Biochem, South Africa is knee-deep in the treatment of wastewater, slurry dams, contaminated soil and more!
A lot of our customers don't realize that there is a WHOLE other side to our business. When we aren’t mixing and bottling our glorious cleaning and personal care formulations for you to use at home, we are well…knee-deep in manure, smelly water or sludge.
Being committed to our environment and the needs of our community expands beyond the confines of our factory walls. Years ago, our MD Tom recognized the need in South Africa for products that could treat our water and waste systems harmoniously and, through his love for our country’s natural gifts, so grew our Biochem range.
Biochem currently oversees the system management of a ten megalitre/day wastewater treatment plant to treat abattoir waste. In addition to this large plant, Biochem supplies augmentation products to numerous wastewater treatment facilities within Southern Africa including the City of Durban.
For those of you who are interested in getting stuck in the muddy details with us, below is a little example of work we have done in the agricultural sector.
Background on slurry dams and the challenges an operator may face
With business growth, comes increased waste which if not treated properly can result in:
- Increased growth in pathogens which can affect both the water systems and animal health
- Sludge build-up and hardening
- Bad odour and air pollution
- Poor quality wastewater being discharged into our water systems, loaded with Ammonia, Phosphates and E-coli (in the case of animal sewerage), etc.
- Under capacity slurry dams
- Surrounding river and dam pollution from under-performing slurry dams
- Over-application of under-digested slurry onto pastures hurts the plant growth due to high toxicity.
The solution that Biochem delivered to Mtongeni Piggery
- Biochem has successfully supported farmers for more than a decade through treating their slurry dams, mortality pits, abattoir effluent, water storage dams and more with highly effective natural products.
- Mtongeni Piggery is one such example. When current owner Trevor bought the farm almost 20 years ago it had already been a successful piggery for more than 30 years. Trevor and his manager Derek have grown the business from 30 to over 300 sows.
- With the support of our technical team, Mtongeni has used the following Biochem products in application:
- Abattoir Waste Treatment: applied to mortality pits
- Animal Waste Product: applied to the slurry dams & directly into drain pens
- Fat, Oil and Grease Powder: applied to slurry dams
- Pond Treatment: applied to the final settling pond
Feedback from Mtongeni Piggery
- Soon after beginning the suggested treatments the customer noticed a significant reduction in odour, flies and sludge build-up.
- There was a noticeable reduction in both odours and flies in the farrowing pens.
- After a few months of applying the product directly to the pens, a reduction in mortalities was noticed.