Soil & Mulch Producer News Mar/Apr2012

Vol. VI No. 2

March / April 2012

Serving Soil, Mulch, Compost, & Biofuel Professionals

NEWS

Grande plée Bleue peatland (bog) in Pintendre Québec.

Photo courtesy of Gilles Ayotte.

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 14 PremierTech Chronos – pg 8 Rethceif Packaging – pg 6

Buildings & Structures ClearSpan – pg 12

PEATLAND MANAGEMENT:

Compost Turners

HCL Machine Works – pg 14 Scarab Manufacturing – pg 6 Wildcat Mfg Co – pg 23

Dust Suppression & Odor Control Buffalo Turbine – pg 11

Mulch Blower Trucks

Sustainability Strategies for Brown Gold in a Green World

Express Blower – pg 16

Mulch Coloring Equipment/ Colorants Colorbiotics – pg 10 T.H. Glennon – pg 18

Mushroom Compost

Hy-Tech Mushroom Compost – pg 14

Shredders, Grinders, Chippers & Screening Systems Allu Group Inc – pg 17 Continental Biomass Industries – pg 7 CW Mill Equipment Co. – pg 13 Doppstadt – pg 15 McCloskey International – pg 9 Morbark Inc. – pg 2 Peterson – pg 5 Premier Tech Chronos – pg 8 REMU – pg 24 (back cover) Rotochopper Inc. – pg 19 Screen Machine Industries – pg 11 Screen USA – pg 12 West Salem Machinery – pg 20 Wildcat Mfg Co – pg 23

Used Equipment

EarthSaver Equipment – pg 12 IronMart – pg 17

Y

BY SANDY WOODTHORPE

ou may recall from biology class that water covers just over 70% of the Earth’s surface, while land of one geologic type or another takes up the remaining area.

Peatlands, from which valuable sphagnum peat moss is harvested, cover more than three percent of the earth’s surface. If, at first glance, three percent doesn’t seem like much, consider this. That figure equals 400 million hectares or more than 988 million acres in 180 countries.

Peatlands are a significant ecological feature, playing an important role in supporting biodiversity, hydrology and keeping our planet cool.

According to the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA), more than 25% of the world’s peatlands exist within its borders, although less than 0.02 percent (less than 17,000 hectares) of the 119 million-hectares (294 million

acres) is currently being used for horticultural peat harvesting and related applications.

Representing more than eighteen producers engaged in a $170 million (CDN) industry that accounts for 95% of Canada’s total production, CSPMA is committed to responsible harvest and management of this natural resource.

“We are witnessing rapid transformation in the way society regards peatlands,” says Paul Short, Director of CSPMA. “The Canadian industry has fully engaged with academia, government, environmental and individual stakeholders to better understand the values of responsible management.”

CSPMA has been a strong supporter of research on ecosystem functions for natural and restored peatlands for some time now.

Study findings from Quebec’s Laval University Continued on page 3

Feed and Continuous Production

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March /April 2012

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PUBLICATION STAFF Publisher / Editor Rick Downing Contributing Editors / Writers P.J. Heller Sandy Woodthorp Production & Layout Barb Fontanelle Christine Pavelka Advertising Sales Rick Downing Subscription / Circulation Donna Downing Editorial, Circulation & Advertising Office 6075 Hopkins Road Mentor, OH 44060 Ph: 440-257-6453 Fax: 440-257-6459 Email: downassoc2@oh.rr.com For subscription information, please call 440-257-6453.

Soil & Mulch Producer News is published quarterly by Downing & A s s o c i a t e s. Re p r o d u c t i o n s or transmission of Soil & Mulch Producer News, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher is prohibited.

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Copyright 2012 by Downing & Associates

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Printed on 10% Post-Consumer Recycled Paper

La Grande river region, sector LG1, James Bay; 53° 47’ 20’’ N – 78 ° 56’ 10’’ W. Photo courtesy of Michelle Garneau, Université du Québec à Montréal.

PEATLAND MANAGEMENT:

Sustainability Strategies for Brown Gold in a Green World

Continued from page 1

have been incorporated into best management practices, Short says, to ensure that the industry and peatlands are responsibly managed.

“Many of our members already have achieved the VeriFlora Certification for Responsibly Managed Peatland,” Short says.

[See sidebar.]

The trade group’s commitment also has been instrumental in supporting the development of the Strategy for Responsible Peatland Management (SRPM), the global document that was developed and adopted in 2011 by the International Peat Society (IPS) and many of its stakeholders. The SRPM prioritizes global peatland management issues and is based on the most up-to-date scientific conclusions.

Envisioned as a model for working out specific local, national and regional issues related to peatland management, the SRPM is directed to everyone responsible for, or involved in the management of peatlands, or in the peat supply chain. It is applicable to all types of peatland under every use. (Use also may be defined as non-use, or conservation).The strategy is being promoted in every country in which peat is found and products are processed or used. Concepts and practices for certification, conservation, restoration and after-use are discussed. Finally, the SRPM recognizes that different uses of peatlands and peat each require specific guidelines for practical implementation.

The SRPM is preceded by forty years of international resolutions and recommendations,

from establishing the importance of wetlands, starting with The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971) to recognizing the significance of habitat and biodiversity management at The Convention on Biodiversity (1992).

During the past two decades, The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1994) and The Kyoto Protocol (1997) environmental activism grew steadily as the peat industry gathered and collaborated on exchanging information and sorting out of social and economic issues affected by peatland management.

The “wise use” premise set forth in 2002 with the publication of the book, “Wise Use of Mires and Peatlands” by Joosten & Clarke, has been employed as a basis for deriving policies and practices included in the SRPM, as described below.

Eight Priority Issues of the Strategy for Responsible Peatland Management 1. Biodiversity. Peatlands are unique natural resources forming distinct ecosystems for maintenance of genetic, species and habitat levels. Biodiversity conservation guidelines come from the “Wise Use” principles and recommendations of Convention on Biodiversity directives. After-use plans Continued on page 7 March /April 2012 Soil & Mulch Producer News

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Growers Face Challenges in Being Certified Organic

BY P.J. HELLER

C

ommercial growers and home gardeners d e d i c a t e d t o o rg a n i c p r o d u c t i o n c a n likely commiserate with Kermit the Frog when he croaks that “it’s not easy being green.”

That’s particularly true when it comes to “input products,” such as soil amendments, fertilizers and pest control products for organic farms and gardens.

“Unfortunately, input products are where organic food products were 15 years ago, which is, they’re not highly regulated and do not have real tight criteria as far as how they’re evaluated,” says Peggy Miars, executive director and chief executive officer of the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI).

For growers, that means, becoming officially approved as an organic producer can be subject to a certifier’s interpretation of the rules.

“One of the big issues right now with individual certifiers around the country and around the world is that it leaves it open to their own interpretation,” notes Chris Bradway of Down to Earth Distributors in Eugene, Ore. “You can have a farmer in California using a [input] product whose certifier says it’s OK, and you can have a farmer in New York using the exact same product and their certifier says ‘no way.’

“That’s obviously a source of frustration for a lot of people and makes it difficult to market your product to that target audience if certifiers are going to have different points of view in different parts of the world,” he says.

That situation may be changing. “We’re working to tighten that up,” says Miars, whose Eugene, Ore., nonprofit provides organic certifiers, growers, manufacturers and suppliers with an independent review of products intended for use in certified organic production nationwide.

“We’re where certifiers were 15 years ago,” she says. “They were using their own standards and certifying differently. You had ‘certifier shopping’ where if one certifier didn’t let you do something, you would find another certifier who would let you do it. That’s where we are right now with input products, and we’re looking to tighten that up so we’re all working in a consistent manner.

I would expect in the next year we will have that in place.”

There are approximately 100 certifying agents throughout the world, with about half of them in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In the past, each certifier had to review input materials that their clients wanted to use, often resulting in a huge duplication of effort. That led a group of certifiers to push for the development of a single resource to specialize in input review and materials evaluation. That resource, OMRI, was founded in 1997.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) operates a similar input materials review program, which also was formed in the late 1990s. “We do exactly the same thing that OMRI does as far as our process,” says Brenda Book, organic program manager with the WSDA. “We review brand name materials for compliance with the organic standards.”

Both OMRI and WSDA are currently the only two organizations recognized by the USDA for input material review. WSDA is also a USDA-approved certifier. “We’ve worked closely with OMRI over the years,” Book says. “We don’t necessarily see ourselves as competitors. We’re more collaborators. Our system is very much the same as what OMRI does.”

Bradway, whose company manufactures and distributes a wide range of natural and organic products used in organic crop production, says having one organization such as OMRI to review input material is a convenience not only for his firm, but for its end-users and for the certifiers and inspectors who check their clients’ farms.

“It’s great to eliminate some of the paperwork and documentation when you have multiple certifiers calling you to get the exact same information for the same product,” he says.

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Soil & Mulch Producer News March /April 2012

Growers looking for compliant products will find the OMRI Listed® Seal in most garden stores.

“That’s one of the services a material review organization such as OMRI or WSDA can offer to the industry to help make it easier,” Book agrees. “They [growers] can go to one source. They cut one step from their process, so they can focus on farming instead of focusing in chasing documents to determine if an input material complies or not.”

Even with an OMRI seal or WSDA listing, certifiers still have the final say on whether a farm can use an input material.

“We’re doing the review to determine if the material is compliant to national organic standards,” Miars explains. “The certifier then needs to decide whether they want to allow that allowed material for that particular farm for that particular reason during that particular season.”

Both the OMRI and the Washington state programs are voluntary.

In California, however, a law that took effect in January 2010 requires mandatory participation by manufacturers of organic input materials.

The law created an input materials review program within the Department of Food and Agriculture for all materials used in California, regardless of where they are manufactured. The law also requires all manufacturers of organic input products to be registered and licensed with the state, all facilities be inspected once a year, and all organic input materials to carry a CDFA label.

California’s plan for input review has not yet been approved by the USDA’s National Organic Program. Because of that fact, the California Certified Organic Farmers, a trade group and certifier, says it is not recognizing the CDFA program and would not enforce its provisions.

“That is, if a farmer is using an input not registered with CDFA, CCOF will not report that to CDFA,” it said on its website. “CCOF does not recognize the CDFA program for our material review, and currently NOP does not recognize the CDFA program . . . The CDFA label does not replace an OMRI, WSDA, or any other third party review under the NOP, at this time.”

California Certified Organic Farmers is one of the oldest and largest organic certification and trade associations in North America. It was founded in 1973 and was one the first organizations to perform organic certification in North America.

Passage of the California law came in the wake of a federal court case in which the former owner of a California fertilizer company pleaded guilty in February in connection with a scheme to defraud organic farmers by selling them a fertilizer that contained chemical ingredients banned for use in organic farming. In a separate case, the head of another California fertilizer company was indicted last year by a federal grand jury on similar allegations.

Consumers, meantime, face a conundrum in choosing input materials for use in their organic gardens. Products on store shelves may be labeled organic, natural, all-natural or some other similar sounding designation.

To address that issue, OMRI earlier this year launched a retail information campaign. OMRI essentially wants to have manufacturers use its logo much like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval.

“Consumers should definitely be looking for the OMRI seal,” Miars says.

“That’s something that we’re starting to get into more at the request of OMRIlisted manufacturers. A lot of the products on our list are not only available for organic farmers but they’re available in home and garden retail centers.

So we started a campaign within the last several months to reach out more Continued on page 6

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Growers Face Challenges in Being Certified Organic Continued from page 4

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to consumers to tell them about OMRI, about what we do and to look for the OMRI seal on products in their retail stores. “Surprisingly, most consumers don’t understand the organic certification process,” she adds.

That process is overseen by the USDA, which estimates there are some 30,000 organic farms and processing facilities worldwide. All organic crops, livestock and agricultural products certified to USDA organic standards are regulated by the agency’s National Organic Program (NOP).

As part of that program, the NOP maintains a national list of allowed and prohibited substances that identifies substances that may and may not be used in organic crop and livestock production. That list, however, only contains substances, not branded materials.

“Those substances can be produced in a variety of ways, so they would still need to be reviewed to make sure that the way they are produced, or extracted, is done as allowed by the organic program,” Miars says.

The national list is similar to the generic list found on the OMRI website.

Both OMRI and WSDA also maintain a list of name-brand products. The OMRI Products List contains some 2,300 name-brand products. Its Generic Materials List contains more than 900 products and is split into categories for crop production; livestock production, and processing and handling materials. The WSDA list contains about 750 products. Many of those materials are from tree fruit industry input manufacturers serving the Pacific Northwest.

“That’s where our focus has always tended to be,” Book explains. “We have a lot of tree fruit materials used just in our region, so our growers had a need for us to produce a list that was specific to them. It’s kind of stayed that way.

We’re focused on the Pacific Northwest. We’ll take an application from anybody for any product, but typically our list is used by WSDA certified operations.

“A farmer can look at our list just like they can look at an OMRI list and see these products have already been reviewed and in compliance with the standards and can use them without jeopardizing their certification,” she says.

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Peatland Management: Sustainability Strategies Continued from page 3

should follow best practice measures for restoration of an optimal range of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

2. Hydrology and water regulation. Peatlands are water catchments. They modify water quality and quantity, act as sinks for some substances, produce others, and influence the temporal pattern of water supply to rivers and lakes.

3. Climate and climate change processes.

Peatlands are dependent on climate, especially rainfall and temperature. Under certain conditions, peatlands may contribute to climate change processes by the release of CO2 or methane to the atmosphere.

Greenhouse gas exchange between the atmosphere and peatlands exhibits much spatial and temporal variation related to differences in ecology, hydrology & management.

4. Economic activities. Peatlands provide income for local communities and are an important source of food, timber and domestic energy in some countries. Peat is the main ingredient in growing media.

Intact peatlands provide economic benefits through environmental services such as carbon capture, water regulation and biodiversity maintenance.

stakeholders in industry, government and communities.

Re s e a rc h i s o n g o i n g . Wh i l e e a rly investigations established the critical role of peatlands in ecology, later research has looked closely at undrained peatland functions (biodiversity, hydrology, habitats) and drained peatland economic values (agriculture, forestry, culture, berry-picking, peat for energy, horticulture and certain chemical processes).

Mining, recreation, reservoir construction, mineral extraction, wind farms all are included in planning perspectives.

If this sounds comprehensive and extraordinarily complicated, it is; however, the years of conventions, papers, academic study and policy development have resulted in an acute

7. Engagement of local people. Rights, heritage and traditions, as well as gender issues are to be considered in decision-making and implementation processes in peatland management.

8. Good governance. Responsible management of peatlands is conducted in a manner that is open, transparent, accountable, equitable and responsive to people’s needs. Regulations need to be in place (certification, funds, and payments for ecosystem services). Peatland planning and management should be based on sound scientific knowledge.

Continued on page 8

The Smartest Way to Process Mulch

Economic use of peatlands should: • avoid damaging peatlands of high conservation value and prioritize peatlands that have been degraded by human intervention • prevent development of even parts of pristine mires and intact peatlands • promote, where possible, the use of peat substitutes in growing media and for other uses of peat 5. After-use, rehabilitation and restoration.

The wise use of peatland for economic purposes requires planned after-use, such as agriculture, forestry, recreation, wildlife habitat and biodiversity activities and measures. The exact use is to be determined by the landowner in consultation with the relevant planning authority and specified in the planning consent and license to operate.

The aim is to return peatlands to conditions in which the ecosystem functions are as close as possible to natural conditions.

Plans should assess the feasibility of, and include options for, carbon emission reduction and sequestration projects as part of after-use plans.

6. Human and institutional capacity and information dissemination. Continual effort should be made to increase knowledge, as well as public awareness of peatland issues and function, based on continued research and to disseminate the information to all

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Peatland Management Continued from page 7

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awareness of the importance of a timely transition to a truly sustainable industry.

“We have explicitly set out our commitments in the recently published “Sustainability Canadian Horticultural Peat Industry Position Paper,” says Short, who also serves on the Executive Board and Science Advisory Board of the International Peat Society. “We will continue our support for science based management of peatland and demonstrate social accountability to employees and society.”

Globally, it is estimated that today, peatlands are accumulating on 55% of the original global mire area; however, use in some countries has been intensive enough to completely alter ecosystems of the mires and peatlands, as well as impact the landscape. In Indonesia, 45% of peat swamp forests have been drained and deforested since 1980. Findings show that the great majority of Arctic and Sub-Arctic peatlands are still intact. In Europe, peat has ceased to accumulate in over 50% of former mire area. Nearly 20% of what once was peatland no longer exists.

This final fact jolts environmentalists. CSPMA’s response to criticism is fairly open minded. Says Short, “As an industry we encourage stakeholder debate in order to improve not only our practices, but also the practices and resource management of our competitors.”

Although the impacts are not fully understood, it has become clear that in many parts of the world the degradation of peatlands is contributing significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions.

Approximately 80% of the original area of both tropical and nontropical mires is still in largely pristine condition, but due to natural conditions and climate change, about 25% of the peat accumulation has ceased. In Canada, the melting of perma frost, due to climate change appears to be having the effect of increasing peatland productivity and Continued on page 11

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Soil & Mulch Producer News March /April 2012

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Peatland Management

Continued from page 8

increased the accumulation of carbon (Studies by Dr. Dale Vitt, Dr. Kal Wieder, and Dr. Merrit Turetsky) Ways of protecting the carbon store in peatlands through peatland management and responsible harvesting are major areas of inquiry, as are restoration methods using re-vegetation with sphagnum moss. Research has led to the after-use methods of re-wetting and re-vegetating to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and create conditions for carbon sequestration and peat formation.

Management of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by individual companies, as well as the early restoration of peatlands following completion of harvest operations is being incorporated into operations as sustainable best practices by the industry, according to CSPMA. “We are committed to restoring peatlands biodiversity, carbon hydrology functions,” Short emphasizes. “The practices in place have been developed based on the science outcomes from 20 years of academic and applied research. Recent outcomes from in-depth environmental Life Cycle Analysis have helped to identify areas for improvement to achieve better emissions management.”

“Stewardship is the right thing to do, as well as an accepted cost of doing business,” Short continues. “Restoration costs average about $3500/ Canadian per hectare.

Using science-based data and a well-coordinated strategy, stakeholders have been working diligently to ensure this precious resource is around for generations to come. Only time (and continued research and monitoring) will tell which decisions and investments made today are the right ones.

Having a committed industry that continues to learn and adjust is a positive starting point.

For more information see Veriflora Certification sidebar and helpful links on pages 12-13.

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Info Request #175

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Info Request #164 March /April 2012 Soil & Mulch Producer News 11

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Veriflora Certification Now Available for Peatland Managers

S

cientific Certification Systems (SCS), the Emeryville, California company that provides third-party, neutral sustainability and environmental certification, auditing, testing and standards for a wide range of industries, is now offering peatland certification under its Veriflora banner.

Certification was discussed originally by industry groups in 2008, but was postponed until a global strategy could be created several years later with the adoption of the Strategy for Responsible Peatland Management (SRPM).

To capture the essence of SRPM and relate to ISO standards, SCS gathered input by contacting all peatland stakeholders and holding public consultations. Next, the company developed a comprehensive set of criteria, based in part on the ISO 9001 (Quality Management Systems) and ISO 14001 standards (Environmental Management Systems), as well as address key environmental protection, social responsibility, and product quality issues.

Veriflora is an eco-labeling program, originally developed for the certification of plants and cut flowers. It applies to peatland management along similar lines, but with certain additional standards that are applicable to peatland’s unique ecological functions and values. In order to attain Veriflora certification, peat moss producers and handlers must show that they manage all of their operations in an environmentally responsible and cost-effective manner, filing the appropriate permits and reports at the required intervals and engaging public input.

For peatland, certification criteria include ecosystem protection (land use permitting, harvest and rehabilitation planning and monitoring); energy efficiency (use of new or emerging technologies to improve operational performance to reduce environmental footprint); implemented waste

Continued on next page

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Mulch Producer NEWS

Continued from previous page management (demonstrating continuous improvement in recycling efforts); sustainable crop production (submitting plans and monitoring peatland harvests); fair labor practices (establishing workplace safety committees, policies and job procedures); community benefits (public notification of work plans and issues of possible concern, annual fire and emergency preparedness); product quality (product guarantee, material content, packaging, labeling, blend ingredients); and product safety (procedures for handling, packaging and transport.)

Veriflora certification typically takes three to six months to complete, involving detailed on-site inspections, documentary audits, in-depth interviews, and annual follow-up. Certificates are issued for a three-year period. The process starts with a pre-audit questionnaire spreadsheet, which normally takes a half to a full day to complete. This form serves as a pre-assessment tool to help companies prepare for the on-site audit. From the date of the on-site audit, it takes 30-45 days for grant of certification, assuming any non-conformities found are corrected in a timely manner. The cost varies widely, depending on the size of an operation and the number of bog holdings. The audit fee structure is inclusive of all preparation, auditor time and travel, the annual audit report, and certificate maintenance and technical support related to certification throughout the year.

Thus far, more than half the North American peat operations have become Veriflora certified, according to Chip Wood, SCS Marketing Specialist. Among the first companies that have received certification are the Quebec, Canada-based Fafard et Frères Litée., for responsible horticultural peat moss production and peatlands management, and Premier Tech Horticulture Ltd. and Berger Peat Moss Ltd./Les Tourbières Berger Litée., for their peat moss products.

Dr. Michael Keyes, who headed up the peat moss standard development process for SCS, and Paul Short, President of the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association, both are optimistic about the industry acceptance and positive impacts.

Says Keyes, “Veriflora certification for responsible management of peatlands will help ensure peat moss customers that this valuable resource is being preserved for future generations.”

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Helpful links: Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association See website for white papers and the Peatland Restoration Guide www.peatmoss.com Peatland Ecology Research Group Universite´ Laval See website for latest news and white papers http://www.gret-perg.ulaval.ca/ Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Peat Resources & Applied Wetland Rehabilitation Research Group http://www.nrri.umn.edu/cartd/peat/default.htm University of East London Peat Research Group http://www.uel.ac.uk/erg/pru.htm U.S. Wetlands and Peatlands Technical Working Groups http://www.v-c-s.org/node/287 International Peat Society http://www.peatsociety.org Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) Veriflora Certification http://www.veriflora.com/

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www.armorhog.com Info Request #119 March /April 2012 Soil & Mulch Producer News 13

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Mulch Producer NEWS

Recycling Firm Fined for Deaths of Two Workers

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acramento, CA—Community Recycling & Resource Recovery, based in the San Fernando Valley, has been fined more than $166,000 by California workplace safety regulators for the deaths of two brothers, Armando Ramirez, a 16-year-old employee, and Eladio Ramirez, a 22-year-old contractor, who died from exposure to hydrogen sulfide.

“These young workers’ deaths were completely preventable,” said Ellen Widess, chief of the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, who added that the company did not provide workers with proper training, did not test for dangerous levels of gas, and did not have effective rescue procedures. She also said the brothers were not given adequate protection during the cleaning of the underground storm drain system at the company’s Kern County facility.

Community Recycling officials said they could not comment on the citations because they had not yet seen them, but said the deaths were the first in 17 years of operation. They added that the firm had investigated the accidents and reviewed its safety and training program to prevent recurrence.

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Greenco Withdraws Plans for Georgia Composting Plant

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ithonia, GA—Greenco Environmental informed DeKalb County officials of its decision to withdraw its application to build a plant to turn organic food waste into compost on 22 acres at the LaFarge Quarry in Lithonia. The action occurred after the DeKalb County Planning Commission had deferred the project, citing controversy caused by its close proximity to a residential area. It would be about a mile from an area with housing, and hundreds of residents had spoken out, opposing the plant because they felt it would be too close to their homes.

Greenco Environmental was asked to leave a Barnesville location in Lamar County after numerous complaints about odors coming from the site. Lithonia was felt to be better site because it is 1,000-feet away from homes, while the Barnesville site is only 500 feet away from homes.

Another group circulated a petition saying that its wanted the commercial food waste composting operation to move to DeKalb County as it would use 22 acres, divert waste/ yard trimmings from Seminole Landfill to be converted into organic compost, support job creation of green jobs, and welcoming green companies to the community.

By voluntarily removing its permit application, Greenco positions itself to resubmit the proposal later, said associate planning director Andrew Baker.

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Colorado Opens $1.2 Million Compost Facility

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enver, CO—Alpine Waste & Recycling is opening a new $1.2 million compost facility on six acres east of Denver near Bennett that will eventually produce 250 tons of material monthly, with the compost sold to landscapers, farmers and municipalities. Alpine has two compost route trucks to collect food and yard waste, wood chips, feedstocks and green woody material and take it to the East Regional Landfill for processing.

The facility has just begun operation in February, and its first harvest of fresh compost will be ready for testing and analysis near the end of April. Alpine is said to be the biggest commercial hauler of compost material in the area and has just expanded its compost hauling operations by buying routes from Waste Farmers in order to service the new facility. The company says that its activities will save the amount of material that goes into a landfill.

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Washington State Study Sees Future for Biomass from Dry Wood Slash

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lympia, WA—A Washington state Department of Natural Resources study, the 183-page Washington Forest Biomass Supply Assessment, has determined that three million tons of dry wood slash and other wood waste, double the current amount taken, can be removed from state forests to produce biomass fuel without harming the forest environment. The study was prepared by the University of Washington, College of the Environment, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences and TSS Consultants of Rancho Cordova, CA, with the financial backing of the U.S. Forest Service. The report lets DNR pursue more aggressive harvesting of slash for use as biomass and develop long-term contracts to remove it.

Biomass project opponents felt the study did not address how much must be left to maintain a healthy forest, and a DNR working group is examining forest practices rules that will explore how much wood waste needs to stay in a forest and make suggestions by the end of summer that could be adopted by the state Forest Practices Board. See more on the study at http://tinyurl. com/pdnbiomass.

FINN Corporation Hires VP of Operations

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INN Corporation, a manufacturer of landscape and erosion control equipment and products, recently hired Matt Day as Vice President of Operations. Day leads the Finn engineering, production, purchasing, and service departments and is responsible for their everyday operations. His hiring is effective immediately.

Day has held both technical and managerial positions at Delta Airlines, Honeywell, and United Technologies.

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Composting Council Research & Education Foundation Hires Development Officer

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he Composting Council Research and Education Foundation (CCREF) is happy to announce the hiring of Leanne Spaulding, who will serve as its first Development Officer. Ms. Spaulding’s hiring is part of the CCREF’s commitment to reinvigorating the Foundation in 2012, establishing it as an important source for composting research and education. The CCREF is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to responding to critical issues in the compost manufacturing industry and developing the tools necessary to assist the development of the country’s composting infrastructure.

High priority and time sensitive research and education projects that are national in scope will be given preference for funding by the CCREF. Projects under consideration for 2012 and 2013 include a national compost promotion and communications campaign, conducting a compost industry economic study, revising the testing methods for evaluating compost, and research on critical issues such as stormwater and air emissions associated with compost manufacturing.

Spaulding, cofounder of the Western Queens Compost Initiative, will play a key role in helping to raise the funds that the Foundation will distribute for projects focusing on raising the profile of the industry. Her recent professional accomplishments include raising over $200,000 in the past year to support grassroots composting efforts in New York City and serving as a Community-Based Organizational Development Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Thailand. As a volunteer in Thailand, Leanne worked with a compost business start-up group and supported several organic agriculture development projects

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Drug-Resistant Microbes are Found in Soils Due to Use of Antibiotics in Animal Care

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arsaw, Poland—According to a study by researchers at the University of Warsaw, antibiotics used in animals are being seen as the culprit in the rising incidence of drug-resistant bacterial diseases among humans, as these antibiotic-proof pathogens are found in the soils of the natural environment. The researchers tested soil samples from farms, gardens, composted soil and forest soil and found that the biggest diversity of antibiotic-resistant bacteria was found in vegetable garden and fruit orchard soils which had been treated with manure from antibiotic-fed animals. The soils not treated with manure, such as forest soil and plant compost, carried the lowest levels of drugresistant microbes, and bacteria resistant to multiple drugs was found only in the vegetable garden soil. Although antibiotic residues are created naturally in soils, the rate of resistance to human drugs was higher in the soil treated with manure than the rate that occurred naturally in soils. Of the bacterial cultures examined in the study, 43% were resistant to streptomycin, 35% to erythromycin and 10% to tetracycline.

Domestically, some 80% of all antibiotics are used for food animals.

First author Magdelena Popowska said that the findings “should assist in the development of regulations regarding the use of antibiotics in the broader environment e.g. in plant protection products, fish farming and industry,” and that the use of antibiotics “should be restricted to dangerous bacterial infections, and to strict medical supervision. This cannot be emphasized strongly enough.”

The FDA recommends that drugs important to human medicine not be used for animal growth promotion and be supervised by a veterinarian when used to prevent or treat animal disease, but these guidelines have not been finalized. The FDA withdrew its plan to ban tetracycline from use in animal feed last year.

New Study Estimates Costs of Invasive Insects to U.S. Economy

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anta Barbara, CA—A team of biologists and economists from U.S. and Canadian universities and the U.S. Forest Service have reported in the journal PLoS ONE that invasive woodboring insects that ride in on packing materials, plants, and other imported goods cost citizens around $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and homeowners an estimated $830 million in lost residential property values each year. But wood-boring insects such as the emerald ash borer are not the only problem, as foliage and sap feeders create about $410 million and $260 million, respectively, in residential property damage annually.

“Once they become established, invasive species are very difficult to eradicate, and they result in billions of dollars in damages each year,” said Juliann E. Aukema, first author and a scientist with at UC Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesism. The problem is not unique to the United States, however.

The study also predicts the amount of future costs, estimating a 32% risk that a new and more dangerous borer would invade in the next 10 years.

The study estimated economic damages for five categories: federal governmental expenditures, local governmental expenditures, household expenditures, residential property value losses, and timber value losses to forest landowners, using assessments of the emerald ash borer, gypsy moth, and hemlock woolly adelgid. The authors also created a tool that that will allow any country where data are available to estimate costs in other natural resource sectors at several scales.

The journal article was supported by the Nature Conservancy. For more, go to www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=2556.

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18 Soil & Mulch Producer News March /April 2012

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Michigan Law to Let Yard Waste be Used at Landfills Could Also Include Incineration

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rand Rapids, MI—The Michigan House of Representatives has passed two bills that would lift a 1995 ban on sending grass clippings to landfills in order to allow clippings to be used by facilities that capture methane gas to generate renewable energy. Reversing the ban would be economically advantageous to landfill operators. But allowing yard clippings to be sent to landfills is worrisome because of the impact it might have on the state’s growing composting industry. The state estimates that about 1.4 million cubic yards of yard clippings were composted last year at registered composting facilities in Michigan. Another worry is concern about filling up existing landfills.

The bill is now in the Michigan Senate’s energy and technology committee, with both economic and environmental arguments being considered. The review could take until the fall leaf disposal season. Rep. Roy Schmidt of Grand Rapids favored the bill when he learned the Senate version of the bill would allow the use of waste-to-energy incinerators, specifically for Grand Rapids and Detroit.

The Kent County, MI, public works director hopes the bill includes a provision that would allow yard clippings to be taken to Michigan waste incinerators as well. Douglas Wood opposes the bill but believes that if passed it should include the use of waste-to-energy incinerators. The county also operates a landfill where methane is turned into electricity. He says that if yard waste is combined with solid waste, but his incinerator can’t take yard waste, it would pose a problem.

The board is against the idea of yard waste solely for methane production for landfills, but if the bill does pass, it hopes to also be able to use yard waste at the waste-to-energy facility.

Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell says the city, which is working to reduce solid waste, opposes the state’s measure because it sends material to landfills that could be more productively used. He notes that his city collects and uses contractors to compost yard waste less expensively than it costs for disposal at Kent County’s Waste-to-Energy incinerator.

The West Michigan Environmental Action Council has commented that burning yard waste to create energy is at the bottom of the hierarchy of ways to deal with it. Instead, it says, yard waste should be composted to be used to make more nutrient-rich soil. WMEAC touts the advantages of composting facilities as small job creators. Using a waste-to-fuel energy plant, it says, “would certainly be a regression.”

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Info Request #151 20 Soil & Mulch Producer News March /April 2012

Russian Scientists Come Up With New Construction Material Out of Industrial Waste

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rkutsk, Russia—A new ecologically advantageous material, vinizol, is being developed by Professor Elena Zelinskaya and her colleagues from the Irkutsk Technical University. It uses the waste from industrial enterprises to create a new building material using a combination of polymers and minerals. The ITU team collaborated with structural scientists who have created some samples of a product that could one day replace wood and plastic in the construction industry.

It has qualities similar to those of wood, but outperforms wood in fire, cold and heat resistance. It is also more durable and about half the price of wood.

The Technopark at ITU will manufacture up to 55 thousand square meters annually, and it is expected to become profitable in about one and a half years.

Vinizol could replace traditional materials such as wood and polymer, and it could also be a good use for the large amount of high quality raw waste produced by the industrial process, as well as leading to the saving of natural resources. If vinizol is a success, it could lead to the production of ecologically clean and safe materials at lower costs. It is already drawing interest from both domestic and foreign suppliers to the construction business.

Soil

Ohio University Expands In-Vessel Composting System

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thens, OH—The State of Ohio has approved $181,082 in grants to fund the Ohio University Energy Efficiency Project, including the over-$120,000 expansion of the university’s composting system, the largest in-vessel composting system of any college or university in the country, and the installation of a rainwater collection system at the composting facility.

The rest of the funds are being used to install a 61.1KW photovoltaic array on the roof of OU’s coal storage facility, for the purpose of offsetting the power used in the facility during peak hours and store energy at times of low usage. The facilities will also be updated, as waste oil collected at the university’s garage can be used to fire heaters for both buildings.

“This funding will contribute to OU’s green goals and will continue the university’s tradition of state-of-the-art pioneering in innovative energy efficiency solutions,” said Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Albany, “The compost facility at Ohio University is currently primarily processing food waste from the dining halls. They are diverting waste from the landfills so it’s exciting to see it expand.”

OU’s composting facility also provides valuable resources for the community, as compost is shredded and made available to the local community.

Waste Management Teams with Garick in Arizona on Biofuels for Frito Lay

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aricopa, AZ—Waste Management of Arizona is opening an organicrecycling facility, the Maricopa Organics Recycling Facility, in a partnership with Garick, LLC, a manufacturer of biomass fuel supply, in a deal to process the wood fuel.

It will collect green waste to make into biomass fuel and sell it to the nearby Frito-Lay factory in Casa Grande, as well as selling compost and mulch commercially in the region.

John Gundlach, senior vice president of Garick’s environmental and energy group, said that Garick is happy to “recycle material that would otherwise be disposed in a landfill” and looks forward to “building and growing our business in Maricopa.”

Waste Management of Arizona has more than 1,000 employees statewide who provide waste and recycling services to approximately a half a million customers throughout the state.

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Mulch Producer NEWS

Bio Jet Fuels Can be Derived From Pine Tree Wood

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adison, WI—Virent, of Madison, WI, and Virdia, based in California, Virginia and Israel, are partnering to combine the benefits of Virdia’s CASE process, which stands for cold acid solvent extraction and which turns pine tree wood chips into sugars, with those of Virent’s BioForming process, which turns those sugars into jet fuel. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory praised the biofuel, but it is said that commercial use of the biofuel could take years. Virent and Virdia are just beginning tests on the jet fuel and plan to keep working together.

Virent has been working on fuels and chemicals for use in plastics that are derived from plants rather than of petroleum.

“This fuel passed the most stringent specification tests we could throw at it,” said Tim Edwards of the USAF laboratory’s fuels branch. “This fuel is definitely worth further evaluation.” The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure and the BIRD Foundation, an Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development organization.

The American Society for Testing of Materials last year approved rules that allow for a 50/50 mix of biofuel and kerosene in jet fuel. The aviation industry is aware of the technology but believes that commercial use will lag military use after it establishes a safety record. The fuel can easily be integrated into current jet fuel equipment.

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March /April 2012 Soil & Mulch Producer News 21

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Study Shows Best Ways to Improve Biochar Production

Controlling Big Muddy with Flooding Can Harm Farmland Soil

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U

ouston, TX—A new study by Rice University scientists, published in the Journal of Biomass and Bioenergy, suggests that biochar should be heated to at least 450 degrees Celsius, or 842 degrees Fahrenheit, to make it more effective. Biochar, which removes carbon from the atmosphere and locks it into the soil, has been added to topsoil to boost crop yields for centuries. Soils of the Amazon rainforest had charcoal added to make a fertile soil called “terra preta,” which contains as much as 35% of its organic carbon as charcoal.

Today, industrial biochar production is on the rise, due to the interest in reducing free carbon in the atmosphere that contributes to global warming, so science is looking at how improve methods for making the best biochar, which can help clay soils drain better and sandy soils hold water better.

Rice biogeochemist Caroline Masiello, the lead researcher in the study, found that some forms of biochar work better than others, and that charcoal produced at temperatures of 450 Celsius or higher was optimal for improving soil drainage and storing carbon, while charcoal produced at lower temperatures can even repel water.

The study, the first extensive look at the hydrologic aspects of biochar, looked at three kinds of feedstock, tree leaves, corn stalks and wood chips, heated in an oxygen-starved environment. It found biochar produced at temperatures lower than 450 degrees Celsius retained some organic compounds that can repel water rather than attract it and offer a less stable storage environment for the carbon.

“We plan to study ways to optimize other beneficial properties of biochar, including its ability to remove heavy metals and other pollutants from soil,” Masiello said. “Ultimately, we’d like to publish a how-to guide that would show exactly what conditions are needed to produce the optimal biochar for a given situation.”

rbana-Champaign, IL—University of Illinois researchers have found that deliberate flooding in the Mississippi River basin to relieve pressure from high river levels can create long-lasting damage to agricultural land. Floodwater makes gullies, deposits sand and creates new crater lakes, as well as damaging irrigation equipment, farms, and buildings. Although the damage from the levee breaches can be repaired, it is hard to accomplish, often including filling in gullies up to five miles from the breaches, and the soil from the reclaimed lands often has lower productivity.

“The resulting land surface will have less soil aggregation, less organic carbon, and be more sloping, making it difficult to farm the land,” said researcher Kenneth Olson. “Some of this lost cropland could be restored as wetlands and wildlife habitat adjacent to the patched levees.”

Olson has also written about the large amount of ponding and soil erosion after the heavy spring rains of 2008. He points out that many soil and water conservation practices and structures are no longer used, and that many waterways were eroded by fast-moving water or had large deposits of sediment. Fewer soil conservation structures and retention ponds are being built and maintained than in the past, Olson said, suggesting that potential solutions would be to create temporary water storage structures, change crop rotation to include more forages rather than row crops, converting more agricultural land to timber- or grassland to encourage water storage, and build better levees farther from riverbanks.

See the July-August 2011 issue of the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation for more on this. For more, go to http://www.sciencedaily. com­/releases/2012/01/120119133924.htm.

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22 Soil & Mulch Producer News March /April 2012

Premier Tech PTS-1300 Series Open-Mouth Bagger

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he PTS-1300 Series OpenMouth Bagging Machine from Premier Tech Chronos is designed for bagging freeflowing materials such as soils into polyethylene ready-made bags. This bagging machine can handle bags with special features and options such as reclosable/zipper features, pillow-type or side-gusseted bags of various sizes (bag width between 10 and 20 inches and bag length between 19 ¾ and 40 inches) at speeds up to 22 BPM. The compact design of the PTS-1300 bagger allows for an easy fit in tight spaces, and facilitates, among others, maintenance operations and bag reloading. The bag size changeover is fast and simple (5 minutes).

Bag top is controlled at all times. The PTS-1300 bagging machine is equipped with an integrated closing system. There is no need for bag kicker or in-line turning, the bag exits bottom first. The bags are then ready to be palletized right after the bagger.

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Inside This Issue

Peatland Management: Sustainability Strategies for Brown Gold in a Green World PAGE 1 Growers Face Challenges in Being Certified Organic PAGE 4 Recycling Firm Fined for Deaths of Two Workers PAGE 14 Colorado Opens $1.2 Million Compost Facility PAGE 16 New Study Estimates Costs of Invasive Insects to U.S. Economy PAGE 18 Michigan Law to Let Yard Waste be Used at Landfills Could Also Include Incineration PAGE 20

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