Blue Hen Organics Honored as Environmental Stars

Blue Hen Organics Honored as the WMDT/Mountaire Environmental Star Award Winner for November

(Millsboro, DE)  On Wednesday, November 24^th, WMDT and Mountaire Farms presented Shannon Argo & Robert Tunnell, President and Vice President, of Blue Hen Organics with the WMDT/Mountaire Environmental Star of the Month Award for November 2010.  By turning yard waste and poultry litter into nutrient rich compost and top soil, this upstart company is doing its part to protect and restore the environment.

Looking to fill a growing need in the Delmarva Community, Blue Hen Organics officially opened its doors this past April and has been cultivating business both literally and figuratively ever since.  Using leaves, branches, wood chips, other common yard wastes and poultry litter, Blue Hen creates long windrows of composting material.  At 7 feet tall and 16 feet wide, these vast windrows stretch out over several acres of asphalt like giant loaves of bread.  Created using the most advanced machinery in the industry, each windrow requires precision to ensure it matures into the high quality compost for which Blue Hen is known for.

From the quant headquarters overlooking the property, one can watch the high-tech equipment at work.  One large piece of equipment, that has the ability to separate inorganic from organic material, is seen being fed large bags of yard waste in one end and spitting out organic material on the other.  Another machine is rolling high above the windrows turning the compost to keep it mixed and cooking properly.  These machines along with a handful of employees are working hard to set each windrow so that naturally occurring microbes can go to work to begin the decaying process.   This decaying process will generate temperatures between 131 and 155 degrees, a range that must be maintained a minimum of 15 days in order to kill off weed seeds and other pathogens that may be in the mix.  As the microbes begin to run out of matter to work on the temperatures drop and the compost matures.  After curing over a period of 3 months, the compost is sifted to create a uniform, finished product.  This finished product of nutrient compost(s) and top soil is then sold to companies and individuals for use in various landscaping activities. 

With the Delaware Solid Waste Authority’s landfill and collection centers no longer accepting yard waste as of January 2011, Blue Hen is diligently working to help fill the void for yard waste disposal by setting up collection points in the community by partnering with local garden centers and similar businesses in the area.  Residents also have the option of bringing yard waste directly to Blue Hen Organics located on Fox Run Road just of Rte 26 in Dagsboro.

“Based on the new DNREC regulations that prohibits yard waste from being taken to the landfill after December 31^st of this year, the facility that we have will be very beneficial because it provides and alternative…to receive an award that’s recognizing our company for producing a material that is beneficial to the environment is a good feeling.” – Shannon Argo, President of Blue Hen Organics

It is for these environmental efforts and their continued pursuit of excellence that Blue Hen Organics was chosen as the WMDT/Mountaire Environmental Star(s) of the Month for November 2010.

“Two young Delmarva professionals bent on doing the right thing for the environment in which we live, came up with this idea, to reuse what God has initially grown as shade,  feed, and  building material and turning it into a compost that helps the forces of environmental nurturing to grow the process all over again.

Doing the right things in the places where we live, work, pray and pray, Shannon Argo and Robert Tunnell have found the key to using the earth to save the planet.

And for that, we present them with the coveted WMDT/MOUNTAIRE Envirnmental Star of the Month Award.”- Roger Marino, Mountaire Director of Community Relations.