A Pasco County facility is turning waste into profit at a bio-solids processing facility known as FloridaGreen. The facility takes left over sludge from the county鈥檚 wastewater treatment plants and recycles it into the highest rating of fertilizer. It鈥檚 a 鈥渄irty job鈥� that is also helping the environment. Located in a remote area of Pasco County stands rows of greenhouses. And inside are aisles upon aisles of waste.
鈥淭he uniqueness of this facility is that Pasco County was willing to take a chance on a technology that hadn鈥檛 been done before,” said Ted Merrell, co-owner of Merrell Brothers, which owns FloridaGreen. “With them and their consulting engineers, we worked on developing this technology into what you see today.鈥� What this is, is the county鈥檚 bio-solids facility, which recycles waste into fertilizer.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e standing in right now is the first phase of a two-phase process,” says Merrell. “This particular process utilizes the solar energy of the sun to drive off moisture in the bio-solids that is generated at the different wastewater plants within Pasco County.鈥� The waste comes in on trucks carrying between eight to 10 loads a day. From here, it is taken to the greenhouses. 鈥淭hese trailers are designed to handle around 24 to 25 ton of material that we bring into the facility,” Merrell says. “This facility can process upwards of 50,000 tons per year.鈥�