EN:
In scope of LIFE BioTHOP project, in year 2019, we have tested BioTHOP PLA twine in the hop fields of lower Savinja valley. The twine is made of polymerised lactic acid that comes from renewable carbohydrates. It is a supplement for polypropylene twine that is in use for hop plant support. After hop harvest, the twine stayed intertwined with the stems. The mixture was composted. The project purpose in not only to develope quality twine that will support the hop through whole season, but also to be on-site compostable. After composting, the twine material degrades on natural monomers and do not contain any plastic material. To reach the material’s hydrolysis, it has to pass a thermophilic phase (at least 55 °C). After hydrolysis, the nutrients from the twine become more available to the microbes. The pile has to be turned in order to cycle the twine from the outside of the pile to the inside, where the temperature is the highest. This video presents well shredded twine that stayed on the outside of the pile after 6 months of composting. Nevertheless, the twine started to degrade and strength loss is evident. The observations of (biodegradable) twine degradation inside of the pile will follow soon.
SLO:
V okviru projekta LIFE BioTHOP smo v hmeljiščih Spodnje Savinjske doline v letu 2019 napeljali BioTHOP PLA vrvico, narejeno iz polimerizirane mlečne kisline, ki nastane iz obnovljivih virov ogljikovih hidratov. Z njo želimo zamenjati polipropilensko vrvico, ki se sicer uporablja v pridelavi hmelja kot opora rastlinam. Po obiranju hmelja je BioTHOP PLA vrvica ostala prepletena v hmeljevini, ki smo jo dali kompostirat. Namen projekta je, da se vrvica modificira do te mere, da ne samo da bo zdržala maso hmelja skozi celo rastno sezono, pač pa da bo tudi (bio)razgradljiva pri kompostiranju na samih kmetijah (ne le v industrijskih kompostarnah). Pri kompostiranju se material razgradi na naravne gradnike in dobimo doma pridelan kompost brez ostankov umetnih materialov. Da pa pride do njegove hidrolize, mora iti pri kompostiranju čez termofilno fazo (najmanj 55 °C). S tem postanejo hranila v vrvici dostopna mikrobom. Obenem moramo biti pozorni, da kompostni kup premečemo vsaj enkrat do dvakrat, da vrvica iz zunanjosti kupov pride tudi v notranjost, kjer se kup segreva na želeno temperaturo. Video prikazuje dobro nasekljano vrvico tekom obiranja hmelja v obiralnem stroju, ki je tekom kompostiranja ostala na zunanjem obodu kupa. Kljub temu vrvica po 6-ih mesecih dobro razpade in vidi se, da je izgubila svojo začetno moč. Z rezultati smo zelo zadovoljni! Kmalu vam bomo poročali tudi o (bio)razgradnji vrvice znotraj kupa.