Lakeland, Fla. — Green Technologies LLC now has approval from the city commission to go ahead with plans to build a new plant in Lakeland for producing a slow-release organic fertilizer from biosolids produced at a nearby wastewater treatment plant. Commissioners voted 5-2 recently to approve an annexation request for the plant to be located in West Lakeland over the opposition of Habitat for Humanity. Gainesville-based renewable energy company Green Technologies bought 24 acres for the organic fertilizer plant with the plan to locate it next to a city-owned wastewater treatment operation, the West Lakeland Wasteload Reduction Facility. Construction is expected to start by the end of the year. Habitat for Humanity objected that locating a fertilizer plant nearby would destroy its plans for a housing project because of the additional truck traffic it would create. Green Technologies CEO Amir Varshovi told Green Markets that additional traffic involved with the new operation would be insignificant. He said the plant has significant support from the local business community and from environmental groups including the Sierra Club which encourages expansion of renewable products. Green Technologies plans to produce slow-release fertilizer by extracting nitrogen, phosphorous and other micronutrients from the biosolids. Ten jobs are expected to be created, and the facility will produce about 10,000 tons of fertilizer per year.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain