A Green Light on Recycling 



MMore than half of New 

 England's "trash" is 

 made up of industrial 

 by-products that could 

 be of real val ue to our 

 horticultural indus- 

 tries. To most people, recycling means 

 saving bottles and cans and dropping 

 them off at a local recycling center, but 

 to Resource Conservation Services, Inc. 

 (RCS), it means manufacturing and dis- 

 tributing their North Counuy Products 

 line of mulches, soils, composts, and 

 erosion control materials. RCS proc- 

 esses organic materials such as fish 

 waste, wood ash, bark, and wood fiber 

 sludges and distributes the resulting re- 

 cycled soil products at prices as low as 

 S2/cubic yard plus delivery. 



Many nurserymen remember past 

 experiences with sludge and have 

 learned to ask questions about heavy 

 metals and other possible contaminants. 

 Today , municipal and industrial sludges 

 used in land application and as feed- 

 stocks in composting are strictly regu- 

 lated and monitored. Bill Ginn, RCS's 

 owner and former Executive Director 

 of Maine's Audubon Society, makes 

 sure all environmental standards are not 

 only met, but surpassed during the manu- 

 facture of North Country Products 

 Erosion Control Mix, Superhumus Soil 

 Mix, Compost Soil Amendment, and 

 RC-Soil. RCS provides detailed lest 

 results to back up its environmental 

 claims. 



Commercial windrow composting 

 has brought new levels of quality and 

 sophistication to the age-old human 



practice of encouraging the natural de- 

 composition of organic waste. RCS 

 recipes are carefully developed to bal- 

 ance ingredients such as fish and crab 

 waste, shredded paper, carbonacious 

 ood-fiber residues from paper mills, 

 andclean, high-nitrogen municipal was- 

 tewater sludge. Temperatures of 130 

 degrees (F) and over kill weed seeds 

 and pathogens and biologically stabi- 

 lize the mix, creating a peat-like mate- 

 rial with balanced nuuients. While RCS 

 makes no claims for guaranteed mini- 

 mum nutrient analysis, good composts 

 provide basic nuuients and offer long- 

 term release of organically-bound ni- 

 trogen. 



North Country Products Compost 

 Soil Amendment is particularly valu- 

 able as an ingredient in potting mixes 

 and as an amendment to sand and clay 

 soils. 



Superhumus Soil Mix has been on 

 the market for one year. It is generated 

 by screening the decomposed bark and 

 leaf mulch, forest soil, and sand which 

 is washed off logs as they move along 

 water flumes into a paper mill for proc- 

 essing. Maine's O'Donals Nursery re- 

 ports great results and substantial sav- 

 ings by mixing Superhumus Soil Mix 

 with their customary Promix BX based 

 potting soil. 



According to Qyde Walton, Chief 

 Landscaper for Maine's Department of 

 Transportation (MDOT), recycled soil 

 products "offer this department an op- 

 portunity to improve soils, protect 

 against erosion and wateoAay pollution, 

 while saving money and contributing to 



our state's efforts to recycle". 



North Country Products Erosion 

 Control Mix, a rock, gravel and bark 

 mix, has proven highly effective in 

 controlling erosion - even from chan- 

 neled water - when applied in a 3-6" 

 layer on the soil surface. Where dense 

 grass growth is not required for aes- 

 thetic reasons, this material substitutes 

 for geotextile blankets and offers great 

 cost savings. Where only limited vege- 

 tative growth is desired, Superhumus 

 Soil Mix will serve the same purposes 

 very well. \Miere erosion conUDl and 

 vegetative growth are desired, RCS rec- 

 ommends RC-Soil as an entirely re- 

 cycled topsoil substitute. 



Where landscapers might avoid 

 using compost because of the expecta- 

 tion that it must be tilled into large jobs 

 at additional expense, RCS has designed 

 RC-Soil which can be applied just like 

 a loam. For steep slopes which pose dif- 

 ficult problems in conventional jobs, 

 RCS offers custom application using 

 specialized equipment which is capable 

 of throw ing highly organic and screened 

 soil products up to 150 feet through the 

 air, laying three to six inches of "Super- 

 humus Soil Mix" on extremely steep 

 slopes. 



RCS coordinates distribution of all 

 of its products from its corporate office 

 in Yarmouth, Maine at (207) 846- 

 3737.f 



(Jay Kllbourn is the group manager of 

 Resource Conservation Services, Inc.. 

 Compost and Processed Products Divi- 

 sion. ) 



J 



NURSERIES 



a divisron of Culbro Corporation 



[SJS^ 



Find out mofe Wnte for a Catalog or Conact 



Sales Rep Doug Ijentz a (617) 93»«184 



PO BOX 120. 90 SALMON BROOK STREET GRANBY Z^ 06035 



(203)653-4641 



KRAUSLAND FARM. ROUTE 90. QUINOT, FLORIDA 32351 



(904) 627-7501 



PO BOX 128a SANDY. OR 97055 



Wholesale Nursery Slock tfial looks good and se«s well 

 Container and B & B Shrubs 



27 



