Sunday, July 20, 1997

Undeliverable mail may find a home in flower beds and vegetable fields

J.T. SMITH / Abilene Reporter-News

STEPHENVILLE - The nation's first-ever test of recycling undeliverable business mail into compost has begun here.

As the leading recycler in the nation, the U.S. Postal Service recycles more than a million tons of materials a year. It is now cooperating on research with Texas A&M University in seeking ways to keep undeliverable bulk mail out of America's landfills.

This mail includes pieces which are undeliverable, non-fowardable, and customer-discarded business mail, the USPS Dallas/Fort Worth office said. That office is cooperating on the project.

Dr. Nancy Roe will use loads of composted mail from a Postal Service project and conduct tests on tomato crops in the field here throughout this summer.

The composting project between the Postal Service and the Silver Creek Materials Recycling & Compost in Fort Worth will provide a half-ton sample to the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center here from more than 150 tons of bulk mail.

With that sample, A&M horticulturist Roe will test the compost on more than 300 tomato plants of a single variety in 30 separate plots.

Roe sees this work as a win-win combination.

"A short-term benefit here is that materials we consider trash become a valuable resource to be recycled," Roe said. "We hope to examine the effect on growth and yield on tomatoes in the field."

The horticulturist will study three specific reponses.

Roe aims to examine nutrient value, see how the compost affects microorganisms in soil - both good and bad - and also determine whether it improves the soil's ability to hold water and nutrients.

The Stephenville scientist received a USPS grant to evaluate the value of composting as a means of disposing of waste paper.

At present, the Postal Service recycles more than 2 billion pounds annually.

Some compost now goes back to post offices in the Dallas and Fort Worth area for use in landscaping on their own premises.

Silver Creek Materials received the 1997 Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence in the Small Business category.

Field trials of their compost product here will compare three different application rates of the compost with and without added fertilizer, Roe said.

The composting process, itself, reduces the volume by about half so that the original 150 tons of discarded paper shrinks to about 75 tons.

Results will take time.

"We may not see significant results in the immediate use," Roe said. "Compost is not a fast-acting fertilizer treatment, but rebuilds the soil over time. It's similar to the difference between eating sugar directly and eating a piece of bread. Both are carbohydrates, but the bread acts more slowly."

But the long-term potential for commercial growers and farmers to use a recycled product like this in field crops and greenhouses could be significant.

"That's why we're doing these tests," Roe said.

Roe grew up in Pennsylvania and received her formal education in Arizona at the University of Arizona and also in Florida, where she did her Ph.D. work.

But Roe likes this Central Texas area which allows her to do other research work with her colleagues on such crops as watermelons and cantaloupes.

"I haven't been back to Pennsylvania in so long - I could never take the cold now," Roe allowed. "Although the weather is some times nice up there ... for about two months."

Dr. Roe expects to have some growth data from the Stephenville research with tomatoes and the composted mail in late September - or the end of this growing season.

USPS and Silver Creek hope the initial Texas A&M research work here will plow new ground and be a model for other composting partnerships across the United States.

Such research is just part of the many projects that the A&M research facility here - as well as others - do on a daily basis.

Whether it's A&M research centers in Stephenville, San Angelo, Lubbock, or Vernon - the scientists go about their work diligently and quietly - while the citizens of the state and nation often reap clear benefits.