Like most commercial compost operations, when Waddell-Wojeik Trucking opened their Land Management Compost facility more than 20 years ago, they really had no idea what they were doing. Composting is one of those practices that seems so straightforward at first, but becomes much more complicated once you get into it. But after years of trial and error, research, refinement and expertise, Land Management is now a thriving operation producing upwards of 20,000 yards of very high quality compost annually. Sterling Waddell, Business Manager and son of owner for Land Management Compost, sums it up perfectly. “It talks a lot more work to make a yard of compost than anyone thinks.”
The site began with a rather non-traditional source stock of food waste byproduct from a local manufacturer, and paunch manure from the Milwaukee Cargill plant. “We would take that product, stockpile it and once the crops were harvested from the fields, it was just land applied in raw form,” explained Sterling. “At that time we were located mostly in the middle of nothing so that practice worked fine. But as residential zoning got closer, we began to get more complaints of odor and we decided to start composting more seriously.”
Even then, describing that early process as ‘composting’ would be considered a bit of a stretch. “It was still a very vague process. We just threw anything that came in into a row and turned it occasionally with a loader,” admitted Sterling. “It didn’t really work that well … well, it did work, but it really wasn’t compost by any means!” The Land Management Compost team did their research and realized pretty quickly that to create compost in any reasonable volume, they would need a proper turner. “It was taking a full week just to turn it with a loader, and the outcome was not that great anyway.”
After an exhausting search and process of due diligence, Land Management purchased a Backhus 21.60 turner, and saw their turning time drop from a week to about 6 hours. “We looked at everything,” Sterling shared. “We drove around the midwest and saw some demos and conducted some tests, and in the end recognized that the Backhus delivered the best results by far.”
The drum design on all Backhus turners agitates the compost in a manner that ensures complete homogenization and maximizes the amount of oxygen introduced to the windrow. This aggressive action also doubles well for blending and mixing materials. Visually, Sterling noticed the difference right away. “Of all the turners we explored, only the Backhus resulted in the windrow being taller after you passed over it. We would see our piles at 6-7 feet going in, and a good 9 feet tall afterwards because of all the air being put into it.” Being located in Wisconsin, the Backhus also offered another beneficial advantage with its ability to function equally regardless of climate.
Several years ago, when Cargill closed their operation in Milwaukee, Land Management begin to rely more heavily on yard waste as a primary component in their compost. The addition of this new material stream changed their equipment needs and required more attention to be paid to the mix ratios. “When Cargill shut down, we lost our paunch manure source,” said Sterling. “So now we compost yard waste with the manufacturing food waste byproduct. With the yard waste though, more upfront processing is required before it is ready to compost, and we realized the need for a screen pretty quickly.”
Sterling appreciated the versatility and dependability of the Doppstadt SM 720K quite a bit, and last year they added one to their fleet. “We love that we can change drums in 10 minutes, that makes a big difference for us,” he added. “And the fact that there is a star deck option was huge too. We don’t have one yet, but just knowing that we can turn our trommel into a star screen at any point, especially in our environment, really matters.”
Today, Land Management Compost is a thriving operation with three acres on concrete pad, and a twelve-month constant material turnover. The evolution from their first efforts in this industry has been dramatic. Sterling credits that with equal parts trial and error, academic training and a more educated client base. “We attended the USCC [United States Composting Council] school down in North Carolina, and learned a ton about the bulk density of our source material, its porosity and the available carbon in our streams. That allowed us to tweak our recipe and the results have really paid off.” Selling into a highly agricultural market impacted their development as well. “We actually don’t sell our product as much as we sell our service in applying the product,” he explained. “Our clients are the area agg people with the fields of produce all around. The next generation farmers are much more educated on the science behind organics and the microbes necessary to keep their soil healthy. They know they can’t just keep shooting gas into the ground and expect good crops each year, and they turn to us for a reliable, organic solution to that need.”
Sterling is sure they could sell more compost if they were larger, but he is adamant that they will only grow when they know they can do it properly. “We try to expand a little each year, but we believe in only composting on a concrete pad so we can compost twelve months a year,” he summarized. “But as the opportunity arises, we’ll certainly grow to keep up.”
Running a full-blown compost operation may seem like an unlikely diversion for a trucking company, but the business is rather quite complementary. Serving a mostly agricultural market throughout Wisconsin, Waddell-Wojeik Trucking is well positioned to haul precisely the kind of material that is required for compost. And with their capable fleet of composting and spreading equipment, they are able to close the loop and put the finished product back into the market. “We’ve been on a pretty good track for a few years now,” Sterling said. “It clearly takes awhile to get up to speed, but we know our recipes really well and are able to make a very premium product.”
