On Wednesday, February 26, a large group of VegHeadz gardeners visited the reCon biochar processing facility at the Leon County solid waste site. Josh Venable, CEO of reCon, and Keelan Bush Rester, the site manager for the plant, explained the process and answered all questions posed. Everyone on the tour found it very interesting and impressive.Leon County is the first governmental entity in the United States and pretty much in the world to create biochar from landscape and roadside woody waste. The county pays reCon a tipping fee to process and dispose of the material. It is then cleared of any extraneous undesirable elements, such as plastic, metal, etc., and is fed through a grinder which leaves it in very small particles and shreds. The shredded material is then fed into an auger lifting the shreds into the large furnace, which burns the woody material in a process called pyrolysis, in an anaerobic environment at very high temperatures. The resulting material which is mostly carbon is then cooled and augured into large bags, approximately one cubic yard per bag, weighing 400 to 600 lbs. and stored on site until it is sold for use in agricultural fields and for other purposes for which biochar is being researched and utilized.Biochar is useful, not only in agriculture and gardening settings, but is being researched for use in road paving, pollution remediation, and many other environmentally positive applications.The gases produced in pyrolysis are captured on site and recycled as fuel for subsequent processing runs. The plant is currently processing about 1000 pounds of wood waste an hour which produces approximately 200 pounds of biochar or 20% of the feedstock weight. The site presently employs four workers and is in the process of doubling it’s processing capacity. It currently processes a small percentage of the total wood waste that is delivered to the solid waste facility, but it is hoped that a much larger portion of the county’s wood waste will be processed as facilities are added, and markets are developed.Processing of wood waste in this way reduces the area needed to store and decompose, solid waste, reduces the omission of gases produced in the decomposition process. And provides a an environmentally positive way to dispose of woody material. It’s interesting to note that wood wastes generated and collected from storms and hurricanes is not processed in this way because it is handled under a different contract with FEMAThe VegHeadz will be receiving some of the biochar currently being processed, which is has smaller particles than that we have on hand and is more desirable for use as a vegetable garden amendment. The planned trial in the garden will be carried out during the fall 2025 season, and beyond if necessary. Germination testing is currently underway by Master Gardeners Dave Skinner, which appears to be quite positive with no negative impact so far from the addition of biochar to the potting soil. The biochar produced in Leon County is an organic soil amendment, OMRI and Fresh From Florida certified. The process produces not just carbon credits, but carbon offsets. Carbon offsets serve as “compensation” to an organization or an individual that invests in a project or solution that will reduce future emissions or sequester existing CO2 from the atmosphere. Once created, however, carbon offsets are also an asset class that trades freely on voluntary carbon markets. Carbon credits limit emissions, while carbon offsets reduce or remove them.We will continue to keep you updated as we learn more about biochar and it’s use in vegetable gardens. Learn much of what we have already learned anbout its benefits to garden soil and plants under Resources in the left sidebar. Thanks to the gardeners who made notes and took pictures during the site visit, which we share here.
