Composters face certain risks when growers purchase and use products for which herbicide residue effects have not been properly evaluated. The situation has propelled Woods End Labs to upgrade its auxin-injury plant test by adding Risk Categories.  The goal is to hybridize plant-injury ranks with compost application rates.  “People are being misled into believing that [...]

A frothy storm has been brewing recently as home consumer products are discovered that have micro-bead plastic content designed to give a “lift”. The problem is: they are real downers for aquatic life. A day after the Dec 28 2012 news that Lake Michigan is being clogged with plastic contamination, Unilever announced it will be [...]

The surge in single-stream recycling in the Northeast is reminiscent of the early 90′s, when “dirty MRF’s” were a stand-in for source separation and clean composting. Since then, many communities have struggled successfully to establish participation in “source-separation” or multiple-stream programs,- but  recycle rates are still low. Switching to a single-stream system is to some [...]

According to the US Biogas Council, there are 181 farm-based biogas producers in America. That’s as many as in, perhaps, one county in Germany. But no matter. The difference between biogas- the dark horse- and “sexy” solar and wind that everyone is talking about in America, is that biogas is STEADY and STORABLE. The others [...]

Tomato seedlings were severely damaged (see inset) by manure compost used in Will Brinton’s family garden. The compost came from a Pennsylvania facility. “We thought the plants would not survive” said Brinton, who prepared potting-mix with the compost. In his work at Woods End Labs Brinton has researched compost contamination resulting from “carry-over” of farm [...]