6/28/17
The USDA BioPreferred Program

Want a possible boost for sales of biosolids, reiduals, compost, mulch, wood ash, and other bio-based products?  The U. S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) BioPreferred Program may help. By labeling your products BioPreferred and listing them on the Program's website, you may steer federal agencies - which have to buy BioPreferred if possible - and others to your products.

In the BioPreferred Catalog, the following subcategories under "Grounds Maintenance" might work for you:

• "fertilizers" (Synagro Granulite and N-Viro Soil are listed already)
• "mulch & compost" (Agresource Agresoil and Casella Organics compost are listed already)
• "ph neutralizer" (wood ash and alkaline-stabilized biosolids could be here, right?)

The whole universe of BioPreferred products is much larger, and this recent report for 2016 (photo) highlights the environmental and economic values of all of these products combined.  Biosolids & residuals managers are one small part of this activity!

"The biobased industry is a substantial generator of economic activity and jobs. In 2014, the industry:

• Supported a total of 4.2 million American jobs through direct, indirect and induced contributions
• Contributed a total of $393 billion value added to the U.S. economy"

The use of biobased products reduces the consumption of petroleum equivalents by replacing a significant portion of chemical feedstocks that traditionally originate from crude oil refineries, with estimated petroleum displacement of up to 6.8 million barrels in 2014, thus also reducing the associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

It appears that there is plenty more room for biosolids and residuals products in this Program.  Perhaps the next report can highlight such products more than the current one does.