Today’s green wood waste and biosolids, a wastewater byproduct that might otherwise occupy landfill space, may become tomorrow’s fertilizer in the form of compost that builders use to control storm runoff and erosion along highways and at other major construction sites.
East Tennessee contractors and developers were guests of UT, KUB and Knox County at Ijams Nature Center on Tuesday, November 19, when experts on composting offered tips on using such materials to encourage vegetation and control erosion at various work sites.
Those attending the Ijams session, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., also visited sites where compost, produced by KUB and Knox County, has been applied along Callahan Road, at Beaver Ridge Golf Club, Solway Greenwaste facility, and Ijams’organic gardening site.
Speakers included John Evans, Knox County Solid Waste; Neal Denton of the University of Tennessee (UT) Extension Service; Chris Granju of Knox County’s Storm Water program; Drs. Forbes Walker and Tom Samples of UT; Joshua Johnson and Monica Sowders, both of KUB; and Rodney Rocket of Knox County’s Solid Waste Department.
Representatives from Knox County’s Storm Water program, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and Tennessee Department of Transportation conducted a question-and-answer session for engineers, project managers, developers, regulators and others who attended.
“We want to show how they can use compost, a safe blend of organic materials, on slopes to improve poor soils and establish growth that helps them meet requirements for preventing soil erosion and abating storm runoff,” said Monica Sowders of KUB’s Business Performance Department. The program was free and opened to the public.

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