Article

Should there be stones in my compost?

Azwood strives to create high-quality composts in a range of values, repurposing different residues and products from industries around New Zealand. Although we use a lot of different methods to try and mitigate stones in compost, it is not possible to eliminate them completely.

Where could the stones come from?

Forestry sites
Green waste
The ground

What does Azwood do to control it?

Unless stated otherwise, our composts are screened to 12-20mm depending on the grade/blend. This means that any particle dimension that can fit through a 12-20mm hole would slip through. This screening process will eliminate most stones outside of this size which reduces the stone content.

We train our operators consistently to carry out quality control procedures and ensure we are operating with quality in mind.

There are standards to comply with for contamination checking of incoming raw materials to ensure we are receiving consistent raw products.

Azwood has some of the best and leading stone removal equipment in the bark processing operation but this still can't remove ALL of the smaller particles.

Is stone in compost bad?

Not necessarily.

If there is too much it could be, but small particles here and there shouldn’t really have any effect on the growing operation or purpose of the product if they are below the size of which our quality control processes are set up for.