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Compost sales benefit Friends of the Rappahannock and Pathways projects Pathways p a v e d with GOLD
Spotsylvanian turns compost to 'gold.'Date published: 1/31/2006 By FLOWERS UMBLE Bruce White makes a living out of recycling. So when he saw a big pile of river silt, sediment the city of Fredericksburg was going to bury, he didn't just see a pile of dirt. He saw "a gold mine." The river sediment came out of the Rappahannock River after the explosion of the Embrey Dam in 2004. White thought the silt could go back into the river--in a manner of speaking. He thought the silt could raise money to help the Friends of the Rappahannock. White and his wife, Vicki, own Warp Drive Recycling in Spotsylvania, a company that makes mulch and compost mixes. He thought of combining the silt and two other forms of "waste"--mulched leaves from Spotsylvania County landfills and dirt from the recent Wal-Mart construction site in Spotsylvania. He dubbed the mixture Rappahannock Gold. Steve Robinson, acting director of FOR, says the combination is good for landscaping. "If you do any gardening in this area, you know that the big problem is that soil is very compacted, there's a lot of clay in it," he said. "The nice thing about the silt with the leaves and the compost is that you end up with a soil that is loose and well-drained. The soil in this area, like the soil in my home garden, is clay and not well-drained." White's already bagged some of the mix, and Robinson says people can order it in bulk, too. A bag, which provides 1 cubic foot of coverage, costs $4. Of that amount, 50 cents gets split between FOR and the city of Fredericksburg's Pathways Project, which hopes to create walking and biking trails throughout the city. Other groups could also sell bags and reap profits, White said. White is the leader of a local Boy Scout troop and says he would like to see Scouts sell the bags as fundraisers. He says that he'd like to see Scouts get more involved in the Pathways Project and hopes some Boy Scouts will create pathways as Eagle projects. "We may end up with miles and miles of trails that can be put together," White said. For details, contact Warp Drive 898-9232 or FOR at 373-3448. To reach AMY FLOWERS UMBLE:
Date published: 1/31/2006
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