COMPOST Party in phase I
Walkro Belgium has been working very hard recently to complete construc- tion of a new hall for phase I compost production. Not only is the building
new, it also holds a number of exceptional, sustainable developments. By John Peeters
The opening ceremony was performed by Mayor Terwingen and Ronnie Wilson.
O 42 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
Party in Phase I.
n 15 November, the company threw open its doors to 800 invited guests. During the official opening, director Eric Houben explained the motivation behind the new phase I hall. “The old hall urgently needed renovation, and the Maasmechelen council had already asked whether we could do something to reduce the odour nuisance caused to the surrounding area. So here is this amazing new building, complete
Walkro International
Walkro International BV has production sites for spawn run com- post in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. The company was started by three growers -the WALraven brothers, and Kees van der KROon. The Maasmechelen site is where the company was originally established and where phase II and III tunnels were built in in early 1990s. Walkro is now the largest privately owned company producing mushroom compost in Europe, with weekly production of 8,300 tons of phase III. Walkro also has its own specialised transport department to transport raw materials. The company is owned by Monaghan Mushrooms, Ireland.
with air scrubbers and a biofilter. The pasteur- isation tunnels have also been equipped with air scrubbers. The total investment amounts to 15 million euros, which effectively allows us to extend our ‘license to produce’ for the coming years!” Ronnie Wilson, owner of Monaghan Mushrooms, of which Walkro is now an inde- pendent entity, performed the official opening ceremony of ‘Walkro Indoor 2’ together with the mayor of Maasmechelen.
Cover-All But what did they open precisely? What is immediately apparent from the outside is that this is no ordinary construction. The bunkers are recognisable as such, but the roof is different. Ad Driessen, adviser and composter at Walkro Belgium explains: “All buildings used to pro- duce phase I compost suffer severely from the aggressive vapours released during the process. Ammonia is notorious for forming rust, so that even properly galvanised beams can rust away relatively quickly. Our old phase I hall is a good example. It was virtually on the verge of collapse after about twenty years. So we were searching for
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