BIO RECYCLING INC

Bio Recycling Corp. grew out of experience gained from using biosolids in the land reclamation program of a major coal surface mine located near Centralia Washington. The mine supplied coal for about 35 years to the neighboring steam plant which produced electricity for the region. Coal mining has ended at the site but the power plant continues to operate, burning coal shipped in by rail from Montana and Wyoming. The mining method was open pit or strip mining which leaves large areas of land that need to reclaimed. While working at the mine in the land reclamation program, an employee, Roger Hickey pioneered the use of biosolids in the land reclamation program at the mine which won acclaim from environmental and mining regulators.

The general process required grading and planting the disturbed soils. Often these soils were without nutrients and that would make the reclamation process difficult. It was found that biosolids from the Puget Sound area were safe and effective for restoring fertility and organic matter levels quickly. Specialized equipment was developed that could inject biosolids up to 3 feet deep into slots cut through the soil. The slots of biosolids would provide a long term source of plant nutrients and an area where plant roots could reach deep for moisture during the drier summer months.

The biosolids utilization project at the mine was perhaps the largest in the country at the time. It took bio solids from Thurston, Pierce, King and Cowlitz Counties on a year around basis. The biosolids were stored in water tight earthen storage basins during the wetter months and applied to the reclamation area when soils were dry enough to support the application equipment. 

It was here Hickey discovered the potential benefit of recycling biosolids. It was a great program. Erosion from amended sites was eliminated and surface water monitoring confirmed runoff from the sites was clearer and contained less pollutants compared to sites fertilized with inorganic fertilizers. The vegetation is growing as well as it would have if the land had not been disturbed. Because the plant nutrients in biosolids are bound in organic complexes, unlike inorganic fertilizers, they do not leave the site and keep increasing each year as biological processes slowly restore soil structure and internal drainage.

The project was very successful as you can see from the aerial photos on the right.

Today there is nothing left of the biosolids utilization project but Douglas fir trees growing along with other native diverse vegetation. When the mine changed ownership in the early 90’s, biosolids use in the land reclamation program at the mine ended. But prior to that time, a biosolids management company was created by the mine owner and managed by Hickey. After several successful years, Roger and his wife Linda decided to buy the small company, name it Bio Recycling Corporation and primarily offer their business services to septic tank pumping companies rather than large municipal treatment plants. “Bio Recycling” was to be the guiding business concept; using plant and soil biological processes to safely and sustainably recycle treated human wastes from septic tanks and small community wastewater treatment plants into plant nutrients and soil organic matter which serves as the base of the food chain for all life.