For example, the peat moss, Imported from Canada and widely used in the reproduction of forest species in Mexico, it is rich in carbon, but it is extracted from peat bogs, humid ecosystems that take centuries to regenerate and that are formed where the decomposition of plant matter is slow. In fact, the team of researchers from the Institute of Geology developed another projectin collaboration with the Commission of Natural Resources and Rural Development, to use technosoils in the reproduction of forest species.
Josefina Jimarez comments that the same thing happens with the mountain soil used in gardening, whose extraction degrades the forest soil. At Yaax, one of the objectives is not to encourage these practices. In that sense, artificial floors have been their option.
Use city waste
The artificial floors for Mexico City find their raw material in an unlikely source: the metropolis’s solid waste, of which 13,149 tons are produced daily. More than 5 million cubic meters are generated per year from gravel alone and 60% is disposed of inappropriately in areas of environmental value. ”The problem is not the waste, it is how you reintegrate it into the environment so that it is functional, to take a little burden off the planet,” says Jimarez.
Due to Yaax’s relationship with the company Concretos Sustentables Mexicanos, one of the first construction and demolition waste recycling plants in Latin America, Jimarez’s team had gravel, concrete, red brick and drywall at its disposal. With that, the researchers made a mixture.
There is no recipe for creating technosoils. The proportion of organic and inorganic materials depends on the application. After years of study, they know that concrete works as a skeleton that provides stability, allows aeration and drainage, essential for the development of plant roots, while preventing soil compaction. The red brick provides clay and the drywall provides gypsum to regulate the pH.
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On the other hand, as organic materials, they use wood chips, compost or biochar. The compost It has arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, improves microbial communities and the activity of extracellular enzymes, related to carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. He biochar It provides carbon in stable forms, helps retain water and buffers pollution. Jimarez explains that they obtain this from the Hydrothermal Carbonization plant located in Bordo Poniente. In this plant, biochar is produced by transforming food waste through pyrolysis, a process that decomposes materials at very high temperatures.
For half a year, the researchers monitored the results of integrating a few centimeters of their mixture and Yaax placed plants to observe changes. Josefina Jimarez, pruning and irrigation manager at Yaax, explains that before, more than half of their plants had poor development and that now the majority are in good condition. Abbruzzini indicates that, in general, long-term and larger-scale studies are lacking to quantify the ecosystem services of technosoils. In this regard, a meta-analysis shows that on average, technosols store 4.3% organic carbon.
The Decade of Soils, promoted by the FAO, has just ended. This time served to raise awareness about the importance of soils for environmental sustainability, food production, resilience to climate change and human well-being. Although progress was made in the implementation of plans national management and conservation, Abbruzzini considers that in Latin America there is a lack of regulatory frameworks to improve urban lands.
For example, Mexico has regulations for the preservation of agricultural and forestry soils, and even promotes soil restoration, but it needs to integrate policies to consider the use of artificial soils. Recently, he adds, the proposal for the General Law of Agricultural Lands was approved, which speaks of rural areas, which could be expanded to include the restoration of soils in urban contexts. There is also a lack of financial support to expand research. “Despite the importance in waste management, promotion of the circular economy and environmental sustainability, research in technosoils is undervalued.” This reality must be reversed. Currently 56% of the world’s population lives in cities and by 2050 it is expected that 7 out of 10 will do so.
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