Soil & Mulch Producer News Sep/Oct 2011

NEWS Serving Soil, Mulch, Compost, & Biofuel Professionals

Vol. V No. 5 September / October 2011

Continued on page 3

Attention Readers !

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hen Raymond Aguinaga Sr. came to Southern California

six decades ago, Disneyland wasn’t built, trolleys were used for public transportation and Orange County truly lived up to its name with its sprawling fields of orange groves.

Aguinaga, fresh out of the U.S. Navy after World War II, built a successful business by hauling manure from dairies in southeastern Los Angeles County and western Orange County to local farms.

Today, despite the population explosion, massive development and extensive freeway network throughout Orange County, the Aguinaga family business enjoys continued success in California providing organic products to the landscape, turf, nursery and agricultural industries.

The company, Aguinaga Green, is one of the pioneers in the green industry and was one of the first businesses in Orange County to provide

services to recycle green waste and manufacture organic soil amendments, top soils, mulches and other specialty products and mixes.

The company has succeeded, in large part, by changing as the region has changed.

“Thirty or 40 years ago, we had six products,” recalls Roger Aguinaga, who now runs the business. “Today we have more than 50 different products.”

Those products were developed as Orange County, located south of Los Angeles and with a population today of more than 3 million people, saw its farms and fields shift to row crops, then sprout housing tracts, theme parks and attractions such as Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm along with commercial buildings and the freeway system.

Aguinaga, who has worked in the family-run business for 44 years, remembers how a car trip from Anaheim to San Juan Capistrano — a distance of only 26 miles — was “almost an

Aguinaga Green Going Strong After Six Decades in California

Above is an overview of finished windrows which have completed the requisite 15 day minimum cycle at 132 degrees for destruction of weed seed and pathogens and are waiting for screening for particle separation.Photo at right shows one of our screens in process separating fines (our seed topper which is one quarter inch minus) from forest floor mulch - a 1/2 to 1 1/2 inch general ground cover. Photos courtesy of Aguinaga Green.

BY P.J. HELLER

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Wildcat/Vermeer – pg 23

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2 Soil & Mulch Producer News September / October 2011

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3September / October 2011 Soil & Mulch Producer News

Soil & Mulch Producer NEWS

Aguinaga Green Going Strong After Six Decades in CaliforniaContinued from page 1

Publisher / EditorRick Downing

Contributing Editors / Writers

P.J. Heller • Bob LaGasse

Production & LayoutBarb Fontanelle • Christine Pavelka

Advertising SalesRick Downing

Subscription / CirculationDonna Downing

Editorial, Circulation & Advertising Office6075 Hopkins Road, Mentor, OH 44060

Ph: 440-257-6453 / Fax: 440-257-6459Email: [email protected]

For subscription information,please call 440-257-6453.

PUBLICATION STAFF

Soil & Mulch Producer News is published quarterly by Downing & Associates. Reproductions or transmission of Soil & Mulch Producer News, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher is prohibited.

Annual subscription rate U.S. is $19.95. Outside of the U.S. add $10.00 ($29.95). Contact our main office, or mail-in the subscription form with payment.

©Copyright 2011 by Downing & Associates

Continued on page 4 Printed on 10% Post-Consumer Recycled Paper

all day deal.” Today, the company delivers its products throughout much of California.

Aguinaga also recalls the “phenomenal” amount of agriculture grown in the region, everything from orange groves to lima beans.

As the orange groves gave way to row crops such as strawberries and avocados, the Aguinaga clan began shifting its product offerings from chicken and dairy manure to mulches.

“We started offering mulches because the salt sensitive crops such as strawberries, avocados and the like couldn’t take a lot of the manures,” he explains. “We got into the mulches because their salinity levels were low, not anywhere near chicken and dairy manure. We had a wide range of crops we could put them on.”

As farms began to be replaced by housing and commercial developments, the Aguinagas again shifted their focus to these new burgeoning markets.

“We did it from an agricultural point of view to get a better product in the field and then developed into the landscape, commercial, and industrial and residential markets,” Aguinaga says.

Today, Aguinaga Green serves all those markets, selling its organic products to customers ranging from wine producers in Napa and Sonoma counties in northern California to mom-and-pop gardeners in Southern California. The company employs 28 people.

The compost and mulch operation is located on approximately 160 acres in Silverado in eastern Orange County with a distribution

center in Irvine. Compost is sold in bulk or delivered to large projects or farms. It is not sold bagged in nurseries or big-box stores, which Aguinaga says results in a major cost savings for all but the smallest project, where a bagged product might be a better option.

The company began collecting green waste in 1962 from local cities, landscapers, tree trimmers and homeowners. It does not take curbside green waste because of possible contamination. It also does not use biosolids, grass or herbicides. Material can be dropped off at either the Irvine or Silverado facilities.

“We accumulate clean green, we grind it there [in Silverado], we compost it, screen it and blend it,” Aguinaga says. “We provide material for commercial and wholesale customers as well as for homeowners and professional landscapers.

“We offer everything from a $12 general purpose soil amendment if you want to plant grass or plants in your yard to a product derived from that using different screening and blending for athletic fields at schools and parks,” he says. “We also produce thousands of yards of material that go into agriculture all the way from the Napa and Sonoma wine country to the Imperial Valley.”

Other soil products are used at such popular destinations as Disneyland and Sea World.

Aguinaga attributes numerous reasons for the company’s success, including the fact that it offers a wide variety of specialty organic products, rather than just limiting itself to a specific niche market such as residential or commercial.

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Info Request #128

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“We stand out uniquely because we offer such a wide spectrum of products,” he says.

As an example, he cites the case of Fresno County in California’s central valley which needed a surface mulch for a hospital expansion project. A local company that was contacted for the job declined the project because it did not serve commercial clients. Despite the 400-mile distance and freight charges, Aguinaga received the contract and delivered about 1,100 yards of organic material to the site.

The Aguinaga clan also prides itself on the quality of the materials it produces. Its compost operation is fully permitted by the county and the state and has the seal of testing assurance (STA) from the U.S. Composting Council.

“Because Aguinaga is STA certified, customers are assured that the compost we provide is the best of quality and is more than suitable for the planned use,” the company notes on its web site.

“Maintaining a quality product and keeping the product consistent over a long period of time allows customers to rely on it and recognize it’s readily available and consistent one year to the next,” Aguinaga adds. “The first load is the same as the 50th load. That requires a lot of homework and dedication on our part in order to sustain that quality. We go to a lot of pains to make sure the product gets tested by a lot of independent entities.”

The company produces an average of about 1,000 cubic yards a day of general compost, according to Aguinaga, who adds that material is then broken up to manufacture more than 50 products. The company’s trademarked product is Forest Floor mulch, which is available in particle sizes from 0.5 inches to 1.5 inches; from zero up to 2 inches, and from zero up to 4 inches.

Windrows are turned every three days at a minimum, for 15 days. “During this 15 day period, moisture, aeration and temperature will

be monitored and recorded to assure that a minimum of 132F degrees is obtained throughout the process,” the company notes. “The temperature . . . will assure that weeds which can germinate and raw material contained pathogens are destroyed, and a microbial-friendly environment is formed for the production of required plant-growth nutrients.

“This material is an excellent and economical mulch for use in high profile areas where appearance is paramount and moisture retention important,” it adds.

In addition to its Forest Floor ground cover product, Aguinaga offers other ground covers, including certified playground chips, shredded fir bark, “gorilla hair,” redwood shavings and Forest Humus, a special blend with less than 1 percent nitrogen. The company also offers soil amendments, top soils, planting mixes, top dressing, turf top dressing, nursery growers mix and gold, brown, red and green colored wood chips.

Other services offered by Aguinaga include blower trucks, field spreader trucks, custom blends, and project specification design.

Aguinaga says the fact that the public has become more environmentally conscious over the years has also help fuel the growth of the company.

“Our homeowner gardener program has increased ten-fold in the last four or five years,” he reports. “People don’t want to use chemicals or synthetic fertilizers. It’s not that they totally eliminate them, but that they’re able to cut them back substantially . . . They are coming and looking for alternate ways of utilizing organic amendments to be able to raise their garden, their flowers or vegetables. There is a changeover and we’ve seen it dramatically in last 10 to 15 years and especially in the last five years.”

The company plans to expand to meet the demand for organic materials, he notes. Expansion plans call for satellite yards within a 50 mile to 100 mile perimeter to serve local communities as well as to take in green waste from those areas.

Continued from page 3

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“We are expanding and are looking forward to continuing to expand,” he says.

In addition to facility expansion, Aguinaga is actively pursuing ways to utilize microbial bacteria to enhance its products in the horticulture and agriculture industries. Aguinaga describes the development as one of the biggest changes he has seen in his four decades in organics.

“It opens up a new field,” he says. “It opens windows and puts some daylight in new approaches. It opens the door to many, many innovations.”

Supplementing organic material with microbial bacteria will “enhance and increase and multiply the microbial activity in the soil and give you more effective soil in which you can grow good, productive and healthy plants without having to use pesticides,” Aguinaga explains. “It doesn’t eradicate disease . . . It increases the level of bacteria to suppress or isolate some of the bad diseases in the soil that attack the plant. They’re still there, but they’re not dominant.”

Aguinaga stresses that products using microorganisms which the company is involved in with a team of microbiologists are all natural.

“We’re not manufacturing something that isn’t there,” he says. “They’re just natural bacteria that grow in the soil. We’re taking it from the soil, recognizing it, studying it, looking at it, isolating those [beneficial] microbes in the soil . . . to give the plants a better opportunity for immunity.”

Aguinaga incorporates two microbial products, SOBEC (Soluble Organic Biological Extract Colloid) and Soil Renew, into two of its own products.

“We saw this as a great opportunity,” he says. “Our clients now have the opportunity through us to have that material available. It is very, very

consistent and it does bring results.” “Trial and commercial applications of

SOBEC have consistently demonstrated that overall root volume is increased and more vigorous root systems are developed earlier,” reports its manufacturer, The R.J. Helland Co., of Clovis, Calif. “Stronger and more extensive root systems coupled with the nutrient cycling capabilities of an augmented and stimulat ed microbial community help provide plants with increases in nutrient assimilations and water uptake, increased resistance to adverse growing conditions, enhanced foliar development, improved overall physiology and improved harvest (quality and/or yield).”

Aguinaga says such developments will keep the industry moving ahead in years to come.

“It‘s an ever changing business,” he says. “You have to understand soil science and

find and put together what you can apply to a specific product that you manufacture organically to be able to give you great results, be it agriculture, commercial or horticulture. That’s the fun part of it. There’s umpteen ways you can do it. What limits you is your creativity. If your creativity is out there, there never will be an end to it.”

Continued from page 4


Roger Aguinaga discusses the importance of controlled moisture in the material windrows with Tracy Goss of the SCAQMD (air quality management district). Photo courtesy of Aguinaga Green.

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Soil & Mulch ProducerNEWS

BY P.J. HELLER

sing human hair for mulch has some people extolling the idea as a “no brainer” while others are left scratching or shaking their heads.

“All the positive scientific studies in the world won’t make me put hair in my garden. Not even from Brittany Spears when she shaved her head,” insists one writer on the tomatoville.com web site, which bills itself as the world’s largest online community of tomato growers.

Researchers, however, say there may be benefits of using human hair to grow gardens and agricultural crops. They report that human hair can increase yields, control weeds, reduce soil erosion and retain moisture in the soil.

In an interview with National Public Radio, assistant professor of plant pathologist Aaron J. Palmateer of the University of Florida says one hair product he studied “is actually creating a favorable environment for beneficial microorganisms.

“I think that there’s a really good possibility that it’s — that these beneficial microbes, plant-beneficial microbes — are accumulating in the areas associated with the hair. And that’s where we’re seeing, subsequently, growth promotion of the plant.

“I don’t believe that the hair is actually a fertilizer,” he told NPR. “I think that it’s creating, again, a more favorable environment for the microorganisms.”

A major proponent of using human hair as mulch is Dick Holloway, chief executive officer and board chairman of SmartGrow, a Huntsville, Ala., company selling organic plant growth mats made of human hair imported from China. The company previously also imported hair from India.

“Your plants will grow thicker more robust roots and stems, have healthier greener leaves, and more and longer lasting buds,” the company contends. “All this while reducing watering time, the need for fertilizer, and helping to prevent weeds.”

Holloway and others say the key reason for using hair is the fact it is 15 percent to 17 percent nitrogen.

“As it biodegrades, it releases nitrogen and makes plants green,” Holloway says.

Yet the rate at which human hair biodegrades may make it unsuitable for gardens, according to critics.

“Hair breaks down very slowly, taking one to two years to decompose completely,” according to the Mother Earth News.

Not so with the hair mats, Holloway counters. He says results in plants can be observed in as little as four weeks, with the speed of the breakdown largely dependent on the type of soil.

“One of the keys to our patent is the way that it’s needle-punched so that air and moisture can flow through it,” he says. “If you take a handful of hair, or just a small pile of hair, it will be there five years from now. You need to have moisture flowing through the strands for it to biodegrade.”

Holloway says those who complain about the slow breakdown of hair are likely adding it to compost piles.

“If you put it in compost, it will be there 10 years from now” unless the pile is turned every day to add air and moisture, he says.

The SmartGrow web site makes little mention that its product is made from human hair. Holloway says that a small percentage of people, maybe 2 to 3 percent, describe using hair as the “yuck factor,” although others

point out that similar concerns aren’t voiced about using animal manures or sewage sludge on gardens or crops.

“For my garden, I think I’d much rather lay down a strip of plastic mulch than a wad of hair,” says a writer on Alberta Home Gardening.

“Hair is great for the soil, full of minerals,” says one poster on the cheap vegetable gardener web site. “I’ve used it for years. What’s gross about hair?”

“It is sterilized and doesn’t carry bacteria or disease,” Holloway says of his hair mats. The product is certified organic by the Organic Materials Review Institute.

Holloway cites a tomato grower using the hair mats achieving a 40 percent to 45 percent increased yield, and a rose grower who reduced fertilizer usage by 50 percent and water usage by 35 percent.

Even garden guru Jerry Baker has advocated using human hair to aid plant growth.

“When transplanting anything this time of year (August), add nitrogen and protein for root development by working a mixture of oatmeal and human hair into the soil,” he advises in his newsletter.

Allen V. Barker, a plant and soil scientist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, says he doesn’t believe hair would make a good mulch and might be better suited as a fertilizer.

“It would be too proteinaceous and unstable . . . I have never heard of hair being used as a mulch,” he says.

Barker also questions whether the supply of human hair would be sufficient for anything other than small-scale gardening.

“I wonder also where enough hair would be obtained for its use as a mulch or fertilizer other than in a small-scale, gardening operation,” he says. “Also, given the limited amount of this resource, its use as a fertilizer would be the best choice.”

Some gardeners report placing pet hair in their gardens. Holloway says researchers in Scandinavia researched using sheep hair but says they found it was too slow to break down.

Jim Koan, who grows 120 acres of organic apples in Michigan, says he accidentally mixed wool into a compost pile and found it helped in moving soil to a higher level of fertility.

“I am not sure that this would have commercial, large scale farming applicability because of the limited availability of the input product, but may be beneficial on small acreage,” he says.

“Human and pet hair is rich in iron, manganese, and sulphur,” notes the surfrider.org web site.

It says that while hair is best used as an additive in a compost pile, it serves yet another purpose when used as mulch: helping deter larger pests, such as some rodents and birds. Others suggest that hair may also keep deer from feeding on vegetable gardens.

The concept for SmartGrow traces back about two decades when Alabama hair stylist Phil McCory began experimenting with using human hair to soak up oil spills. That idea was inspired after McCory watched television footage of otters swimming ashore with their oil-soaked fur following the Exxon Valdez oil spill. McCory eventually sold the patent to World Response Group, which began marketing the hair product for gardening and ag use from its Florida location. It moved to Alabama in

Continued on page 11

U

Hair-Raising Concept: Toupees for Plants



Info Request #142

BY BOB LAGASSE

The Mulch & Soil Council (MSC) is actively promoting the common business interests of mulch and soil producers across the nation. Here is a brief sample of current events that will impact industry

companies in the coming months:

40th MSC Annual Meeting

The Council will host its 40th Annual Meeting at the Four Points Hotel by Sheraton in downtown Chicago on October 26 & 27, 2011. All members and non-member companies are invited to participate. The

theme of this year’s program is The New Business Environment with special focus on topics including: New Packaging Technologies, New Colorant Technologies, Trends in Transportation and Freight, New Regulatory Developments, Sustainability’s Impact on Your Business, Taking Control of Environmental Issues. and Forest Trends and Materials Markets.

For detailed information, visit http://www.mulchandsoilcouncil.org/meetings/program.php.

Cypress in Georgia

The MSC recently filed a response on the unjustified claim that Georgia cypress forests are unsustainable as submitted in a draft report of the Southeastern Environmental Law Center for a Region

IV EPA-funded survey. A critical review of SELC interpretations of both FIA and TPO data indicate cypress forests in the state are growing faster than harvests when accounting for private lands transferred to public forests under Georgia’s preservation efforts over the past decade and the

sustainability index of growth to harvest has been positive, even in high harvest years. For more information, contact the MSC office.

EPA Revised Arsenic Exposure

EPA efforts to increase the health risk assessment rating of inorganic arsenic through its IRIS database continue to meet public and scientific opposition that has delayed the intended adoption last

February. The proposed 17-fold increase based on data from a 50-year-old Taiwan study would drop water standards from 10 ppb to 1.0 ppb placing most municipal water treatment facilities in violation. The increase would also drop acceptable exposure limits on soil to less than the natural background level of 3-11 ppm nationally.

So far, EPA has resisted justifying its assumptions of a linear assessment that would add billions of dollars in public costs even though many regional EPA heads agree the study and assessment is seriously flawed.

Plant Managers Training Course

Working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Council will sponsor a plant manager’s training workshop via Internet webinar in

November. The course is designed to look at production and management issues in the area of weights and measures, package fill, product labeling, quality control testing and bulk materials measure. The program is designed to allow multiple personnel at each plant site to participate for maximum participation and will be open to members and nonmembers of the Council. Look for further details next month on the MSC website at www.mulchandsoilcouncil.org.

News From the Mulch & Soil Council

Continued on next page

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Media Information Webinars

Later this fall, the Council will host a series of special media webinars for garden writers and agricultural extension agents

promoting the use of mulch and soil products and educating the media on the value of the Council’s product certification program. Spokesman Joe Lamp’l will host the media events to introduce several new consumer information videos.

Joe will also interview Dr. Bill Fonento of NC State University in his role as national director of the MSC product certification program. Bill will report on the results of industry testing demonstrating the need for consumer awareness and the value of certified products.

Special attention will be given to promote mulch and soil producers as well as retail outlets that participate in the national product certification program of the council. Look for more information on these important projects on the MSC website in November.

If your company is qualified for membership in the Mulch & Soil Council and you would like to be part of the programs and activities described above, visit our website at http://www.mulchandsoilcouncil.org/about/membership.php for a membership application or call the Council office at 703-257-0111.

Continued from previous page

2009. The product is sold in various configurations — including mats, rolls and cubes — over the internet at www.smartgrow.us.

At one point, the company was importing 20 tons of hair a year. Holloway says he is looking for a company with a greater product mix and distribution to take on the product.

While tresses and curls have long been used as a soil supplement or fertilizer — color appears to make no difference but dyed and chemically treated hair is unsuitable — it still remains a contentious issue for many. It has been labeled as one of “the weirdest things to use in the tomato garden” and included in a list of 10 bizarre uses for discarded hair.

As human hair attempts to gain more favor as mulch, two hair stylists in China staged a turnabout event last year, cutting people’s hair using a pair of large gardening shears.

Despite those who bristle at using human hair for gardening, others insist that it’s an idea that needs to take root.

“What strikes me as completely odd . . .is the lack of excitement for a commodity that is currently wasted by the bucket-load,” writes a blogger on Gardening Tips and Ideas. “Unless you’re classed within the masculine form of the human species and suffer from male-patterned baldness, we all get our hair cut regularly. This vain activity results in a resource that is completely undervalued and in most cases destined for the trash can.”

Continued from page 9Hair-Raising Concept: Toupees for Plants

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[email protected]

Australians Fund Biochar Plant as Way to Draw down Carbon Dioxide While Generating Energy

Melbourne, Australia—A $4.5 million grant from the Victorian government’s Energy Technology Innovation Strategy to Pacific Pyrolysis assures that Australia’s first commercial biochar plant

will be built in Melbourne in the next year to year-and-a-half, reports theage.com.

It would turn organic waste into energy and store carbon dioxide using slow pyrolysis, or burning without oxygen, which uses large quantities of carbon dioxide to generate energy, It is thus of interest to both science and politics. The grant, which supports high tech projects, is part of an added $41 million increase in the state budget, doubling the former government’s investment.

The overall $10 million project will manufacture biochar to be sold as a soil enhancer. The plant will be built on an existing suburban waste facility site operated by Transpacific Industries, which will also provide the feedstock. Pacific Pyrolysis’s small ‘‘carbon-negative electricity’’ facility will turn two tons of municipal organic and wood waste an hour into electricity and biochar, as well as to store as much as 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

At a carbon price of $23 a ton, this project could generate credits worth about $1 million annually under a proposed carbon tax. The Australian Carbon Farming Initiative recognizes biochar as an eligible process for selling carbon credits to companies who would be liable under a proposed federal carbon tax initiative. The process would also be used to produce electricity for sale back into the grid and to qualify for renewable energy certificates. The project is at a very preliminary stage.

Two Ohio Programs Aim at Food Waste Reduction and Recycling

Cleveland, OH—Cleveland.com reports that Cleveland entrepreneurs are working at initiatives to reduce food waste in their region. The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition’s Food

Waste Recovery Working Group is working to develop efficient food waste recovery systems and infrastructure for the recycling and reuse of compostable materials from businesses, residents and agencies.

After an audit, it helped Cleveland’s West Side Market recycle some 2000 to 2800 pounds of compostable food waste weekly by getting the city to apply for a grant to purchase two in-vessel composting units for the market.

In addition, the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District and Entrepreneurs for Sustainability, a local nonprofit, launched a three-week composting pilot program to collect and recycle food waster from eight downtown Cleveland businesses, including the basketball arena, Tower City and Great Lakes Brewing Co. Nine tons of food waste were collected in the three-week period and delivered to composting facilities such as Rosby Resource Recycling for recycling into soil, mulch, compost and leaf humus.

The organizations are also fostering a program to get excess food donated to the Cleveland Foodbank and other local hunger centers.

Info Request #136

Info Request #158

Features• 100% UV-Stabilized • Durable/reusable• Lightweight• Custom Sizes• Reasonably Priced

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Giorgi Mushroom Co. Temple, PA

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Info Request #108

Info Request #166

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Call one of our ClearSpan™ specialists at 1.866.643.1010 or visit us at www.ClearSpan.com/ADSMPN.Eugene, OR, to Begin Commercial

Food Scrap Composting

Eugene, OR—This fall, Rexius and Lane Forest Products will add to their yard waste compost and mulch businesses beginning to process meat, dairy, bones, eggshells, tofu and oils from restaurants,

cafeterias, groceries and food wholesalers, reports registerguard.com. In the 1990’s, Rexius was the site of a study by the City of Eugene

and Oregon State University to see whether composting could kill viruses and other microorganisms, and found that the heat in the compost piles was an effective sanitizer. This prompted the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to revise its composting rules with specs for food scrap composting. The Oregon DEQ had rules ready in 2009, and other cities in Oregon, notably Corvallis, Salem and Keizer, began to compost food waste.

Eugene is now starting out with a commercial food waste program because it feels it is easier to get a clean, plastics-free food scrap stream from commercial businesses than from curbside. Too often, plastic utensils that are considered compostable get mixed with residential scrap. There is no national standard for what is compostable.

Though Rexius is adding commercial food waste recycling, it is unsure about the residential segment and about selling the final product. Compost from curbside may not be considered organic enough for Eugene compost-buying purists. Eugene’s trash companies will give businesses 29-gallon containers for food scraps, and the city will explain how to separate food from noncompostables such as plastics, under a $27,000 grant from Lane County. Eugene offers an incentive in a 4.9% rate increase for commercial garbage customers: a 20% discount for voluntary participants. It wants to divert 3,200 tons of food scraps from the Short Mountain Landfill the first year.

Portland has been composting commercial waste since 2003 and this year begins residential. It restricts its curbside composting to food, except for a specific kind of compostable trash-can liner.

Industry Coalition Looks at New Ways to Divert Food Waste, Increase Food Donations

New York—Nytimes.com reports that the Grocery Manufacturers Association, an alliance of food, beverage and packaging makers, and the Food Marketing Institute, are beginning a three-year

effort to reduce the amount of food sent to landfills and boost donations to food banks. It will look at edible food that is unsellable due to cosmetic blemishes or overstocking. The GMA and the FMI created a leadership committee this summer chaired by sustainability officers at General Mills and Publix, with other members from Feeding America, a nonprofit network of food banks, and Waste Management. The committee will start with a survey of the sources and causes of food waste then identify public policies that could increase the diversion of food from landfills. The committee will also identify new technologies and industry practices to support diversion. One idea proposed is putting food processors, retailers and restaurants in close geographical proximity to make composting easier and cut transport distances.

The EPA reports over 30 million tons of food were sent to landfills in 2009, making it the largest category of consumer waste by weight (industrial, construction and hazardous waste are excluded). Only 2% of food waste is recycled. Progress in other areas continues to rise, with the composting of yard trimmings up by 10% and 62% of paper recycled. A 1997 U.S. Dept. of Agriculture study estimated that 10 million people could be fed annually by diverting 20% food waste.

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Info Request #151

www.westsalem.com

Continental Biomass Industries, Inc. (CBI) Announces New Dealer

Continental Biomass Industries, Inc., world-wide manufacturer of portable and stationary biomass processing and recycling systems, is pleased to announce that McCourt & Sons Equipment, Inc., is

the exclusive dealer for CBI’s product line and will provide equipment, parts, and service for the states of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Mississippi.

Established in 1997 and family owned and operated, McCourt & Sons Equipment, Inc. has over 65 years of combined industry experience. Following the principles of offering affordable, quality products with equally-matching quality product support and after sales service, McCourt & Sons Equipment strives to be the number one professional equipment dealer within their marketplace.

Morbark Names New President

Morbark, Inc., a manufacturer of forestry, sawmill, and wood recycling equipment recentyly announced the appointment of James W. Shoemaker Jr. as President. Shoemaker replaces

Lon Morey who will remain as the Chairman of Morbark’s board of directors.

Prior to his appointment as President, Shoemaker served as Morbark’s Vice President of Operations and board member. He joined Morbark in 2003 as the Manager of Operations and has held numerous positions in the company. Prior to joining Morbark, Shoemaker spent 25 years with the Jervis B. Webb Co. managing operations, accounting, and supply chain.

“We are fortunate to have a leader like Shoe, who can step up and move the company forward during this critical time,” said Lon Morey, Chairman of Morbark, Inc. “He not only has the extensive operations, accounting, and supply chain experience, which will be instrumental in our global expansion, but he also has extensive experience in change management.”

USCC Invites You to Take Part in the 2012 Intl. Compost Awareness Week Poster Contest

The U.S. Composting Council Board of Directors recently announced a call for entries for its 2012 ICAW Poster Contest. The contest will run from September 15 until November 30, 2011 and is open to

anyone who wants to help celebrate composting and promote the benefits of composting and compost use. The winning poster will serve as the 2012 International Compost Awareness Week promotional media piece.

“The poster becomes a centerpiece for International Compost Awareness Week promotions. The artwork is always inspiring and often presents new and interesting ways to share thoughts about the benefits of compost,” said Frank Franciosi, USCC President.

This year’s participants are tasked with creating a poster that reflects the theme “Compost!...Replenish the Earth for Generations.” Posters must be submitted to the USCC by Wednesday, November 30, 2011. Online judging will take place in December. The Poster Contest Winner will have his/her poster reproduced and distributed nationwide as the official 2012 International Compost Awareness Week poster and featured on the U.S. Composting Council Web site. The overall winner will receive a $500 prize and other divisional winners will each receive a $100 prize. Contest divisions are grades 3-7, grades 7-12, and college - adult. All participants will receive an ICAW/USCC Certificate of Participation.

Previous winning posters, as well as this year’s registration forms and rules can be viewed at Poster Rules and Application. For any questions, please contact us at [email protected].

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Info Request #105

Winnipeg to Factor in Organic Composting and Recycling

Winnipeg, Manitoba—Darryl Drohomerski, Winnipeg’s solid waste manager, said reducing organic waste would be a major goal in the city’s

new waste-management initiative, which will be voted on by the end of September, reports winnipegfreepress.com.

The city has a poor reputation for recycling, with only about a fifth of all waste diverted from landfills, and his goal is to get that rate up to 50%. He plans to do this by adding organic and yard waste strategies to pickups. A 2009 waste-composition study released through a Freedom of Information request shows that more than one-quarter of all trash generated in this city is food waste, while another quarter is recyclable paper and packaging materials. An average citizen generates about 298 kilograms of garbage annually, up from 275 kg in 1996. Low-income people general more waste and recycle less, primarily diapers, construction material and food waste. Vandalism is also a problem.

The province hired a consulting firm in 2008 to study the problem. Winnipeg will start to factor in new ways to reduce food and yard waste and to educate citizens about its importance before launching a full organic waste-processing program in a few years. The key, says Dave Elmore, an educator with Green Action Centre, will be to prove that composting does not smell bad or take too much time or effort. Brandon and other Manitoba cities have already piloted food and organic-waste collection.

Lexington Begins to Try Out Composting

Lexington, KY—Chron.com reports that some 400 homes and commercial establishments are included in a small-scale pilot program by the city of Lexington to compost food and yard waste at a city compost facility. The city notes that 12%

of material going to its landfill is food waste. So far, the program, in its early stages, has progressed with no problems.

Nearby Transylvania University is working with Seedleaf to compost kitchen scraps and will begin working with the city in the next stage of its composting program.

Info Request #106

Pull-Type, PTO Driven, Heavy Duty

compost turner- FOr wiNDrOw -

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Diseased Walnut Tree in Pennsylvania Township Leads to Ban on Some Wood Products

Plumstead Twp., PA—Philly.com reports that The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has issued a quarantine on living or dead hardwood, firewood or walnut materials because of a black walnut tree in Plumstead Township that has been found to have

an incurable case of thousand cankers disease, caused by tiny fungus-carrying walnut twig beetles. The tree’s owner reported the case to the Penn State Cooperative Extension.

Under the ban, only nuts, processed lumber and finished wood products without bark can leave the township, but mulch and wood chips, both composted and uncomposted, cannot. The quarantine would also stop shipments of walnut materials and hardwood firewood into the state from states with cases of the disease, which include Virginia, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Washington. Violators would face up to 90 days in jail and a $300 fine, or civil penalties of up to $20,000, for each offense.

“To help ensure this disease does not spread to other regions throughout the state, I urge Pennsylvanians to comply with the quarantine restricting the movement of wood from Bucks County,” said Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary George Greig.

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Pro

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ct/E

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ent

Pro

file

s Hamer Announces the All New Model 300VF Volumetric Filler/BaggerA new generation in Mulch, Soil and Compost bagging

Control l ing Soil, Mulch a n d

Compost level and flow is the key to accurate, efficient bagging o p e r a t i o n s . Whether for manual or automated poly bagging, the 300VF brings a new level of product flow control to volume filling poly bags. A unique leveling wheel replaces the traditional leveling chain design, eliminating adjustment, m a i n t e n a n c e a n d breakage issues common to chains. Independently controlled belt and level speeds provide greater filling accuracy. Automatic shut off gate eliminates overfill from product free fall. Supports bag rates up to 35 bags per minute.

For more information contact Hamer at 800-927-4674 or [email protected] or visit www.hamerinc.com.

Rotochopper Introduces New Hydraulic Log Splitter Loader Attachment

For companies that process large diameter

r o u n d w o o d f o r mulch or biomass f u e l p r o d u c t i o n , R o t o c h o p p e r introduces the LS-28 Log Splitter. Designed to maximize wood chipper or grinder efficiency, the LS-28 can be mounted on an excavator, skid steer, or other handling equipment with auxiliary hydraulics.

The LS-28 helps maximize the profitability of wood fiber commodities produced from logs by reducing wear part replacement costs (such as grinder teeth or chipper knives), fuel or electricity consumption, and other costs associated with chipping or grinding large diameter round wood. Pre-splitting large round wood also accelerates natural air drying, which allows wood fiber to accept colorant more effectively when used to produce colored landscape mulch.

For many applications, the advantages of pre-splitting round wood with the LS-28 add up to a higher value end product at a lower cost. Although pre-splitting may add additional processing time and equipment, these costs are often quickly offset by lower grinder or chipper operating costs and other savings.

To learn more, visit rotochopper.com or call 320-548-3586.

Marathon Launches New ECO-SAFE DIGESTER™ For Safely Processing Organic Waste

The new Eco-Safe Digester from Marathon

Equipment Company i s an innovat ive b reak th rough i n c o n f r o n t i n g t h e growing problem of organic (food waste) waste processing and disposal.

The Marathon Eco-Safe Digester is a food waste decomposition system that diverts waste from landfills while delivering multiple environmental benefits and measurable cost savings. Using a highly refined formula of microorganisms, it breaks down organic waste into a liquid that can be safely flushed down the drain, enabling the effluent to return to the ecosystem as water. Within 24 hours, the Eco-Safe Digester can safely and quickly decompose virtually all organic food waste including, but not limited to, meat, poultry, fish, grains, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables.

“The Eco-Safe Digester is an ideal solution for high-volume food waste generators, like hospitals hotels. We have seen customers’ waste hauling costs reduced from 20 to 50 percent per month depending on their individual waste stream composition and local cost variables.”

For more information about the innovative new Marathon Eco-Safe Digester, please call Marathon

Customer Care toll-free at 800-633-8974.

University of Connecticut Upgrades Nutrient Management Program with ClearSpan

ClearSpan Hercules T r u s s

Arch Composting Bui ld ings are idea l fo r any c o m p o s t i n g operation looking t o e s t a b l i s h a n u t r i e n t -m a n a g e m e n t p r o g r a m t o prevent contamination of surface and groundwater from runoff. University of Connecticut chose a ClearSpan building for their composting facility especially because the all-weather fabric cover and triple-galvanized steel frame are designed to withstand corrosive environments.

The covered facility, constructed on an asphalt pad, allows UConn to control the moisture levels of the compost, making operations more efficient and preventing anaerobic decomposition in the windrows, which minimizes odors. UConn has already composted a few thousand tons of manure without a single odor complaint from local residents. The facility also protects the windrows from the elements, preventing nutrient-rich storm water runoff from leaving the site or leaching into underlying groundwater.

For more information, visit www.ClearSpan.com or call 1-866-643-1010 to speak with a ClearSpan specialist.



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www.colorbiotics.com

Take our new red and black for a run. (It’ll be intense.)

As if Colorbiotics mulch colorants weren’t already the world’s most popular, we’re making our red and black versions even more desirable. We’ve enhanced these super-concentrated, highly popular colors to be even redder and blacker, with greater intensity and the same outstanding durability and longevity as before.

At Colorbiotics, we take pride in being the leader of new product development for the mulch industry. These new technologies help you grow your business, increase your profi ts, and enhance your yield. We support these new and existing products with unmatched customer support.

Check out the difference — contact us and schedule a red or black color run today! ®

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Colorbiotics and the Colorbiotics logo are trademarks of Becker Underwood in the U.S. and / or other countries. © 2011 Colorbiotics. All Rights Reserved.

Info Request #116

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Soil & Mulch Producer NEWSOregon May Become Standard Bearer for Anaerobic Digesters

Tillamook, OR—tillamookheadlighthearld.com reports that a $100,000, 122-page report feasibility study by Tetra Tech, Inc. of Pittsburgh, PA, shows that Tillamook County can take one of three

paths with its challenge of managing over 1,700 metric tons of animal carcasses annually each year. Tillamook County could thus become a national pioneer by building an anaerobic digestion facility to convert the organic material.

In May 2010, a consortium began to explore alternative methods for disposing of 12,000 cow carcasses as part of 24,000 tons of landfill waste annually, costing around a quarter million dollars. These come from 100 or so dairies that have animal carcasses that are hauled to Coffin Butte Landfill in Corvallis by Averill Recycling under contracts with the Tillamook County Creamery Association. The state’s last rendering plant shut down in 2007, so the state residents must now explore groundbreaking new strategies for dealing with animal waste. Permitting an anaerobic digestion facility that includes animal carcasses would be a new step.

There are three different scenarios presented by TetraTech involving varying costs, operations and output as well as site location and permitting, using a combination of animal carcasses, manure and other biomass such as food waste as sources. The lowest-cost option, with an estimated $7.4 million initial cost, involves constructing one digester facility for biomass to generate energy. But the end-product compostable fiber might be harder to sell, with a market value of about $3 per pound.

But under another option, with a $15 million capital investment in more than one digester, facilities could be built that would create electric power for almost 20,000 homes as well as produce liquid fuel and compostable by-products, with a more valuable mulch made solely of manure fiber. These alternatives also consider such options as production of biofuels to be mixed with compressed natural gas, which is used in Portland to power vehicles.

“We’ve determined it’s feasible and we have a couple of scenarios that make sense,” said Jennifer Purcell, solid waste coordinator for Tillamook County. “We are now in the next stage of where do we go from here, who does it belong to and what is the actual community benefit.”

Anaerobic digestion of animal carcasses is similar to current practices at Tillamook’s Hooley Digester, which uses liquefied cow manure to make methane gas, harvested as energy and sold through a power purchase agreement with Tillamook People’s Utility District. The fibrous byproduct is dried and sold as mulch and animal bedding for about $15 per yard.

The consortium is now ready to look at the permitting process and funding sources, such as state and federal grants, public and private partnership funds, and carbon offset credits.

Info Request #115

UNIVERSAL REFINER CORPORATION

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www.litco.com

Info Request #155

Nortrax Expands Morbark Territory Into Eastern New York

Morbark recently signed an agreement with Nortrax, Inc., a respected Morbark forestry and recycling dealer, to expand its territory to include eastern New York State. The expansion, effective May

2011, added twenty New York counties to an already established Nortrax northeastern territory of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.

According to Morbark Northeast Industrial Sales Manager Tom Mitchell, Nortrax has a well established, excellent reputation in both the forestry and recycling industries, and are known for their ability to supply and meet customer requirements,

Bud Iverson, Nortrax Northeast Morbark Manager adds, “We are very proud to have been given the opportunity to add eastern New York State to our area of responsibility. We look forward to meeting and working with new customers in the wood waste reduction and forest products industries, as well as continuing to serve customers we’ve done business with in the past.”


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[email protected]

www.ptchronos.com/mulchsoilpackaging

Info Request #119

Food Waste Isn’t Sporting

New York—Nytimes.com reports that The United States Tennis Association is now recycling glass, plastic, aluminum and cardboard from the United States Open, but it is taking that

one step farther by collecting food and other compostable materials and selling them to composters. In 2010, the USTA sent 52 tons of food waste from its kitchens to a Connecticut farm and lowered its carting costs by about 30%. This year, the program is expanded to include the food village as well, so attendees can recycle plastic bottles, food, plastic utensils, napkins, cups and plates to a commercial facility in Delaware, an expected total of 200 tons.

Portland Expands Curbside Composting to All Single-Family Homes

Portland, OR—According to oregonlive.com, Portland is expanding its curbside-composting pilot program to include all the city’s single-family homes and complexes with no more than four units by the end

of October. Residents will use green carts now used for yard waste to recycle food

waste, and haulers will increase pickups to once a week. To offset this, garbage collection service will switch from once a week to every other week. City officials could spend up to $1.1 million to introduce the program.

Nineteen garbage haulers now operate in the city, said Bruce Walker, the city’s solid-waste program manager, taking food waste to one of four transfer stations, from where it is sent to two composting facilities, Nature’s Needs, owned by Recology, and Pacific Region Compost, owned by Republic Services of Phoenix. Both sell the compost for $20 a cubic yard.

The next initiative would be a pilot program to collect food waste from larger apartment complexes.

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Hallco’s Live FLoors® are designed for businesses who handle food waste, scraps and surplus bound for composting.

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Continental Biomass Industries, Inc. Newton, NH USA

Learn more about CBI grinders, chippers, and shredders by call-ing 603-382-0556 or visit us online at: www.cbi-inc.com.

There are many ways to process wood for mulch. CBI’s Magnum Force Grinders just happen to be the smartest! Engineered and built for highest throughput, lowest operating cost, maximum durability, and minimal downtime — CBI provides a better return on investment than any competitive system in the global market today. Now that’s smart!

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Features include:• Heavy-duty rotors and screens• Clamshell opening for access to hog box• Full radio remote control • Caterpillar diesel or electric motor

• PT Tech hydraulic clutch• CBI Intelligrind control system• Flexxaire Auto-reversing Fan • Portable, stationary, or track versions

Info Request #170

Stimulus Funds Used to Clean 140-Acre Radioactive Dump Area

Hanford, WA—CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation is currently hard at work cleaning up the area immediately around Hanford’s largest waste site, some 140 acres, with 20,000 truckloads of contaminated soil taken from around an in-ground disposal area that was

used for radioactively contaminated liquids dating from 1955, reports thenewstribune.com. Millions of gallons of liquid contaminated by radioactive cesium and strontium were poured

into soil as a way of recovering the uranium that was created when irradiated fuel was chemically processed to remove plutonium.

Animals and weather had spread the uncovered waste beyond the facility to cover some13 square miles called the BC Control Area. In 1969, the area was covered, and starting in 2009, $34 million of federal economic stimulus money has been used to clear the shrub steppe habitat, beginning with the most contaminated core site. Contaminated soil was dug up to a few feet and taken to the lined Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility landfill for low-level radioactive waste.

Some 1,000 radioactive “hot spots” remain to be cleaned up. CH2M Hill, along with Wildlands Inc. and Ojeda Business Ventures, have replanted 140 acres using 1,000 pounds of seed and 280,000 pounds of mulch.

Indiana Town’s Public Composter Wants to Take Commercial Food Waste

Valparaiso, IN—According to nwtimes.com, The Recycling & Waste Reduction District of Porter County is asking

Indiana if it can accept commercial food waste at its Boone Grove compost site.

There are reportedly only three other compost sites in Indiana that take commercial food waste, and all are private. The idea would be to get food waste from local grocers to enhance compost and divert the waste from landfills. There has already been some queries from a local store, but the facility does not yet have the proper permits. The city is only pursuing food waste with the new permitting.

Connecticut Will Begin to Require Commercial Food Composting, But Needs Infrastructure

Hartford, CT—Connecticut now has a new law going into effect the first of October that requires businesses that

produce more than 104 tons of food waste a year, such as food manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and larger supermarkets, to compost it, reports registercitizen.com.

Curbside collection for consumers is not part of the law, which also covers food processing residue and paper spoiled by food. Another requirement is that there be two established compostable centers in the state. Businesses would be required to take compostable material to a site within 20 miles of generation, so there is potential for more facilities to be developed.

Stan Sorkin, president of the Connecticut Food Association, is in favor, saying that the bill will cut costs of disposal and divert waste from landfills His group worked with the Department of Energy and Environmental protection to develop the bill. “The legislation could lead to a new industry in the state,” he said. “By taking these materials out of the trash stream, businesses would also be saving on trash costs.”

“This bill will save businesses money through avoided disposal costs, reduces trash, increases recycling and promotes clean energy business,” Daniel Esty, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, said in a written statement.

To subscribe to Soil & Mulch Producer News, call 440-257-6453 today.

http://www.cbi-inc.com


Info Request #127

www.petersoncorp.com

2710C 4700B 4800E 5000H 5710C 6750B BTR

800-269-6520 • www.petersoncorp.com • PO BOX 40490 • Eugene, OR 97404

Make Mountains of MulchHigh volume mulch producers know that when they have taken care of the logistics of a mulching operation, they need the power, reliability, and quality that only a Peterson horizontal grinder can provide.

• Caterpillar power from 475 to 1200hp • Over 500 yards per hour output capacity • Lowest cost per ton output

No matter what your grinding application, Peterson’s horizontal grinders can get you the volume and productivity that you demand. For more information about Peterson products, call Peterson at 800.269.6520 or visit us at www.petersoncorp.com today!

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[email protected]

Info Request #168

SUNY Binghamton Expands Composting to Include Local Farms

Binghamton, NY—Sodexo is working with the College-in-the-Woods Dining Hall at the State University of New York at Binghamton to expand its waste management efforts by enlisting

community farmers in the cause, reports bupipedream.com. Dining hall head Richard Herb and Juliet Berling, a former Binghamton University professor of environmental studies, worked together six years ago to begin a more efficient composting system on campus, and SUNY B’s Office of Recycling and Resource Management took over and expanded the program three years ago.

Most recently, however, Herb began the nonprofit Natural by Nature to give local farmers food waste from restaurants to feed the livestock used to nourish these farm families. The campus kitchens have color-coded barrels for recycling and food waste. In exchange, farmers provide manure, which is then composted by Sodexo at its sites off-campus. Herb arranges the timing and quantity of deliveries with individual farmers.

The Offices of Recycling Resource Management has enlarged this composting program to cover Binghamton community gardens. Improvements in composting, it said, have brought better quality composted material to widespread use.

International Peat Society Sets Standards and Achievement Strategy

Jyuvaskyla, Finland—The International Peat Society now has a Strategy for Responsible Peatland Management initiative to set objectives and actions for the conservation, management and

rehabilitation of mires and peatlands globally, based on Wise Use principles. Donal Clarke, president of the IPS, says that “The Strategy is applicable to all types of peatland under every use–including non-use– and it is directed to everyone responsible for or involved in the management of peatlands, or in the peat supply chain.” This is meant to improve standards and increase responsible peatland management practices. High conservation value peatlands are to be identified and conserved, those in use to be managed responsibly, and degraded peatlands to be rehabbed.

There are specific actions to ensure biodiversity, hydrology and water regulation, climate and climate change processes, economic activities, after-use, rehabilitation and restoration, human and institutional capacity and information dissemination and engagement of local people and good governance. This is the result of a two-year consultation process involving diverse stakeholders including scientific experts, peatland managers, private sector companies and environmental NGOs. For more, go to www.peatsociety.org.

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InsIDe ThIs IssueAguinaga Green Going Strong After

Six Decades in CaliforniaPAGE 1

Hair-Raising Concept: Toupees for PlantsPAGE 9

News From the Mulch & Soil CouncilPAGE 10

Eugene, OR, to Begin Commercial Composting, But Worries About Plastics in Residential Plans

PAGE 13

Oregon May Become Standard Bearer for Anaerobic Digester

PAGE 18

International Peat Society Sets Standards and Achievement Strategy

PAGE 22

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Soil & Mulch Producer News Sep/Oct 2011

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