Vol. XVI No. 6
November / December 2022
Serving Soil, Mulch, Compost & Wood Pellet Producers www.SoilandMulchProducerNews.com
NEWS
Grandpa Sol’s Legacy Carries On at Rexius By P.J. Heller
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ine decades after “Grandpa Sol” started his business by repurposing wood waste materials, his legacy lives on. “We’re doing the same thing 90 years later that grandpa did in the ’30s,” says his grandson, Rusty Rexius. Grandpa Sol’s business – Rexius Fuel Service – initially involved going to Oregon sawmills to collect sawdust, which would normally be burned as waste, and delivering it to homes and other establishments to use to fuel Aerial view of Rexius’ main bark and soil producing plant located outside of Eugene, OR. their furnaces in the winter. Photos courtesy of Rexius Forest By Products (Rexius.com). “He’s seeing all this waste material being burned up and thought there had to be a better on a 157-acre site in Eugene, OR, the company way,” Rexius says. was really fast,” he laughs. has nine divisions including landscape and In the summer, the thousands and thousands With a degree in diesel technology, he irrigation services, landscape maintenance, of cubic yards of sawdust that was collected developed an automated bagging machine to environmental restoration services, organic would pile up, rot and turn black but could meet a request from a chain store customer that erosion control systems, and conveyed delivery then be sold for landscaping and decoration. wanted more than a million bags a year of bark, systems manufacturing. It markets mulch, bark, Bark from logs was also collected from the mulch and steer manure. compost, aggregates and regular and certified sawmills and used for mulch. Wood shavings He later went on to run the bagging organic potting soils, as well as planting mixes and were collected and sold for animal bedding. operation for about two years. soil amendments. It provides bagged products Over the decades, the company morphed Rusty Rexius recalls working after school at under about three dozen different labels for retail and expanded and in 1986 became Rexius the company when he was 11 years old. and garden centers and wholesale distributors. Forest By-Products. It remains a family-owned What probably ranks as one of the more It also sells bulk super sacks (2 cubic yard totes and operated business, recycling and processing unique sales for the company was the shipment are the most popular size among growers) organic waste and wood residual materials of 70 semi loads of soil to New York City, where and semi loads. The for the landscape, it was put on the roof of a Manhattan skyscraper company’s products agricultural, and to grow blueberries. are sold worldwide. environmental Rexius also markets a variety of premium “ We s h i p industries. Opus Grows soils, one of which is prized by the millions of bags The company cannabis industry, although some growers prefer every season,” notes has remained true to to mix their own blends. Arlen Rexius, who Grandpa Sol’s vision. “They (cannabis growers) think they have is also a grandson “We’re trying their own secret recipe, so we sell them the of Sol Rexius and to make something components,” Arlen Rexius notes. who serves as coou t o f n o t h i n g ,” Other customers can also take advantage president with Rexius says. “We’re of custom mixes. his cousin Rusty interested in “If you prefer to opt for a custom mix, Rexius. making stuff and we have a wide variety of base ingredients and As a youngster, inventing things and organic amendments to choose from to create Arlen Rexius worked trying to make a just the right mix for your needs,” the company on the bagging line, business model out tells its customers. of something that Co-president, Rusty Rexius, holding his young earning 8 cents for Rexius has grown to 350 people (it had fewer nobody had tried grandson. Rusty is flanked by his sons Trevor (L) and every filled bag. than 100 employees 20 years ago). “I could make before.” Tyler (R), who also work for the company. The two “With 350 employees, we’re a force to be Headquartered sons represent the 4th generation of the Rexius family. $5.60 an hour if I Continued on page 3