"A Sweet Deal"

by Ken Decio

Congratulations to Triad Energy Resources Inc. and to C&H Sugar Company for being selected as the 1995 CalMAX Match of the Year. Their story of exchanging a sugar filtration by-product and converting it into a soil amendment originally appeared in the July/August 1995 issue of CalMAX.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) presented Mike Daley of Triad and Sandra Stevens of C&H Sugar with resolutions commending their outstanding reuse and recycling effort at a public CIWMB meeting in Modesto on April 24, 1996.

Triad ERI is an agricultural service company that tests and analyzes soils, crops, and water for farmers, then advises landowners what nutrients are needed and where to find them. Triad typically does not rely on traditional chemical fertilizers. Instead, the company recommends surplus food and food by-products like egg shells, mushroom waste, and even ash from biomass plants.

A major sugar producer in California, C&H Sugar Company had been unable to find a use for its sugar filtration byproducts produced during the refining process. The company has landfilled the material for several years at its property in Crockett. However, increasing landfill storage costs and regulatory requirements encouraged the company to find alternative uses for its residues.

The "Match of the Year" award recognized Triad for converting 20,000 tons of stockpiled sugar byproducts from C&H Sugar's filtration process into an agricultural soil amendment and fertilizer. C&H Sugar has a total of 200,000 tons of this residue—several years' worth—at its Crockett site, and Triad expects to use up the supply over the next two to three years. In addition, the land where the material was previously landfilled will eventually be turned into a 1300 acre park operated by the East Bay Regional Park District.

Triad president Mike Daley credits the CalMAX catalog for increasing his business "by at least 25 percent or more in the last 18 months." As a result of reading the CalMAX publication, his company has also used 30,000 tons of spent mushroom compost, 2,000 tons of horse manure, as well as various quantities of coffee grounds, spent filter media, and surplus pallets.

Thank you Mike Daley and Sandra Stevens for showing that unwanted byproducts can be turned into valuable resources that restore our soils, reduce the need for landfilling, and improve California's business bottom line.

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Last updated: February 27, 2008