4 minute read
Nature's Recycling
Composting facility transforms food and yard waste to gardeners’ gold
by Robin Earl
Freestate Farms’ composting facility on Balls Ford Road in Manassas takes in about 80,000 tons of food and yard waste every year from residents and commercial entities around Northern Virginia. In an environmentally friendly way, the facility then transforms this material into dark, nutrient-rich compost prized by gardeners everywhere. It’s recycling in its
Lab-certified compost can be purchased in different quantities to meet your specific needs at Freestate Farms in Manassas.
most basic form — a natural process enhanced with state-ofthe-art technology.
Making quality compost, topsoil and mulch starts with organic ingredients. Some of the raw materials come from food scraps and yard waste contributed by residents at the Prince William County Recycling Center adjacent to the composting center. Construction and landscape companies, grocery stores, and schools add to the tall piles of organic materials.
Rich Riedel, Marketing Director of Freestate Farms, gave a tour of the composting facility in May. He explained that grocery stores often drop off food waste, like the recent delivery behind him, to be recycled.
Freestate has been engaged in a public-private partnership with Prince William County since 2015. Marketing Director Rich Riedel led interested visitors on a tour during Compost Awareness Day on May 6, walking folks through the 60-day, scraps-to-compost cycle. With a pile of food waste recently delivered by a local grocery store as a backdrop, Riedel explained the most difficult part of the composting process for facilities across the U.S. — plastic.
“It’s everywhere,” said Riedel, “and I have not found a composting technology or process that can pull out 100% of the plastics. It just doesn’t exist. So the best thing to do is stop it at the source, before it even comes to our site. A few years ago, 60 to 80% of the organic materials arrived in plastic bags. Today, maybe 5% comes in plastic bags. We then take a number of steps throughout the process to remove as much of it as we can.” Sorters, both human and mechanical, separate out the plastic from the organic in every load the composting center receives.
Residents who drop off their food scraps are asked to bring their contributions in reusable or compostable bags or containers. It’s best if compostable bags are certified by the Compost Manufacturing Alliance (CMA) or the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). Plastic bags with scraps can be emptied into the compost bins, but bags will need to be disposed of separately.
A front loader moves yard waste into an area where it waits to be sorted.
A breakdown of the breaking down
Once relieved of plastic and other unsuitable material, the dirt-to-be is moved to special outdoor bays, where it breaks down for 20 days. Air is pulled down through the “aerated static piles” (ASP) to grates underneath. Riedel said, “This lets us do two main things. First, we scrub that air through a biofilter for any potential odors. Second, this process helps maintain moisture levels, resulting in a better compost.”
This initial step of the process shrinks the volume of the ASPs by about 30%.
The next step, which takes 40 days, pushes air up through the pile, distributing oxygen necessary for decomposition. Finally, the resulting compost is “screened” (passed through a screen to remove too-large pieces) and quality checked.
Freestate Farms sells the labcertified compost, topsoil and mulch to appreciative gardeners and landscapers. Lab certification means that the compost is free from potentially harmful components and has nutrients that help plants thrive. Fill your own 5-gallon bucket, pick up a bag that’s enough to cover one cubic foot, or buy in bulk. Learn more at freestatefarmsva.com.
WHAT TO COMPOST AT HOME
Materials to compost include: yard waste like grass clippings, leaves, flowers or house plants, food scraps like leftovers from fruits or vegetables, egg shells, coffee grounds and tea bags, or food stained paper napkins or paper towels. Some items you might not have considered are non-glossy paper or cardboard, fireplace ashes, dryer lint, hair, and fur.
There are certain food leftovers that you should not include in your home compost pile (although they can be brought to the Freestate
Farms facility in Manassas): meat, grease, bones, cheese, sour cream, salad dressing, egg yolks, peanut butter or animal manure. Because home compost piles often don’t reach adequate temperatures to break down these items quickly and safely, they can attract animals and cause an unpleasant smell.
Find more about backyard composting at the Virginia Cooperative Extension website: (https://ext.vt.edu/).
