Given the 100's of acres of area on our campus, a huge amount of mulch is consumed each year on our countless landscape beds.  Much of it is produced right here, by our capable Grounds crew, using state-of-the-art equipment to grind and process all the leaves and other waste materials accumulated from pruning and trimming of trees and shrubs.  Much of this equipment was purchased in 1996 as part of an effort to clean up the campus after the area was ravaged by Hurricane Fran.

 

A large tub grinder is used to chop up limbs, branches, leaves and other waste. 

 

 

 

An attached crane is used to dump the waste into the tub which turns and feeds a large diesel-powered grinder.

This is a picture of the tub which is about 10 feet in diameter and will hold limbs, leaves, and even large logs.  As it turns, the materials enclosed within are fed downward

 

 

The shredded material then travels up a conveyor and is dumped into a pile or a waiting truck.

 

 

The resulting material is piled high and turned periodically where micro-organisms convert leaves into a product call leaf-mold and hardwood scraps into hardwood mulch.

 

 

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