffee that will be served at the restaurant. The examples are endless. We have attempted to create a graph depicting some of these recycling efforts. And below we've provided some of the operations of the estate as well as some of their individual inputs and outputs.
This document lists many of the operations of Selva Negra; below them there is two section inputs and outputs. These are the sources going into this operation and those coming out of those operations. Each input or output is followed by a dash and a description of where that item came from or is going to. The dash in inputs should be read as "comes from". And the dash in outputs should be read as "goes to".
Inputs:
- Water - natural sources from estate,
- Leaf litter - plantation pruning & resort landscaping maintenance,
- Coffee husk - coffee processing,
- Compost - compost production,
- Organic weed control - natural sources from estate,
- Organic pest control - natural sources from estate, plastic soda and water jugs waste from resort and farm
Outputs:
- Coffee beans - export, kitchens, and local sales
- Wastewater - methane,
- Husks - mulch,
- Pulp - vermiculture compost,
- Tree trimmings from plantation - back to plantation as mulch,
Inputs:
- Meat - stables,
- Eggs - chickens & quail,
- Vegetables - fields
Outputs:
- Food waste - pigs,
- Trash - Trash sorting center
Inputs:
- Flowers - fields
Outputs:
- Human waste - goes to septic tank that in turn are emptied with an input/output pump that sucks the waste. This is taken to the area were we will plant new trees, such as citruses and then make long holes type of trench, were we place it at the bottom, then cover with rice husk, and repeat until we reach the ground level. Once that is reached, we let it rest for a few months, it will shrink and then we place soil on top. The next year we will plant there a citrus tree or a plum tree, what ever the plan was.
- Trash - Trash sorting center
Inputs:
- Leftover foods - kitchens,
Outputs:
- Meats - kitchens,
- Manure - methane,
- Blood - manure catalyst
Inputs:
- Leftover foods - kitchens,
Outputs:
- Eggs - kitchens,
- Meat - kitchens,
- Manure - compost
Inputs:
- Grains - fields,
Outputs:
- Milk, cheese, meat - kitchens
- Manure - compost material,
- Blood - compost catalyst
- Leather - used to make ropes, and horse halters and leads
Inputs:
- Liquid human waste for underground field irrigation - workers lodging
- Solid human waste for compost on new tree areas - resort septic tanks
- Compost - compost production
Outputs:
- Flowers - cabins & events,
- Vegetables - kitchens,
- Sugar cane, wild peanuts, grasses - feed for stable animals
Inputs:
- Electricity - in-estate hydro power plant
Outputs:
- Human waste (solid - methane gas, liquid - underground field irrigation)
- Trash - Trash sorting center
Inputs:
- Leaf litter - plantation & resort,
- Organic waste - kitchens,
Outputs:
- Compost - coffee plantation
- Trash - Trash sorting center
Inputs:
- Pulp - coffee
- Manure - stable animals, like goats, pigs, etc.
Outputs:
- Compost - coffee,
- Excess worms - chickens
Inputs:
- Trash receptacles of the estate, resort, and lodgings. Here the trash is sorted and organized.
Outputs:
- Metals - scarp metal is collected by workers and taken to redemption centers (as extra benefit for work done).
- Plastic bottles - many are recovered to be used as pest collection traps throughout the plantation
- Plastic bags - many are collected to be used as water vapor barrier under cement floors in new constructions.
- Organics - compost materials
- The remainder is taken to the city dump. Unfortunately as of now there is no recycling center in Matagalpa for plastics.
