From Cardboard to Caviar!
The ABLE project is a partnership with Yorkshire Water, East Wakefield Primary Care Trust, Turning Point and West Yorkshire Probation Service for the ecological and economic regeneration of a 34 acre former landfill site at Caldervale Sewage Treatment Works, Wakefield.
The ABLE Project was set up in 2002 as a research and development project to close the recycling loop, creating value added products (Siberian Sturgeon and Caviar) from waste materials. In the initial pilot scheme, cardboard collected from local businesses was shredded for animal bedding. Composting beds were established, using worms to break down the soiled bedding. An innovative fish tank system was set up to produce fish that would eat the excess worms from the composting beds. When the Sturgeon had reached an appropriate size they would be harvested and sold as food for human consumption, with some being raised to maturity for the production of caviar. An important feature of the pilot project was the use of both aquaculture and vermiculture as a learning and skills resource to aid in the rehabilitation of offenders recovering from substance misuse. .
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Following the successful completion of the research and development phase and the donation by Yorkshire Water of the site at Caldervale, the pilot scheme has now been closed down. The new site enables the rearing of fish on a more commercial basis. Work has commenced on the incorporation of 8000 tonnes per annum of composted sludges into the land to provide the necessary nutrients for the willow, which will be used as a bio-fuel to heat the water in the fish tanks. The warm water and a 10 fold additional tank capacity will enable a significant increase in fish production to be achieved. This in turn will assist in making the project more sustainable.
The project has taken its first delivery of young fish, apparently known as ‘fingerlings’. 1500 Koi Carp, 1500 Ghost Koi Carp and approximately 100 Sturgeon have been acclimatising in two of the four large fish tanks at ABLE.
In addition to the fish farming activities, the project will also deliver a wide range of other activities and outputs including:
- Help school children in danger of being excluded from school by giving them training in aquaculture and horticulture.
- Regenerate a 34 acre brown-field site.
- Utilise the entire output of composted sludges from the sewage treatment works for the next 8-10 years to grow 20 acres of willow and hazel coppicing.
- Generate hot water from this renewable source.
- Establish a tree nursery
- Plant a 3 km long, 5 metre wide hedgerow.
- Plant a 14 acre woodland.
- Create a 3 km wildlife trail manufactured from recycled plastic for use as an educational resource.
- Create sensory education pods for use by severely disabled children.
- Establish a rural crafts training centre utilising the excess of coppiced wood not required as an on-site fuel.
In summary, waste materials are converted in a highly innovative way into a number of added-value products using a socially disadvantaged group and energy from a renewable source. The whole story is then told as part of an education package to local schools. Biodiversity benefits will also accrue as the site matures and develops.
Yorkshire Water plc have identified at least five other sites situated throughout West and South Yorkshire that they believe may be suitable for diversification of the best practice already piloted by the ABLE project. Each site is however significantly different and will provide new and additional opportunities over and above those achieved on the Wakefield site. These sites are of common interest to many existing and potential partners, being brownfield sites, in urban areas, with local disadvantaged communities, the availability of waste materials and are in assisted funding areas. Funding is now being sought for a major expansion onto these new sites, providing a truly large-scale environmental model that could be replicated into many other areas. It provides a chance for all partners to be involved with something that is real, practical and made to happen on the ground!
In 2006 the project won a major new award, the Chartered Institute of Waste Management’s prestigious ‘Innovative Practice in Wastes Management and Resources Recovery’ award from a shortlist of 49 competing schemes. To find out more about the award, please see our Awards page.
Download a virtual tour of the Caldervale site during the first stages of work on the fish farming area Abel.exe
Download a case study of the ABLE project ABLE Case Study
The project now has its own website
The GBN has now been offered a site by Kirklees Council to establish ‘ABLE2’ a fish farm, and outdoor learning training centre based on the ABLE project. The land at Walkley Lane in Heckmondwike, two former rail embankments, rail sidings and a landfill site, has been vacant for many years. The new project will provide social education and training for Kirklees young people and could also host a visitor attraction linked to the Spen Valley Greenway.
