Frequently Asked Questions about BouldinCorp

1. Who is BouldinCorp?

Bouldin Corporation (BouldinCorp) is the parent company of WastAway Services, LLC, Composite Products of America, LLC, and Bouldin & Lawson, LLC. The company began in 1959 as Bouldin & Lawson, a manufacturer of agricultural and horticultural machinery for the greenhouse and nursery industries.

Drawing from its expertise in manufacturing and engineering, BouldinCorp began developing revolutionary solutions to meet one of our most threatening environmental concerns – the increasing household waste stream and landfill proliferation.

BouldinCorp has developed a revolutionary process for transforming household garbage into recycled, safe and useful raw material for consumers and business, thereby reducing our dependency on landfills.

2. What are the benefits of BouldinCorp’s unique recycling program?

By recycling household garbage into useful products, the benefits of our recycling program include:

• Production of Green Energy from the recycled product Fluff.
• Reduce your household's greenhouse gas emissions by more than 5 tons per year. This reduces the average carbon footprint by 26%!
• Recycle 85% of your household garbage by just throwing it away. No sorting or effort required!
• Have 100% participation in your community's recycling program.
• Produce up to 20% of your electricity from the garbage that you already throw away.
• Help America move toward energy independence.
  
• The consumer is not required to separate recyclable materials from other household waste.
  
• Convenient Implementation: household waste is still picked up as usual.
• Lower Visibility: household waste is transferred to BouldinCorp facilities, where it is recycled inside a building instead of being dumped or stored outside.
• Recycling Initiatives: BouldinCorp’s process helps local governments exceed mandates for recycling their waste stream.
• Useful raw material: household garbage is no longer stored in landfills as waste. Instead, recycled household garbage is reintroduced into commerce in the form of a safe raw material with multiple uses.
• Landfill Reduction: BouldinCorp’s recycling process does not eliminate landfills, but it reduces our dependency on landfills.
  

3. What changes are made in the way household garbage is handled from pickup to delivery?

Changes are consumer-friendly in that sorting household garbage for recycling is no longer necessary. Rather, consumers can continue to place unsorted household waste at their curbside for pickup. Collection trucks then collect the garbage as usual and deliver it to a WastAway facility for recycling. The WastAway recycling system will also work well with existing recycling programs to recycle the remaining waste after separation.

4. What is done to household garbage once it has been delivered to a WastAway facility?

Once household garbage has been delivered to a WastAway facility, the household waste is recycled by BouldinCorp’s proprietary system of grinders shredders and pressurized heat. Thirty minutes later, the household waste is transformed into a stable raw material called Fluff®.

5. How does BouldinCorp ensure the safety of Fluff?

Prior to becoming Fluff®, household garbage undergoes a heat and pressure process to reduce pathogens to undetectable levels. The recycled household waste can then be processed to produce environmentally-safe, useful products.

6. What types of products are manufactured from recycled household garbage?

While continuing to explore other product manufacturing opportunities, Composite Products of America LLC is researching methods of extruding Fluff® to make products such as park benches, parking bumpers, and landscaping timbers. Fluff® has also proven to serve as a highly effective growing medium for the nursery, horticultural and agricultural industries, as well as for soil reclamation and erosion control. Also under research and development is the use of Fluff as a fuel for green energy.

7. What are the recycling rates that can be achieved with the WastAway process?

Faced with mandated recycling objectives, state and municipal governments can now recycle up to 85% of their household waste with BouldinCorp’s system. The WastAway recycling system recycles household garbage. All but the ferrous and nonferrous metals are recycled into Fluff. The metals are extracted from the waste stream during the WastAway process. When these metals are recycled, an even larger percentage of the household garbage has been recycled. A city or community can divert all of their household garbage to the WastAway process or a portion to achieve their specific recycling goals.

8. Where was the first contract for this waste reduction/recycling program implemented?

Prototype system tests were conducted in 2001 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and again in 2002 in Fort Benning, Georgia.

In 2003, BouldinCorp obtained its first recycling contract from Warren County in Tennessee. As of June 2, 2003 Warren County began hauling its household garbage to BouldinCorp’s WastAway facility located in McMinnville, TN. BouldinCorp is currently in the process of introducing its services to other cities and counties.

9. Who owns BouldinCorp?

A group of local independent investors restructured BouldinCorp in 2002 to serve as the parent corporation of three companies in McMinnville, TN:

Bouldin & Lawson, LLC, For over 45 years Bouldin & Lawson has been a manufacturer of horticultural machinery which also manufactures the WastAway recycling equipment.
WastAway Services, LLC, recycles unsorted household garbage into Fluff.
Composite Products of America, LLC, specializes in research and development of uses of Fluff and products made from Fluff.

10. Is the WastAway process a cost efficient method of recycling?

Landfill tipping fees and recycling costs vary greatly across the United States and around the world. However the WastAway process is cost efficient as not only a waste disposal alternative but also as a producer of safe and useful raw material. A community can also increase its overall recycling rate by diverting a portion or their entire household waste stream to the WastAway system. A variety of recycled products produced from Fluff are already being sold with very positive feedback from users. Many other products are currently in research and development.

11. Is Fluff simply a solid waste compost?

No. According to the EPA, composting is the controlled decomposition of organic materials, such as leaves, grass, and food scraps, by microorganisms. During WastAway's patented process, ground and shredded garbage is subjected to high temperatures and pressure which eliminates these microorganisms, bacteria, and other pathogens to undetectable levels. Tests have shown that this process also neutralizes the dangers of household chemicals and pesticides that may be in the waste stream.

12. What are the byproducts of the process?

Unsorted household garbage is transformed into Fluff at WastAway. During the process ferrous and nonferrous metals are removed. These metals are used by metal recyclers. The primary byproduct is water vapor from the pressurized heat process mentioned above. Independent laboratory testing has measured the volatile organic compounds (VOC's) produced by WastAway at well below acceptable levels.

13. Are Fluff and products made from Fluff safe to use?

The safety of our products is very important to us. We know the future of recycling relies on the purchase and use of recycled products. Therefore WastAway takes several steps to assure the safety of Fluff and Fluff products. Daily in-house lab test and numerous independent laboratory tests confirm that Fluff made through the WastAway process is safe for commercial and consumer use.

14. Where is BouldinCorp currently delivering its products?

WastAway is currently selling processed Fluff® to nurseries in several states for use as a growing medium. WastAway is also now using Fluff as a fuel for a gassification BouldinCorp continues development of extruded products such as parking bumpers and landscaping timbers.

15. Is it safe for employees to work around garbage and Fluff?

BouldinCorp facilities comply with all environmental regulations and satisfy OSHA workplace safety regulations ensuring a safe work environment for all employees. Two factors contribute to the promotion of employee safety:

BouldinCorp’s recycling system was designed to handle, process and recycle household garbage automatically, limiting the need for workers to handle the waste.
Another benefit of BouldinCorp’s system is that it does not require presorting of household garbage.