Confiscated Booze, Rock Dust and Turkeys .. what do they have in common?

In a word – "fertiliser". Strange but true – the booze that’s been confiscated during the run up to Christmas, rock dust that’s being pulverised in Scotland and remember your Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey ... all that ‘growing’ waste ...

... all three are spread on the land to give us: ...... rock dust to pulverise again in another few million years, or in the meantime to fertilise crops and grain that can be made into alcohol or to feed the Turkeys – the never-ending cycle of life.


A Broad Breasted Bronze tom displaying

In the prohibition days clandestine breweries or distilleries were found, now it's lorry loads of booze – cider, beer, wine, whisky, vodka – which today, once confiscated, are converted into biogas: it used to be poured down the drain.


Detroit police inspecting equipment found in a clandestine brewery during the Prohibition era.

Treehugger posted a serious article in 2007, but with some amusing asides, on the confiscation of alcohol at the Swedish border. As Treehugger says ‘As clever as the new solution is, you have to question the intelligence of an organisation that would annually destroy 185,000 gallons of booze, especially in a country (Sweden) where you have to take out a bank loan to buy a beer’ – and that was four years ago!

He goes on to say that the confiscated alcohol is converted into biogas for the public transport system after being ‘pumped into a big tank’, that is jokingly called “the giant cocktail” before being trucked away for conversion.


A row of alcoholic beverages – in this case, spirits – in a bar


The UK Border Agencies, responsible for the south coast, confiscated over £1,000,000 worth of alcohol in the last week of November – the week of the snow! It appeared that illegal traders were attempting to avoid paying excise duty and VAT (value added tax), while if sold on the black market, the buyers would then also have avoided paying tax . The amount confiscated was ten times more than in 2009 ... a sign of the times?

I never thought I’d be writing about pulverising rocks to create rock dust – you’d think we have enough dust around anyway .... but of course rock dust is a non-synthetic organic fertiliser consisting of crushed volcanic basalt, which contains minerals and trace elements – nature’s answer for soil fertility and organic farming.


There’s a plant in Scotland and another in Townsville, in the far north of Queensland, Australia ... which at the moment is in the centre of the severe Australian floods – it appears another storm warning has been issued – the rains seem incessant ...

An example of columnar basalt at Sheepeater Cliff in Yellowstone Park


In the days before we knew of the continent of Australia, forays had been made into Africa with trading routes being established which could feed the travelling merchants, or on their return enrich their masters with new wealth .... plants, birds, animals, minerals ...


Upper Body of the Helmeted Guineafowl

... turkeys in the Americas were first encountered by the colonising Europeans and were originally thought to be a type of guinea fowl (also known as turkey fowl) due to the overland route from Africa, via Turkey through which they were introduced to Europe, hence the name which stuck.

While we’re on the subject of litter this is a list from Wikipedia of how long it affects the environment – perhaps it is a list we should be encouraged to remember and pass on?

Paper and paperboard: 6 months
Cigarette butts: 2 – 5 years
Plastic (PET) soda bottles: 5 – 10 years
Plastic shopping bags: 10 – 30 years
Gum: 20 – 25 years
Polystyrene pieces: 90 years
Tin Can: 80 – 100 years
Aluminium Can: 200 – 400 years
Six Pack bottle wrapping: 450 years
Golf ball: 100 – 1,000 years

...and WikiAnswers tells me it takes 355 years for each disposable baby diaper/nappy to decompose ...


Compost bin for small-scale production of organic fertilizer

This article “How long does it take for waste materials to decompose?” from June 2008, gives some references and other thoughts, including decomposition with the addition of water, and the oceanic effect ...

... came from 'That Danny!' who covers new media, marketing, news, popular culture, search, stories of the day, customer service and web 2.0/3.0/4.0 shenanigans. It also uncovers 'Internet Ghosts', and the mood of Internet as reflected by search trend topics. He explains why there’s an eclectic mix of topics ...

... sounds a little like me – except I’m just me, and write what I feel or find out about – for example finding Danny Dagan!! (PS I see he hasn't posted for nearly a year ...)

Dear Mr Postman – my mother had a bright day on New Year’s Eve .. she wanted to know about the blog, and remembered ‘teeth’ .. on your blog, she said. I showed her George Washington .. she said the new President came from Kenya .. ; then yesterday she wanted me to dance with ‘George’ – he’s one of her fictitious children .. and was determined I had to dance!! She’s been sleeping ever since – she can’t dance .. because as she describes it ‘she has boots on’ (from her strokes)!!! She continues to amaze me!

Anyway here we are in 2011 .. and due to a family need I will be a little scarce, I’ll be around .. but unfortunately have to go to Cornwall ..

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone ...

Hilary Melton-Butcher
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