July / August 2011
Vol. V No. 4
Serving Soil, Mulch, Compost, & Biofuel Professionals
NEWS
Attention Readers ! Are you looking for Products, Equipment or Services for your business? If so, please check out these leading companies advertised in this issue: Bagging Systems Amadas Industries – pg 12 Hamer LLC – pg 5 PremierTech Chronos – pg 19 Rethceif Packaging – pg 20
Compost Cover ClearSpan – pg 15
Compost, Mulch & Wood Waste For Sale Litco International – pg 19
Compost Turners
HCL Machine Works – pg 13
Shredders, Grinders, Chippers & Screening Systems Allu Group Inc – pg 17 Continental Biomass Industries – pg 4 CW Mill Equipment Co. – pg 14 Doppstadt – pg 21 EarthSaver Equipment – pg 12 Morbark Inc. – pg 2 Peterson – pg 8 REMU – pg 24 (back cover) Rotochopper Inc. – pg 7 Screen Machine Industries – pg 16 Screen USA – pg 13 West Salem Machinery – pg 15 Wildcat/Vermeer – pg 23
Transport Trailers Travis Trailers – pg 6
A Hot Issue for Compost, Mulch Producers BY P.J. HELLER or compost facilities, it’s not a matter of “if ” a fire will occur but “when.” “There are basically two types of compost plants: compost plants that have had a fire, and compost plants that will have a fire,” says Lew Naylor, an independent consultant who has worked in the environmental field for more than 35 years. “It’s not a question of if a facility burns,” agrees Todd Thalhamer, a firefighter and an international expert on fires at solid waste facilities. “It’s a question of when a facility burns.” Mulch producers face a somewhat similar situation, even if operators mistakenly believe that compacting materials with heavy machinery will create oxygen-starved piles to help prevent fires, experts say. While there are numerous possibilities for ignition sources at compost and mulch facilities — such as sparks from equipment, heat from machinery, lightning strikes or off-site fires — a primary concern, experts say, is spontaneous combustion caused by heat buildup in piles. “Since the generation of finished compost
creates heat by the very nature of the process, it is a very real threat,” notes The Worm Farm Guide. The same holds true for mulch piles. Large mulch piles, 10 to 20 feet high, have ignited from the heat generated from internal decomposition, reports Mark J. Finucane in Fire Engineering. One such fire believed caused by spontaneous combustion burned for three months before it died out. “In mulch yards, typically, spontaneous combustion comes into play when you have large stockpiles of ground wood fiber that sit undisturbed for a long period of time,” notes Bryan Young, southern regional sales manager for Amerimulch. “Most combustion occurs in piles that are over 20 feet high and typically have been sitting undisturbed for two, three or four months. The longer the piles sit undisturbed and the bigger they are, the hotter the core temperature.” A 2008 industry survey dealing with fires at mulch and compost facilities found that most Continued on page 3