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A TWO-YEAR, 400 ton per week pilot project demonstrated how yard waste can be processed into mulch and utilized in a variety of ways in Pinellas County, Florida. The project explored costs, contamination, methods and management in mulch production and distribution. A waste composition study indicated 22 percent of the waste stream is yard debris in this lush and warm climatic region.
A 280 square mile peninsula on Florida's central west coast, Pinellas is the smallest and most populous county in the state with 3,042 people per square mile. The 1991 population of 851,659 is projected to reach 934,000 by 1994. That trend coupled with shrinking land resources resulted in a search for alternatives to landfilling waste.
In 1986 St. Petersburg, the county's largest city, investigated the use of yard trash as a boiler fuel, but the idea was abandoned due to a lack of end users in the region. The city then initiated a recycled yard trash mulch program. The county modeled a pilot project in August of 1989 after the St. Petersburg program on a 4.7 acre site at the Bridgeway Acres Landfill.
The project was a cooperative effort between the St. Petersburg Sanitation Department, Pinellas County Department of Solid Waste Management, Pinellas County Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) and 11 municipalities.
In 1988, Florida passed the Solid Waste Management Act requiring each county to recycle 30 percent of its solid waste by 1994. Yard waste recycling can be used to achieve up to half of that goal. The act prohibited yard debris from entering a lined landfill effective Jan. 1, 1992. To implement the mandates, $27 million in state funds were allocated.
PARTICIPATION INCENTIVES
Participation in the county project was encouraged with incentives, including the adoption of a $15 per ton grinding fee. St. Petersburg offered the services of its private grinding contractor and collected the fee for the material delivered by participating cities. The disposal fee at the county landfill is $37.50 per ton, so cities save $22.50 per ton, helping them to offset additional collection costs for segregated yard trash.
The cost of labor and equipment for windrow processing, reject disposal, and mulch distribution was paid out of Florida recycling grant...