Issuu

November / December 2015

Vol. IX No. 6

Serving Soil, Mulch, Compost & Wood Pellet Producers www.SoilandMulchProducerNews.com

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 / Wrapping Systems Amadas Industries – pg 4 PremierTech Chronos – pg 23

Buildings & covers ClearSpan – pg 15 ComposTex – pg 21

Compost Equipment/spreaders Ecolawn Applicator – pg 18 Farmer Automatic – pg 15 HCL Machine Works – pg 18

Mulch Coloring Equipment/ Colorants AgriCoatings – pg 14 BASF / Colorbiotics – pg 7 CMC – pg 9

Shredders, Grinders, Chippers & Screening Systems Bandit Industries – pg 13 CW Mill Equip. Co. – pg 3 Ecoverse – pg 12 Komptech Americas – insert Morbark Inc – pg 2 Peterson – pg 17 Premier Tech Chronos – pg 23 Rawlings – pg 8 Rotochopper Inc – pg 11 West Salem Machinery – pg 10

Trommel Brushes

United Rotary Brush Corp – pg 18

TRUCKS & TRAILERS J&J Truck Bodies – pg 24

Wear Parts

ArmorHog – pg 18

WEIGHING SYSTEMS LoadScan – pg 5

River Dredging and Sediment Interception Reaps Rewards for Cleveland Port

By Todd Williams

aced with increasing costs of dredging the Cuyahoga River shipping channel, combined with the expense of opening yet another disposal facility for the dredged sediment, the Port of Cleveland (Ohio) has started a bold initiative to recycle this material. And not only is the Port recycling sediment dredged from the Cuyahoga River, before it enters Lake Erie, but it’s also trapping river sediment about 11 miles upstream. All the material harvested from the river, ranging from course sand to gravel, is then being sold as a usable product. According to Jim White, Director, Sustainable Infrastructure Program, at the Port, each year 200,000 to 250,000 cubic yards of material must be dredged from the mouth of the river to a point 5.9 miles upstream in order to keep the river 23 feet deep. This enables ships carrying 20,000 to 23,000 tons of cargo to safely navigate the crooked river channel. These ships transport 12.5 to 16 million tons of cargo annually; primarily iron ore, limestone, aggregates, cements and salt. Since the shipping channel acts as a natural sediment settling area for material coming from

upstream, the loss of merely one inch of river depth equals the reduction of 110 tons of cargo for each ship delivery. Therefore, dredging the channel is critical to keeping the cargo moving upriver to the industrial plants. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is responsible for dredging the federal navigation channel and disposing of the dredged sediments. Over the years the Port and the USACE developed four Confined Disposal Facilities (CDFs), sometimes referred to as “spoils dumps,” along the Lake Erie shoreline. With these CDFs filling up at a the rate of about 250,000 cubic yards of dredged material per year, the Port recently devised a plan to add about seven million tons of new capacity to the existing CDFs. This is accomplished, explains White, by four methods: aggressively dewatering the contained areas to expel the existing 800,000 cubic yards of water found there; by creating and maintaining positive drainage with a series of channels; switching to a more mechanical unloading of the dredged materials; and by stacking the material vertically. Instead of just pumping the typical three-toone mixture of a water and material slurry into Continued on page 3

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Soil

River Dredging and Sediment Interception Reaps Rewards for Cleveland Port Continued from page 1 holding ponds at the CDF site and letting it sit there, White explains the new system, installed in June 2015, is a state-of-the-art sedimentrepurposing facility that treats sediment as a harvestable commodity, not waste. Basically, the system works by gravity, allowing the dredged sediment to flow through two sluiceways or channels that allow the coarse material and sands to settle to the bottom first. The remaining silt, comprised of sand and clay particles, enters the second basin where it settles. The remaining water is then clarified in the third basin. The Port is currently adding a filtration system in a series of weirs or permeable dams to remove toxins from the water before pumping it back into Lake Erie. Managing and operating the CDF for the Port is Kurtz Brothers Inc., the Independence, Ohio-based landscaping and materials company. Jason Ziss, business development manager for Kurtz, says his firm is harvesting the fine and coarse grain sand from the CDF, and will harvest again after dredging in spring 2016. He anticipates Kurtz will recycle 30 to 40 percent of the total volume of sediment dredged, or about 60,000 to 80,000 cubic yards of dry harvested material per year. Ziss anticipates a time when the fine, contaminated silts that settle at the

Mulch Producer NEWS

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PUBLICATION STAFF bottom of the clarifying bed, will be cleaned and used as well. So far, notes White, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) has qualified the dredged sediment to be used for mechanically stabilized earthen walls, structural backfill, gas line backfill, solid waste landfill caps, parking lot base, commercial and industrial building backfill, sub-base for basements, ODOT embankments & grade changes along highways, topsoil blends for commercial and industrial properties, and earthen mounds for noise barriers. Kurtz is also harvesting material from the Port’s unique, upstream interceptor collection system, installed in the 80-foot wide river channel behind the company’s facility. At this location Kurtz is removing coarse sand and gravel for use in custom blended soils, pipe bedding and other applications. It is estimated that Kurtz will be able to harvest about 20,000 cubic yards of material at this location. Designed, engineered and built by Streamside Environmental LLC, Findlay, Ohio, the 30-foot wide, in-stream interceptor collects sediment moving downstream. As the current moves the solids downstream, they get trapped Continued on page 4

Publisher / Editor Rick Downing Contributing Editors / Writers P.J. Heller • Ann Purvis Todd Williams • Sandy Woodthorpe 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 Subscription information, call 440-257-6453. Soil & Mulch Producer News is published bimonthly by Downing & Associates. Reproductions or transmission 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 2015 by Downing & Associates Printed on 10% Post-Consumer Recycled Paper

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Mulch Producer NEWS

River Dredging and Sediment Interception Reaps Rewards for Cleveland Port Continued from page 3

in the machine’s hopper. The size of the collected material is predetermined and controlled by a grate system that can be changed to collect different sizes of materials. The present hopper configuration collects 3/8-inch to ½-inch gravel. As the hopper fills, the slurry of sized sediment mixes with water and is pumped into a tank on the riverbank. From this tank the sediment is brought to holding areas with a large sand auger and stacker, and the water flows back

into the river. The system controller provides electronic control to enable automatic or remote operations, thereby reducing the cost of labor. The system can be set to cycle at specific times, operate off data pulled from a nearby USGS stream gauge, or be operated manually. Brian Halm, development manager for Streamside, notes that this interceptor is the second largest the company has ever built.

http://www.amadas.com

Soil & Mulch Producer News

November / December 2015

White said that before a final site for the interceptor was chosen, five potential locations for placement on the Cuyahoga were examined as part of a comprehensive study by the Port and the University of Akron (Ohio). First, two-foot long prototype interceptors were placed at each location, and after six months of data collection the final site was chosen and the system was installed at a cost of $1.2 million, supported by a grant from the Ohio Healthy Lake Erie Fund. White explains that Port studies proved Cuyahoga River sediments are susceptible to bed load interception or trapping of sediment in all flow conditions. Also, the multitude of sediment sizes indicates the material is suitable for a variety of uses. Furthermore, the Ohio EPA confirms sediments harvested from the river are actually cleaner than soils on the adjacent land and, thus, are unrestricted for various purposes. Halm notes that the interceptor system is most efficient when it’s located on a straight part of the river, but that compromises were made to ensure accessibility to the site. Since Kurtz is repurposing the sediment recovered from the river, locating the interceptor on their property was an ideal choice, he adds. Installed in early June, the interceptor will collect about 30,000 to 50,000 cubic yards of sediment per year, Ziss notes. In addition to the benefit of collecting sediment for sale, White explains that the interceptor should reduce sediment deposition in the shipping channel, which should result in less dredging. This benefit translates into monetary savings, explains White. “The bed load harvest is sustainable because the bed load interception is significantly less costly than dredging and placement into the CDFs,” he says. White points out that dredging costs $7 per cubic yard, and that transporting and placing sediment into the CDF costs an additional $10 per cubic yard - totaling $17 per cubic yard. The process of bed load harvesting is self-funding, and actually realizes a net income of $1.20 per cubic yard, of which the Port gets five percent. This also saves USACE $340,000 per year in dredging costs. “In order to be successful in cutting costs, expanding space capacity and creating a saleable product, the Port has embraced new technology. We developed a market plan and a civic benefit for material, a plan that included a public-private partnership with Kurtz. We’ve provided an alternative model for sediment management,” White adds. “The new plan of recycling of impounded sediment from the CDFs and the upstream interception of material, will add a total 42 years of life to the existing disposal site. And, at a cost of $150 million, who was going to pay for a new site?” White asks.

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www.loadscan.com November / December 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News

Soil

Mulch Producer NEWS

Magic Dirt Casts Spell over Gardeners

By P.J. Heller

f Harry Potter and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry wanted to grow crops or a garden, all they would have to do is wave their magic wands and utter a few incantations. It wasn’t that simple for Robert Joblin and his partner Ted Sniegocki, but the two Little Rock, Ark., businessmen are busy casting a spell over gardeners and others with Magic Dirt, an environmentally-friendly organic soil amendment produced using digested solids from patented DVO, Inc., anaerobic digesters. Magic Dirt recently was named the 2015 Biogas Product Innovation of the Year by the American Biogas Council. A year earlier, it received the 2014 Bioproduct Innovation of the Year Award from the Bioproducts World Showcase and Conference. It is certified as a premium potting soil by the Mulch and Soil Council, certified 100 percent bio-based (contains only organic materials) under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s BioPreferred Program, certified organic by the Organic Materials Research Institute (OMRI) and is certified for use in organic production by the Idaho Department of Agriculture. Joblin’s and Sniegocki‘s company, Cenergy USA, Inc., came up with the idea for Magic Dirt as a way to deal with the effluent from DVO anaerobic digesters. The digesters take in dairy manure, then methane is extracted and used to create electricity. What is left behind is a treated non-odorous liquid stream for crop fertilizer and a nutrient-rich biosolid used to produce Magic Dirt. “We’ve got this organic waste coming out of the digesters,” Joblin notes. “What are we going to do with that? We gave other people the license to go out and create a product with it. It didn’t work. We went to all the major horticultural companies . . . They weren’t interested. So we came up with Magic Dirt. “Enough beer, enough cocktail napkins, enough airports and we put it together,” Joblin says with a chuckle. “We came up with Magic Dirt, which is a sustainable alternative to peat moss.” After several years of testing, a pilot project was launched in Idaho in 2014. Magic Dirt in 2015 was packaged and sold in retail garden supply outlets and big box stores in Idaho. In 2016, the product is expected to be available in 15 states throughout the Pacific Northwest and Midwest. Joblin says two main factors set Magic Dirt apart from the competition. “We’re the only product that I know of with no peat moss, coir, vermiculite or perlite. All the others contain one or more of those elements,” he says. “Secondly, we have about six times the nutrients of any of the other competition.” The key to the production process is the two-stage, mixed plug-flow digesters from DVO, based in Chilton, Wis. The company has installed nearly 100 digesters at more than 70 sites in the U.S. since the first unit was built in 2001. DVO boasts that its digesters process more farm and industrial wastes in North America than any other company or design. Joblin says other digesters aren’t suitable to produce Magic Dirt since the ongoing addition of materials does not result in a “complete” mix. “What went in last week is mixed with what goes in today which is mixed with what goes in next week and you never get complete digestion,” he says of other digesters. “Whereas with the plug-flow aspect [of the DVO digesters] what goes in today isn’t mixed with what went in last week.” The primary ingredient for the digesters is organic farm waste (manure from dairies in the case of the Magic Dirt product) which is heat treated for 6

Soil & Mulch Producer News November / December 2015

about 21 days in an air-tight, oxygen-free vessel that converts part of the waste to methane gas. The methane gas captured during the process is then used to generate renewable energy. “We’re putting in 130,000 gallons a day at the smallest project and 550,000 gallons a day at the larger projects,” Joblin reports. What remains after the process, he says, is a clean, odorfree fiber that can be used to replace peat moss. When that fiber is combined with other organic ingredients — Joblin won’t say what those “secret ingredients” are other than to note the Magic Dirt contents label shows them as “aged forest products — a premium potting mix is created. “The fiber mixture is not compost, but rather a fluffy rich growing medium,” he says. “Unlike composted products, the digested fiber has a longer fiber length and good air porosity,” states the Magic Dirt website. “This gives the fiber a spongy quality with the ability to retain more than three times its weight in water for improved moisture control.” At least one Magic Dirt customer finds that feature especially important. “One of my favorite aspects of Magic Dirt is the fact that if something prevents me from watering my plants I know there’s enough water still held in those fibers to last the plant until its next watering. . . ” she notes. Joblin explains the process: “Basically what we’re doing is we’re taking organic waste, processing it and creating renewable energy and then from the organic waste we’re making horticultural product. And there’s no waste.” For each cubic yard of Magic Dirt used in place of peat moss, the release of about one ton of greenhouse gas is avoided (by bogs not being harvested), he adds. “There’s a huge environmental benefit,” he says. His opinion is borne out by a report by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. The report was titled: “preliminary assessment of the environmental advantages of replacing horticultural peat moss with dairy farm digesterderived fiber in the United States.” The findings indicate that dairy digester fiber provides an environmental advantage in comparison to peat moss for all environmental indicators examined, the report says. In terms of environmental impact, replacing peat moss with dairy digester fiber in the U.S. market could avoid the release of greenhouse gases equivalent to 5.8 million metric tons of CO2-eq. This equates to the annual tailpipe emissions of 1.1 million cars or to reducing U.S. annual methane emissions by 0.8 percent. Cenergy, obviously, cannot use all of the effluent produced by the digesters. “If we took just the extra fiber from the existing DVO digesters, we’re talking about 40 million bags of Magic Dirt a year. That’s a little larger than we can handle right now,” says Joblin, adding, “I would like to hire somebody to run the company at that point.” Leftover fiber can be used by dairies as animal bedding or it can be land applied. “It’s cleaner, softer. It’s a better bedding for the cows than sand or composted manure or wood chips which they’re probably using now. There’s a lot of reasons for them to use this pathogen-free fiber for bedding,” Joblin says. “But they can’t use it all. They may be selling it to other dairies for bedding or land applying it. What they can’t use for bedding is what we look at for Magic Dirt.” Continued on page 8

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November / December 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News

Soil

Mulch Producer NEWS

UMASS Begins Cross Laminated Timber Study

Magic Dirt Casts Spell over Gardeners Continued from page 6

Joblin says both he and Sniegocki have been somewhat surprised by the success of Magic Dirt. “I‘m an optimist. Ted is a pessimist. And even Ted is surprised. We’re surprised at the same time,” Joblin says. “We did enough research to know the stuff is really good. We knew if we could get it on the shelf we had a chance. Fighting for shelf space is the hardest part of this deal.” The other challenge, he points out, is the fact that it will take customers one growing season to see the benefits of Magic Dirt, unlike Harry Potter and his friends who could get instant results by waving their wands. “So all the people who tried it last year will hopefully be repeat customers, along with new people this year,” Joblin says. One Portland, Ore., woman who describes herself as a “picky gardener,” says she’ll be a repeat customer. “I love everything about your product, from the efficiency of its production, the environmentally responsible ingredients, and the efficacy it has in feeding my plants to its simple, clean structure and affordable price,” she wrote in a letter to the company. “I’ll recommend Magic Dirt to anyone who will listen to me, and you deserve every bit of notoriety and commendation that comes your way.”

mherst, MA – A new three-year study funded by a $390,000 National Science Foundation grant to researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMASS) will test the viability of cross laminated timber (CLT), according to a statement released by the school. CLT, which is made from layers of dimension lumber laid crosswise, then glued and laminated together, can incorporate currently underused wood species grown in the northeast United States. Its economic impact could bring local benefits, proponents say, because logging these species from rural forests would create new jobs in those areas. Because it is a composite, CLT is forgiving of defects, which means that smalldiameter and lower quality woods that are abundant in the Northeast offer real potential as source materials for CLT, says lead investigator Peggi Clouston, associate professor of environmental conservation at UMass Amherst. One of her study goals is to show the structural viability of including underused, low-value woods in CLT panels. Clouston explains, “This project will create a market for the trees, and in so doing, defray the costs of thinning to help secure the future health of local forests. It will also create green jobs and spur economic development for the forest industry in the Northeast.” For this work, Clouston, with co-investigators Alexander Schreyer, also of UMass Amherst environmental conservation, and Sanjay Arwade of civil and environmental engineering, plan to demonstrate CLT processing and fabrication procedures that mix species and grades of lumber, experimentally characterize material properties and implement computer models for use in advanced engineering analysis and design. Clouston says CLT is revolutionizing the way wood is used in construction. These large slabs of wood form floors, walls and roofs that can be used in structures one would never expect to be framed in wood, such as 10-story and even taller apartment buildings. “It is poised to compete with steel and concrete,” she notes “I am proud that UMass Amherst recently broke ground for a new campus building that will employ CLT floors.” She adds that the campus’s new Design Building will be one of the first CLT structures of its size in North America. It was designed as a demonstration of the university’s commitment to sustainable practices. “CLT offers significant environmental benefits,” says Clouston. “It stores carbon and creates far less pollution in manufacturing than steel or concrete, which is normally used to frame institutional structures.” The researchers say this work will set the stage for broader market development activities such as scaling up the manufacturing process, developing design specifications and reaching out to builders and architects so they are aware of CLT and its attributes. “We hope our research will lead to one or more CLT production facilities in the Northeast,” Clouston says.

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Soil & Mulch Producer News November / December 2015

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November / December 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News

Soil

Mulch Producer NEWS

Western States Fighting for Control of Federal Lands

By Ann Purvis

new report from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) highlights a growing rift between Western states and the national government over what the states argue is gross mismanagement of the federal lands within their borders. According to ALEC, more than 50 bills to transfer public lands from the federal government to state control were offered in or adopted by state legislatures in 2015. On average, the national government controls more than 50 percent of the land within the borders of the 12 most western states, including 81 percent of Nevada and 66 percent of Utah. The national government controls just 4 percent of land in the 38 nonwestern states. Utah and its western neighbors are increasingly calling for the same treatment, with some Western lawmakers contending states could better manage the resources.

agencies also face large maintenance backlogs, the study found. The National Park Service alone had a backlog of more than $11 billion of work, as of 2014. The report highlights research from the Property and Environment Research Center showing every dollar spent by the federal government managing lands in Arizona, Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico returned just 73 cents to the federal treasury, whereas every dollar spent by those state governments on their public lands earned a return of $14.51. Karla Jones, director of the ALEC Task Force on International Relations and Federalism and author of the federal lands report, says the disparity between federal and state management largely comes down to bureaucracy, with the federal government’s “use it or lose it budgeting” giving federal agencies no incentive to cut costs.

Federal Land Mismanagement

dvocates of transferring federal land to the states contend states would be better A stewards of the environment on public lands,

administration, the number of large wildfires on federal lands averaged 140 per year. Because the amount of logging declined by 80 percent and hundreds of forest roads were closed since 1989, the number of large wildfires has risen substantially, topping 250 large fires annually from 2000–09. The U.S. Forest Service reports more than half the agency’s budget will go toward dealing with wildfires in 2015, up from just 16 percent in 1995. Although critics of plans to transfer federal lands to the states question whether states can assume the growing costs of fighting wildfires, proponents argue federal mismanagement has exacerbated the wildfire problem. “Of course the states cannot afford to manage fires and forests the way the federal government does,” said Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory (R-Salt Lake County). Ivory says reducing the fuel loads—trees and other combustible material—in these areas would reduce the problem. Jones suggests states could create additional road access to “give firefighters greater ability to get to fires while they’re still small.”

as well as managing them more economically. From 1980–89, during the Reagan

Battle in Utah

LEC calculates taxpayers lose $2 billion annually due to federal mismanagement A of public lands. Federal land management

Wildfire Concerns

n Utah, Ivory has led the fight to put federal lands in the state’s hands. Utah passed a Iresolution in 2012 demanding the federal government turn over land to the state. Its deadline came and went with no transfers. Ivory says federal land ownership fails on a number of fronts. “It’s not working for the environment, it’s not working for access, it’s not working for productivity, and it’s not working for states,” Ivory said. Commenting on the local economic impact of federal land ownership, Ivory said, “Economically, it’s just a tragedy throughout the West. It’s really just crippling and crushing the American spirit of ingenuity and freedom and opportunity.” A joint study by economists at three Utah universities concluded a “drag” on economic growth occurs when 40–45 percent of a county’s land is owned and managed by federal agencies. The report noted 20 of Utah’s 29 counties exceeded that level of federal ownership. Ann N. Purvis, J.D. (ann.n.purvis@gmail.com [2]) writes from Dallas, Texas.

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10 Soil & Mulch Producer News November / December 2015

This article was reprinted with permission from the November 2015 edition of Environment & Climate News, a national monthly publication devoted to sound science and free-market environmentalism. References to support this article can be found at:http://news.heartland.org/ newspaper-article/2015/10/06/western-statesfighting-control-federal-lands.

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Soil

Mulch Producer NEWS

Portland Scrap Wood Likely to End Up in Landfill

ortland, OR – The idling of Portland Metro’s main contract facility for processing scrap wood has left the city with few options but to send the waste to landfill, reports an article in BizJournals.com. Last year, the Newberg SB Fiber Technologies paper mill received about 127,000 tons of wood from the city of Portland. The wood waste was turned into biofuel for a steam generator that supplies electricity. But this year, SB Fiber was purchased by Virginia-based WestRock Co. and the new parent company idled operations at the mill. Metro is working with the state Department of Environmental Quality and local facilities, as well as its own two solid waste transfer stations, to come up with alternatives for wood waste disposal. In November, the Metro Council temporarily suspended restrictions on types of wood waste that can go to landfill. The city code previously allowed no more than 15 percent of the material sent to landfills to be wood, metal or cardboard. According to its website, Metro estimates that 60,000 tons of wood a year now will be sent to landfills. While the mill’s machinery is powered down, 171 Newberg mill workers are out of work. According to an OregonLive.com article, there’s a chance WestRock, which has closed four other mills it owns, may get things going again at the plant. One possible product could be sawdust, which WestRock has become a market leader in making, OregonLive notes. The OregonMetro.gov website explains that the Newberg mill which burned about 350 tons of the Portland region’s wood waste every day, was unique in that it was exempted from recent federal regulations on its boilers. The plant could burn treated wood, laminated wood, railroad ties, painted wood and other construction waste that was sent there from the Portland region’s recovery facilities.

Two other paper mills in the area, one in Camas and the other in Longview, can burn clean, so-called “blonde” wood that meets federal standards. But any treated, painted or otherwise contaminated wood will now be sent to a landfill. Metro Solid Waste Compliance Program director Roy Brower said about half of the region’s wood waste is “blonde” wood that can still be recovered to make energy. Metro posted garbage rates of $94.98 per ton, for loads with painted, treated or processed wood like plywood or particle board that must go to landfills. Only raw, untreated wood — mostly dimensional lumber — will be accepted at Metro’s discounted wood-only rate of $51.56 per ton. Construction and demolition companies have been dumping mixed loads of debris at transfer stations, also called recovery facilities. There, workers sort through the materials for anything reusable or recyclable. This may change, however, due to the new federal regulations that limit boilers to using the cleanest types of wood. Even if the Newberg mill were to re-open, Brower said, they’d also have to meet the federal standard. WestRock purchased SP Fiber Holdings Inc. of Greenwich, Connecticut, for $288.5 million, in a deal that included the Newberg mill, an SP paper mill in Dublin, Georgia, and a 48 percent interest in Green Power Solutions, which supplies electricity to Georgia Power and steam to SP’s Dublin mill. WestRock was formed earlier this summer through the merger of Richmond-based MeadWestvaco Corp. and Georgia-based Rock-Tenn Co. The combined company has about 42,000 employees and had about $15.7 billion in sales last year, second in the paper and packaging industry to International Paper Co.

Reach more than 5,000 mulch, topsoil and compost producers/resellers, nationwide. Advertise in Soil & Mulch Producer News. Call Rick or Donna at 440-257-6453.

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Mulch Producer NEWS

Springfield Biomass Plant Shelved

pringfield, MA – Public radio WAMC.org reports that a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision effectively has halted a wood-burning power plant that was the center of controversy here for nearly eight years. Last June, a three-judge panel heard arguments from a lawyer representing Palmer Renewable Energy, the developer and from a lawyer representing project opponents. Concerns about air pollution and public health hazards arose early on. Palmer and its supporters emphasized the plant would be built with state-of-the-art equipment that minimized health risks. The energy company applied for and was granted a construction permit from Springfield’s building commissioner. The Springfield Zoning Board of Appeals revoked the permit, however. Palmer then filed the first of two cases in lower court. In each instance the judge directed the city to issue a building permit. Springfield is located in one of two Massachusetts counties identified by the American Lung Association as having very high rates of airborne particulates. According to 2010 figures, which includes the latest health data gathered from Springfield Public Schools, the prevalence of asthma in students was about 20 percent compared to 9 percent nationwide.

Palo Alto Targets 2021 for Zero Waste

alo Alto, CA – The city of Palo Alto wants to involve businesses in its food waste reduction programming, but not until after it has made a careful review of the in a proposed ordinance, reports MercuryNews.com. Palo Alto City Council has been reviewing a proposed ordinance that would capture tens of thousands of tons of organic waste for composting. New food waste requirements that are part of the code would help Palo Alto achieve its 2021 zero waste goals. A composting program started last July in the city quickly grew to 18,000 single-family households around the city separating food scraps and food-soiled paper as part of their paid trash collection service. The city is considering expanding the service to multifamily housing with more than 11 units. The program will divert an annual estimated 3,000 tons of compostable materials from landfills, according to Palo Alto officials. The city’s multifamily dwellings that have five to 10 units will get free compost service with garbage service, said Matthew Krupp, manager of the city’s Zero Waste initiative. Krupp says the city wants to make reducing food waste as easy as possible for businesses. The proposed ordinance calls for businesses to collect food scraps and food-soiled paper in green bins and pay for compost services. Fines and other penalties for not sorting items improperly are spelled out. Violators would undergo a training session and receive a warning letter before being penalized at least $77. Certain salvageable construction materials would be included under the proposed ordinance. Before being finalized, rules for those materials must be clarified, guidelines written for minimizing refuse during special events. About 30 percent of the city’s commercial customers already subscribe to services provided by GreenWaste. Another 1,000 customers do not take part in composting or recycling, which results in 7,000 tons of organic waste going to landfills, according to the city. If the ordinance is approved, Palo Alto will require all commercial customers, multifamily properties and food-service establishments that produce more than 10 cubic yards of compost per week to subscribe to the city’s system by April 1, 2016. This deadline would affect about 150 garbage customers. The city’s estimated 220 commercial customers that generate 2 cubic yards of trash would have until January 2017 to comply. The city’s remaining 600 customers have until January 2018.

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November / December 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News 15

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Keynote Speakers Announced for COMPOST2016

GROWING TOGETHER If you’re looking for a unique tradeshow experience to take your business and education to a new level, register for CENTS16 today: Re-Invented Tradeshow Experience Educational opportunities outside of the classroom setting and our new ONLA garage offer more value for your tradeshow pass.

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elebrity gardener Joe Lamp’l and Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus will inspire and inform the composting industry with compost use and the organics recycling regulatory outlook at COMPOST2016 in Jacksonville, FL Jan 25-28, 2016. “Two of the most important issues for our compost manufacturers and allied members are covered in the work of these two individuals,” said Rod Tyler, president of the USCC. “Whether you’re a municipality in charge of picking up organics or a manufacturer working on selling the compost you’ve made, regulation and consumer education are make-or-break issues for our members.” Stanislaus’s group heads the EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management approach, a change emphasizing recovery of resources over disposal methods. Organics recycling will also be a critical component of EPA’s new 50% goal for reduction of food scraps. Lamp’l is the host of the popular Public Broadcasting System gardening show, “Growing a Greener World,’ and has served as USCC’s celebrity spokesperson for the past year. He is an advocate of tested, certified STA compost and compost for many applications. The US Composting Council’s mission is to represent the compost manufacturers and their suppliers, collectors, researchers, testers and educators. COMPOST2016, the 24th annual gathering and tradeshow of this industry community, advances the mission by educating attendees on best practices, current technology and the regulatory environment. To learn more about the world’s largest recycling Conference and Tradeshow, visit www.compostingcouncil.org/compost2016.

Maine Composter Blames Weather for Nuisance Odors

SoilandMulch_4.0625x5.125.indd 1

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16 Soil & Mulch Producer News November / December 2015

rundel, ME – Sol Fedder, a director of Dubois Livestock & Excavating blames an easterly wind and dry conditions for the foul odors that drew complaints from the company’s neighbors, a PressHerald.com article reports. Fedder has insisted the combination of compost and chicken manure Dubois spreads on its hayfields was cured to reduce odor. “We have to use something to make the grass grow,” Fedder said. “If we had something that smelled nicer, we’d use that.” The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) attempted to discuss the complaints with the company, but was not allowed onsite to determine whether the compost and manure was sufficiently cured. DEP rules say compost must be sufficiently cured so it does not create a “nuisance odor.” The town of Arundel cited Dubois Livestock & Excavating Inc. for operating in violation of local land use and state environmental laws since at least 2011. That year, the town did not renew an expired conditional-use permit after Dubois refused to comply with certain requirements, according to documents filed in Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The business appealed the lower court’s decision, but in the Superior Court case the judge ruled in favor of the town. In an attempt to enforce the previous court order, Arundel has since filed a second lawsuit against Dubois and the Randrick Trust, the legal entity that owns the business, according to a report by the Portland Press Herald. Since then, Dubois has continued to make compost. The company also raises pigs and rabbits, sells firewood and offers excavation and demolition services. A group of neighbors wants the composting to cease. In addition, one neighbor has complained about floodlights at the site. The legal battle continues while the Maine Agriculture Protection Act takes effect. The new law may make Dubois exempt from town ordinances.

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November / December 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News 17

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Mulch Producer NEWS

Roeslein Energy, Smithfield Foods Build Anaerobic Digester

t. Louis, MO – An $80 million anaerobic digester project, possibly the largest livestock manure-to-energy project of its kind to date, is expected to be operating by mid-2016, reports a BiomassMagazine.com article. The project is a partnership between Roeslein Alternative Energy (RAE) and Smithfield Foods. The construction work is being done by Industrial & Environmental Concepts Inc. As of November, Phase One of the project is nearing completion. It consists of 88 covered and lined manure lagoons at the St. Louis site. The next phase will involve fabricating and installing a biogas purification system, then connecting to a natural gas pipeline network operated by ANR, a TransCanada company. The digester will use manure from nearly two million pigs at nine hog finishing farms in northern Missouri. The project came about when Roeslein developed a process based on technology used widely in Europe and approached Smithfield Foods with an idea make it happen in the United States. RAE has says it also intends obtain biomass from restored prairie grasslands to generate additional renewable natural gas, or RNG. Each lagoon is about four acres in size and can hold 15 million gallons of manure. Roeslein has developed an impermeable cover that stretches across the lagoons. The cover traps the bio-gas given off by decomposing manure, which is then siphoned off and purified on-site into 98 percent pure methane. The gas then travels through a national network of pipelines to power plants where it will be burned. The impermeable lagoon covers also serve two other important purposes: to prevent odors and capture fresh water that can be used in farming operations. North Carolina utility Duke Energy has agreed to purchase a portion of the gas produced by the RAE digester, which it estimates at approximately 2.2 billion cubic feet of pipeline quality RNG, or the equivalent of 17 million gallons of diesel fuel annually. According to its website, Roeslein Energy was launched in 1990 and now has more than 200 employees and expects to reach $120 million in revenue this year.

Dayton Mulch Company Rides Construction Wave

ayton, OH – As new healthcare, entertainment and recreation complex projects proliferate throughout the Miami Valley area of Ohio, many businesses are benefitting from the construction boom, reports BizJournals.com. One of those companies, Swartz Mulch, is preparing to double its capacity with a $440,000 investment in grinding, composting and other equipment. The company reported it may invest $400,000 to add more trucks to its fleet and hire more drivers to support its rapidly growing landscaping business, as well. The family-owned Swartz produces a variety of mulches and leaf compost for gardening, in addition to playground mulch. The company also provides lawn service, on-site wood grinding and snow removal. According to its website, Swartz Mulch began in the 1940s as a working agricultural farm. In the 1960s, the family transitioned to poultry (egg) farming. In the early 1980s the company branched out into landscaping and then expanded into the mulching business. In the last few years the business has more than doubled in size.

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Mulch Producer NEWS

Product/Equipment Profiles

Soil

Weed Recede All-In-One Weed Barrier Mulch Bag

Rayco Introduces RCT110S Crawler Truck

eed Recede is an all-in-one weed barrier mulch bag designed to help block weeds, and it is soil degradable. “Weed Recede represents that next stage in technology that embeds purpose in the packaging,” explains Bob Hawkinson, inventor of Weed Recede. “I’ve designed a simple system for installing mulch in a faster, easier, more eco-friendly way that helps to eliminate billions of plastic bags from ending up in the ocean or landfills. It not only saves time, and the cost of recycling wasteful packaging, but the Weed Recede bag provides an effective barrier that helps to suppress weeds.” Weed Recede’s patented innovative application process for organic or inorganic ground cover provides the following benefits: • Helps to save water by replacing grass lawns with mulch or pebbles • Helps block weeds • Helps reduce herbicide usage and impact on the environment • Helps reduces waste removal and disposal fees • Helps eliminate single use typically non-recycled polyethylene plastic film materials from ending up in landfills or oceans • Helps retain moisture • Simplifies installation process for better results Currently, licensing for Weed Recede is available to manufacturers.

on’t tie up your prime mover for just one function. Rayco is introducing a new concept in Crawler Trucks with the launch of the RCT110S. This innovative platform is designed to utilize the 100hp, steel tracked Crawler Truck as a tow vehicle and carry payloads on a gooseneck trailer. The trailer can be fully customized to meet specific job requirements or to perform specialized tasks, allowing the RCT110S Crawler Truck to function as the prime mover for any number of different trailers. This concept lowers costs by keeping specialized equipment confined only to the trailer and allowing the RCT110S Crawler Truck to mate up to multiple trailers. The gooseneck trailer design allows for payloads up to 20,000-pounds and the trailer length can be configured to the user’s requirements. The RCT110S is powered by a reliable Kubota diesel engine and features a heavy-duty steel track undercarriage to maximize traction and durability. An enclosed cab with heat, A/C, and suspension seat keep the operator safe and comfortable. Joystick propel and 2-speed travel makes operation simple while the gooseneck trailer design provides the tightest possible turning radius. The RCT110S can also be configured with a 2-5/16-inch ball coupler.

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Greenwood Farms Launches Color Critter New & Improved Design!

Bandit Introduces Micro Chippers for Wood Pellet Producer Market

he Color Critter has been redesigned to fill a missing niche in the colored mulch market. Improvements of this new, heavy duty Color Critter include a simplified electronic m e t e r, i n c r e a s e d hopper capacity and a new hopper lining. The upgraded electronic control works in conjunction with your recyclers electronic controls, ensuring uniformly colored finished product, while maximizing production from your colorant. Mounted on top of most horizontal grinders, the new Color Critter will turn your wood fiber, pallet or whole tree mulch into beautifully color enhanced mulch during the secondary grind using minimal water. The hopper capacity has been increased to accommodate industry standards of colorant packaging, allowing the user more choices when choosing their color manufacturer. The hopper now has a removable lid for ease of cleaning and the new lining will allow any grade of colorant to move freely.

andit developed the micro chipper drum for the Model 2590, 3090 and 3590 whole tree chippers, allowing you to invest in the chipper that best meets your production needs. Bandit® chippers produce high quality micro chips for serious pellet producers. Nearly all chips produced by a Bandit micro chipper measure at 3/8”-minus and most are 1/4”-minus. “We are particularly proud of our latest micro chippers with a head designed to make a ¼” cut, a throwing system centered around our patented Power Slot, and our unique discharge system that will allow the chippers to fully load the largest chip trailers without the need of an auxiliary blower or chip accelerator,” said Bandit President, Jerry Morey. Morey adds, “Eliminating the need for a discharge assist adds 100 horsepower to the chipper drum, but more importantly, the additional chipping power coupled with our synchronized feed system will improve fuel economy by about 30 percent.” Bandit’s patented Clean Feed systems do not allow chip to fall under the feed system or to carry back around the infeed chain. All that falls through the cracks are dirt and leaves.

For further information call (518) 464-5030 ext. 4 or visit www.colorcritter.com.

20 Soil & Mulch Producer News November / December 2015

For more information, contact Bandit at (989) 561-2270 or sales@banditchippers.com or visit www.banditchippers.com.

Soil

Mulch Producer NEWS

PHG Energy Builds $3.5 Million Syngas Plant in Tennessee

ebanon, TN – A Nashville-area municipality soon will be producing syngas to help power its waste treatment facility, reports . The new Lebanon plant will have the capacity to gasify an estimated 64 tons per year of sewer sludge, old tires and industrial wood waste. The thermo-chemical process it will use does not emit smoke but leaves carbon biochar, a residue which has industrial and agricultural uses. PHG Energy of Nashville has designed the facility to employ one of the world’s largest downdraft gasification units. The syngas it produces will power a generator that will provide for the gasification operation’s internal needs, and deliver up to 200 Kw directly to the operation of the waste plant. Funding for the $3.5 million facility includes a $250,000 award from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), and a subsidy from the Clean Tennessee Energy Grant program, to cover 70% financing’s interest cost through the Federal Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds program.

John Upton: Accounting Tricks Portray Biomass as “Clean Energy” for European Countries

nergy derived from burning wood is not really clean energy, argues environmentalist, John Upton, in an article published on GreenBix.com. Upton points to financial incentives the power generation giant, Drax, and other power companies receive from governments to switch from coal to wood. Europe, Upton says, depends heavily on biofuel, usually pellets, made from wood sources. The EU is steadily importing more and more pellets from the United States. Asia’s demand is increasing, also. This brings a number of issues home to the U.S., where environmentalists have expressed deep concern over the impact on forests here. Upton and other observers are also disturbed by the loopholes in the EU’s climate rules that classify wood burning as a “carbon neutral” or “zero emissions” energy source, right along with solar panels or wind turbines. “When power plants in major European countries burn wood, the only carbon dioxide pollution they report is from the burning of fossil fuels needed to manufacture and transport the woody fuel,” he says. Upton adds that European law assumes pollution released directly by burning fuel made from trees doesn’t matter, because it will be re-absorbed by trees that grow to replace them. Yet burning wood to release its energy also releases its climate-changing carbon, Upton says. As forests are cut to source wood for biofuel, the replacement trees may or may not grow, and even so, it’s hard to predict the rates at which they will grow. Along with the loss of trees’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide, the logic of biofuel as clean energy weakens further, Upton says. This is why he calls carbon credits an “accounting trick” and he opposes the hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies that encourage this trend. The Drax Power Station, located in Yorkshire, England is one of Western Europe’s largest coal power plants. The 4-gigawatt facility was built in the 1970s and ‘80s and is being transitioned to wood-burning capacity. Upton says analysis of Drax data reveals that its boilers release 15 to 20 percent more carbon dioxide when they burn wood than when they burn coal.

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Know What EPA Has in Store for You Each monthly issue of Environment & Climate News addresses issues that affect you every day: over-regulation by EPA; protection of our soil, water, and forest resources; and more. You can read it online at news.heartland.org or have it delivered to your email inbox for free at www.heartland.org/subscribe heartland.org/subscribe. If you prefer the smell of newsprint, subscribe to the print publication for $36 at store. www.heartland.org heartland.org. The Heartland Institute is a 31-year-old national nonprofit organization based in Chicago. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more inwww.heartland.org formation, visit our Web site at heartland.org or call HEARTLAND.ORG 312/377-4000. www.heartland.org HEARTLAND.ORG

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U.S. Senate Ditches Water Rule

ashington, D.C. – The U. S. Senate exercised rarely-used legislative authority to squash a waterways regulation issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, reports a NACo.org article. The two federal agencies had sought to clarify “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) definition that subjects certain waterways to federal regulatory jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA). In terms of protecting water quality, the differences between navigable waters and waterways such as roadside ditches, drainage canals and the like have been under discussion for some time. But when the two agencies moved to broaden the scope, outcry and opposition erupted. Agricultural groups, county and local governments, and others who would be impacted quickly filed lawsuits in the lower courts. WOTUS already had cleared Supreme Court hurdles in 2001 and 2006. But this fall, Capitol Hill opponents led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) used a procedural move that allows Congress to overturn any “major” federal rule through a resolution of disapproval. The measure, Senate Joint Resolution

22, won a narrow majority (53-44) to nullify the WOTUS regulation, but it effectively sent the message that the EPA and USACE had gone too far. Previously, the Senate introduced a new bill (S. 1140) quickly after WOTUS was finalized in August by the agencies. The bill was written with intent to force the EPA and USACE back to the drawing board. Specifically, the opposing lawmakers wanted the agencies to give more consideration to input from state and local governments about county owned and managed roads and roadside ditches, bridge projects, storm water conveyances, flood control channels and drainage ditches. According to the National Association of County Organizations (NACo), both S.J.R. 22 and S. 1140 have drawn veto threats, and neither the House nor the Senate has the votes to override a presidential veto on these bills. Both the House and Senate FY16 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bills contain language to stop the final “waters of the U.S.” rule from being implemented.

ADVERTISER NEWS ALLU Group, Inc. Names Edgar J. Chavez as Executive Vice President

LLU Group, Inc. announced Edgar J. Chavez will take over as their Executive Vice President and General Manager. Chavez will be assume overall responsibility for taking ALLU Group, Inc. to the next level by mapping its growth through developing the dealer network and increasing brand awareness and market share in North American markets. For the last 5 years, Chavez has served as Director, Sales, Marketing and Product Support for PACCAR Inc. winch division. Chavez’s career includes experience with GRADALL Industries, CNH Industrial, ASTEC Industries, Mitsubishi International and VOLVO Construction equipment. He now brings his 20+ years of industry knowledge to ALLU. “Adding Edgar to ALLU Group will be instrumental in continuing our success in North America. His experience and knowledge of the industry will be extremely valuable to our operation,” were words expressed from current president Mardi Ohanessian about bringing Mr. Chavez aboard. Chavez replied, “I am excited to be part of the ALLU Group and be working with the North American and Finnish staff to continue its global growth.”

Premier Tech Chronos launches the WECARE Guarantee

remier Tech Chronos (PTC), one of the largest packaging equipment manufacturers in the world, recently launched the WECARE Guarantee. “It reflects our code of conduct, symbolized by the word DRIVER, and demonstrates our belief that the client is the reason we exist and that we are committed to ensuring the success of his business,” explains Vice President of Marketing & Client Services Mr. Simon Roy. Our goal in implementing this code of conduct across the entire organization is to be renowned for customer care support by providing our clients with superlative service. We created a contest to encourage team members to share positive customer experiences and we reward them for this positive feedback. We also developed a training program for our team members in order to enhance the client’s experience every time a client deals with us. “DRIVER is part of our company’s culture. It drives us to provide the best service possible and to enhance the client experience at all times. We aim to meet the highest quality standards, both in our actions and in our attitude toward our clients,” adds Mr. Roy.

22 Soil & Mulch Producer News

November / December 2015

CMC Expands Processing Capabilities

leetwood, PA October 8, 2015 - Custom Milling and Consulting, Inc. is increasing its processing capabilities to better serve their customers. In early 2015 CMC added a new 36,000 sq. ft. building to their facilities, 12,000 sq. ft. of the that space has been dedicated for increasing wet milling production. This new processing area is in addition to the already existing 23,500 sq. ft. area and is being equipped with state of the art equipment and technology. Work is progressing on the processing area which includes; a new dust collection system, electrical stations with enough capacity to operate up to 1,000 total horse power of equipment, and 300 square feet of refrigerated storage. An indoor tank farm will be outfitted with new tanks for large volume production; an automated filling station will be installed to improve batch accuracy, and a 90 ton chiller for products that require precise temperature control. Several new horizontal media mills and process tanks up to 1,500 gallons will allow CMC to manufacture dispersions for a wide range of industries. There will be several high volume stations with CMC horizontal media mills that will be fully powered and able to achieve sub-micron particle sizes. All the upgrades of the new equipment will allow processing capacity up to 5,000 lbs. per hour and over 100,000 lbs. per day depending on the processing requirements. This expansion in processing will allow customers maximum flexibility in their production, and is set to be completed and operational by the end of 2015.

www.ptchronos.com

November / December 2015 Soil & Mulch Producer News 23

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VOL. IX NO. 6

U.S. Postage

PAID

NOV / DEc 2015

Inside This Issue

River Dredging and Sediment Interception Reaps Rewards for Cleveland Port PAGE 1 Magic Dirt Casts Spell over Gardeners PAGE 6 Western States Fighting for Control of Federal Lands PAGE 10 Portland Scrap Wood Likely to End Up in Landfill PAGE 12 Palo Alto Targets 2021 for Zero Waste PAGE 15 Roeslein Energy, Smithfield Foods Build Anaerobic Digester PAGE 18 U.S. Senate Ditches Water Rule PAGE 22

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