USDA OPENS NEW COMPOST FACILITY

Release No. 0372.97

Maria Bynum (202) 720-5192
maria.bynum@usda.gov
Don Comis (301)344-2748
 dcomis@asrr.arsusda.gov

USDA OPENS NEW COMPOST FACILITY

     BELTSVILLE, Md., Oct. 20, 1997--The U.S. Department of Agriculture's
new compost research facility demonstrates the benefits of recycling--saving
the environment and money, said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Richard
Rominger at a 10:00 a.m. dedication ceremony here. 

     "The scientists will develop and test new technologies for cooperative
recycling--ways to reduce urban landfill problems while turning excess
nutrients and other potential pollutants into valuable products such as
organic fertilizer for farms and gardens," said Rominger.  "To put the
research results into the hands of those who can use it, USDA will join with
private industry to develop and transfer new recycling and composting
technologies."

     The new facility is located at the Beltsville Agricultural Research
Center (BARC) which is part of the Agricultural Research Service, USDA's
chief scientific agency.

     "Composting converts nitrogen and other nutrients into stable forms
that are less likely to enter waterways," said Rominger.   "The facility
will also help us comply with Maryland's voluntary nutrient management
program, designed to keep nitrogen and phosphorus out of the Chesapeake Bay. 
The project also has national implications for developing similar recycling
cooperation between farms and towns," he added.

     The new facility's 77,000-square-foot composting pad is itself built
partly of recycled materials such as coal ash from electric power plants.  

     "We expect  to save $13,000 a year by reducing landfill fees and by
converting leftover farm, urban and industrial materials to fertilizer,
potting mixes and mulch for use throughout the Beltsville center," Rominger
said.

     To build the recycling pad, coal ash was mixed into the clay subsoil
along with quick lime and cement dust.  The finished product is almost as
durable as concrete or asphalt, but costs about one-fourth as much and is
easier to repair.  It's expected that 10,000 tons of organic leftovers or
residues will be composted at the site annually.

      Since January, Randy Townsend, a Maryland-certified compost operator,
has composted residue from BARC's farmland and greenhouses.   The residues
include cattle and poultry manure, used potting soil, dead greenhouse
plants, landscape trimmings, unusable produce, hay, grains and corn ground
as silage for cattle feed.

     For four years, ARS researchers have grown corn, soybeans and winter
wheat in soils amended with residues from diverse sources,  including cement
and coal processors, seafood plants and compost producers.  Yields were
higher with many of the composts than with commercial fertilizer.  Other
residues for composting will include drywall and other construction scraps
and byproducts from the electric power industry. 

     Composting research at other ARS locations--including labs in Alabama,
Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Texas--has led to two cooperative research
and development agreements:

     o With the U.S. Department of Energy's Technology Center in
Morgantown, W. Va., and Fort Drum Co-Generation Partners, Fort Drum, N.Y.,
to test farm applications of ash from electric power plants, including a
dairy feedlot pad. 

     o With Tascon, Inc., Houston, Tex., to develop a potting mix by
recycling waste paper compressed into pellets and mixed with poultry litter
or other manures.  The pellets can also be spread on land, either mixed as a
"green manure" or spread as a surface mulch to protect soil from strong
winds. The pellets may also have herbicidal qualities.

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