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Poultry
Litter Compost Demonstration:
Initiated in 1996, the composter uses
poultry litter combined with wood product
waste to produce a valuable soil
amendment. A local company that
produces landscape mulch toured the
demonstration and adopted the
technology. It is currently buying
poultry litter and composting it with
hardwood bark to sell to the urban
market. Solid waste authorities
from across the State have toured the
facility, due to the banning of yard
waste from landfills. Communities
are exploring the feasibility of
composting litter with yard waste to
produce a marketable product.
Dead Bird Composters: At the start of
this project, dead bird composting was
not used by area producers.
Information about and demonstration of
dead bird composters as a mortality
disposal method resulted in composting
being used as the predominant mortality
management method. Prior to this
effort, approximately 3.5 million pounds
of mortality were disposed of in less
environmentally sustainable burial pits.
Pesticide Collection: A
four-county pesticide roundup was
sponsored in the project area. The
orchardists in the area had accumulated a
wide variety of outdated pesticides, and
could not dispose of them legally.
In a three-day sweep, more than 30 tons
of chemicals were picked up for proper
disposal. This program greatly
reduced the potential for these products
to be disposed of improperly, thus
reducing the possible contamination of
surface and groundwater.
Ongoing Activities:
534 Land Treatment Project: In
January 1997, a cost-share program was
started to address the structural and
technical needs of the area
farmers. A total of $2.3 dollars of
Federal and State cost-share funds are
available for the installation of
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