Thanks to Gina M. Capone on interviewing and writing the article that shows our solution is on the "Horizon." A pun on the Horizon880 project quickly being prepared to solve the horse bedding manure issue in Florida.
SECTION: Horizon 880 using the HPAB process (c)
There are many companies that have come forward to lend a solution, from producing green energy from the manure to cleaning and reusing the shavings. The various companies will have an uphill battle to find industrial land that can outfit such a facility or plant. But the economic rewards may be worth it.
Horizon 880 LLC is a Florida company using the HiPoint Agro Bedding Corp (HPAB) process to handle manure. The firm was recently awarded a lease by the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority to build a plant on SWA-owned land. The facility should be ready to build in six to nine months.
“My process is going to take up to 60,000 tons of stall residuals and take it to a facility that is completely undercover,” Horizon 880 partner Paul Cross told the Town-Crier this week. “We do a process of separation, drying, packaging, and we make a naturally hypoallergenic, dust-free horse bedding from the original stall. What is left over, which is the manure, is used to go back into the garden, as an organic soil amendment.”
Cross believes that his process is better than other ideas, such as a manure-to-energy plant.
“We are not a one-time use,” he explained. “If you create energy from this manure by burning it, or do anything with it that doesn’t recycle and repurpose it, it’s gone. Once the shavings are recycled once, we can go back and do this, again and again, using the same shavings. By recycling the shavings over and over, we can give a great price back to the equestrians.”
Only time will tell how well Horizon 880’s plan will work out, but Cross aims to be having an impact soon.
“We have signed a 20-year lease in Palm Beach County to process this waste,” he said. “We will be tracking the manure. This technology will track where the manure has come from, where it is going, and that it is dumped properly. By tracking it, we will have specific numbers.”
According to Solid Waste Authority documents, the SWA’s governing board directed the agency’s staff to solicit proposals for the potential use of an approximately 5.3-acre parcel within the SWA property for the construction and operation of an equine waste processing facility in October 2018. In November 2018, the SWA published a request for proposals and received one proposal from Horizon 880. No other companies came forward. The governing board directed staff to enter into negotiations with Horizon 880 on Feb. 13. The property was previously leased to Palm Beach County Road & Bridge according to the public letter in the Solid Waste Authority Agenda.
How has Horizon 880 overcome the hurdles to secure a lease for a facility on county land?
“We have listened to the county,” Cross said. “We have listened to what is needed. We don’t just go in there and say we have to solve this problem. Palm Beach County is very strict on how they do things. They want to protect their residents. So, we have worked with them to make sure that we are doing things correctly, safely, and we have proven what we can do.”
article updated to reflect time Horizon 880 should be able to build not be operational.
