To help keep the Puget Sound air cleaner, provide a much-needed service and expand his business in one shot, Emu Topsoil owner Ron Phillips plans to open the Emu Composting Facility this month.
Located on Ecology Road, east of the Hansville Recycling and Garbage Facility off Hansville Road, the new 14-acre composting facility will accept land-clearing debris including trees, branches and stumps.
“With gas and fuel going up like it is,” Phillips said, “somebody ought to step up to the plate and offer to take care of this. The county isn’t doing it. We needed to expand. So why not Kitsap have its own service?”
He also thinks the service will be valuable to contractors and logging companies who may be unable to burn debris due to impending burn bans. Less open burning also leads to cleaner air. Phillips obtained a Clean Air Act permit for the Hansville site that allows them to take in manure and compost it.
“We get a Clean Air star rather than a burning star,” Phillips said. “It lets the public know we’re doing it the right way.”
The tipping fee to dump off the materials will be based on the weight of the load, with a minimum $10 charge for a pick-up load. Emu Topsoil on Port Gamble Road will no longer accept the debris and will send loads to the Hansville facility, but its topsoil, sand, gravel, bark, emu products and cedar compost will be available for pick up at either site. Deliveries will go out of the Hansville site.
The organic materials, or green waste, collected will be recycled and turned into the topsoil well known to local gardeners. The topsoil is made up of 50 percent compost amended with peat, loam and sand. The emus still make their contribution as well. There are four emus up the hill at the Port Gamble Road facility for folks to visit, Phillips said. The rest of the manure is provided by emus under contract who live elsewhere.
Emu Topsoil produces about 150 yards of finished product a month, Phillips said, taking in 300 yards of raw material.
Cheri Eaton will be operations manager at the Emu Composting Facility and was certified as a compost facility operator and erosion sediment control specialist through the state. She’s worked at Emu Topsoil for two years and before that was a customer for five years as an organic farmer. Eaton’s name may also be familiar to those who frequent the Poulsbo Farmers’ Market – she was one of its co-founders – and served on the Kitsap County Solid Waste Advisory Committee.
She’s getting the operation up and running after dealing with numerous regulatory agencies to get approval, including the county Health District and Department of Community Development, and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.
The red tape is worth it though, she said, to provide a sustainable service that keeps the debris out of the landfill and benefits the environment.
Emu Topsoil will continue to contribute to local school and community projects and fundraisers. Eaton said she hopes to have an information table at EcoFest next month to help get the word out about the facility.
“We’re just mainly spreading our wings and ready to go,” Phillips said.
Contact Emu Topsoil at (360) 779-5614, 22244 Port Gamble Road, between Gunderson and Lincoln roads; Emu Composting Facility at (360) 638-0117, 7890 NE Ecology Road off Hansville Road. A Web site will be up soon at www.emutopsoil.com.
