After a fall cleanup, a hardscape installation or a tree removal, where does the waste go? For many landscape contractors, it goes straight to a landfill, often for a considerable fee. For others, it’s recycled and reused – a process that actually saves them time and reduces their costs. “Before we started composting our debris, we had to pay to drop it off at a local landfill, plus pay for the fuel and labor to get it there,” says Tony Sposato, owner of Sposato Landscape Co., in Milton, Del. “And in a way, recycling our yard waste instead of just taking it to a landfill to sit is a way for us to ‘go greener.’”
Like Sposato, many contractors implement debris management programs as a smart business maneuver and the environmental benefits are an added bonus. Like most business expenses, the costs to dump debris in a landfill are rising as communities aim to discourage waste and/or recoup the costs of site operation. While some legwork is involved, contractors can implement successful debris management programs, such as recycling or composting, in a matter of months, and quickly see both environmental and financial benefits.
“It didn’t really cost us anything to get the program started and reusing our waste material saves us about $10,000 a year,” says Todd Pugh, president of Enviroscapes, Louisville, Ohio. “If someone says they can’t afford a recycling program, they’re not looking at it though the right glasses.”
DIVIDE AND CONQUER. Pugh implemented his composting program about seven years ago primarily to eliminate his landfill dumping fees. But he quickly learned the waste materials could be composted and reused to create what he calls “super soil,” which is then used in his clients’ landscapes. While the company’s debris management program neither makes or loses money, Enviroscapes kept 25,000 yards, or 2,500 semi-truck loads, of waste materials out of local landfills last year alone. “It’s kind of a wash as far as expense,” Pugh says. “The good thing is we’re keeping all of that material out of the landfills.”
Pugh says the key to a successful debris management program is a thorough separation system, something it took him a few years to learn. His crews used to dump their waste material into one pile, which would then take hours to sort through. Today, crews dump debris into three clearly labeled piles. The first includes all wood material and branches larger than two inches in diameter. The second includes grass clippings, soil and wood material smaller than one inch in diameter. The third pile includes “junk they can’t compost,” like concrete, clay, fill dirt and other rubble. Using this systematic approach, crews keep waste roughly separated throughout the day, and one crew member with a front-end or skid-steer loader can sort and place a day’s worth of waste in 10 minutes. “For a debris management system to work well, you have to have a sorting program in place that starts with the guys in the field,” Pugh says. “The biggest challenge is keeping it neat and clean – you have to hold people accountable for that.”
From here, Pugh hires a company to grind the contents of the wood pile into mulch, which the subcontracted company then purchases from Enviroscapes. However, this is a wash in terms of expense as the cost of grinding is just about equal to the price of the mulch. Why doesn’t Enviroscapes just use the mulch? “We don’t generate enough wood waste to have a consistent product all year,” Pugh says.
SPACE IT OUT. Sposato started composting his yard debris in 2005 to eliminate landfill fees, lower fuel costs and lighten his labor load. Back then, it would cost him $30 to $45 to dump one truck load, or 12 yards, of waste. Sposato and his crews would stockpile the waste until crews made six or seven 15-minute-long trips to the local landfill one Saturday morning every month. Gas and overtime fees quickly added up. Although a yard-waste fee of a few dollars was factored into each client’s bill, it never seemed to compensate for the time and money required to dispose of the waste material.
By reading trade magazine articles, consulting experts from the University of Delaware and conducting a lot of trial and error, Sposato slowly learned to ropes of composting. After purchasing about $160,000 in equipment and materials - including a tub grinder, a soil screen and a skid-steer - Sposato was ready to fully implement his compost program.
For Sposato, an important aspect of a successful composting program is having adequate space that allows for proper drainage. To ensure this, Sposato blacktopped a half-acre of his property specifically for compost piles. The hard surface makes it easier to turn the pile with a loader — an important step which allows the compost to “breathe” – and also encourages moisture to drain from the pile. Like with other construction projects, zoning regulations vary from state to state, so contractors should research their local laws before investing in a composting program. (For more information, see Rules to Recycle on page 102.)
Total, Sposato invested about $160,000 in his composting program, $20,000 of which went toward the blacktop. But Sposato estimates saving $80,000 to $90,000 in landfill tipping fees, and recycling 2,400 to 3,000 yards of compost back into his clients’ landscapes every year.
“The program cost a chunk of change, but we’re looking at it as a long-term investment,” Sposato says. “It’s something we market to our customers, and it’s having more of an impact now that green practices are so big in this country.
TIME AND MATERIALS. Dave Reed’s company has always recycled its yard waste to some extent but got serious about it about five years ago. The owner of Meadows Farms, a landscape company in Chantilly, Va., knew the 50-foot mountain of debris on the company’s property would cost more than $100,000 to dispose of in a landfill, so he implemented a full-time recycling crew to manage it economically – and environmentally.
At Meadows Farms Landscape there are always three to five people who dedicate 99 percent of their time to debris recycling and management. From 2 p.m. to midnight, the crew unloads debris from as many as 60 work trucks that come in throughout the day and separate the material into rough piles of rock, soil and grass clippings. A second crew comes in the next morning and begins the recycling process – breaking down rock and stone, grinding trees and shrubs and screening topsoil.
Company property doesn’t allow enough room for composting, so ground woody material is hauled off by a local composter who composts the material and sells it back to Reed in six months to a year. Topsoil is screened and used in the company’s landscape installations or given away to other landscape or construction companies. Rock and concrete is crushed and used for purposes like covering muddy areas on job sites.
A full-time recycling crew wasn’t Reed’s only investment. He also purchased upwards of $300,000 worth of equipment and materials to effectively manage his debris recycling program. But Reed says this long-term investment is more than worth it, as his waste recycling program saves him at least $100,000 a year in landfill and labor fees. “It was a big investment, but the cost to dispose of the material was so clearly defined it was worthwhile,” he says. “When something will cost you $400,000 to haul off and you can make it into usable material for $200,000, it’s a good move.”
One piece of necessary equipment is a stone grinder, which Reed rents a few times a year for about $20,000 a month. He used to rent a soil screen, but used it enough to justify purchasing one a few years ago for about $200,000. For $50,000, he also purchased a tub grinder for managing wood debris, and incorporates various skid-steer and front-end loaders he already owned for loading and hauling. “The equipment can be expensive,” he says. “But there’s no question this is a good thing. The associated costs are always worthwhile to recycle waste materials whenever possible. We don’t look at it as a way to make a profit – it’s more a matter of losing less on that end of the business.” LL