Palm fronds have always been labeled as “problem materials” when it comes to disposal and reuse. Although considered organic, these materials can be difficult to compost. Phoenix receives about 34,000 tons of palm fronds each year, all of which end up in the city-owned landfill. With a citywide goal of diverting 40 percent of trash from the landfill by 2020 under the Reimagine Phoenix initiative, finding an alternative to burying tons of palm fronds became a priority. A Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued in January, and after review of proposals, Palm Silage, LLC. was the recommended proposer.
On Wednesday, the Phoenix City Council unanimously voted to award a palm fronds diversion services contract to Palm Silage Arizona, LLC, an Arizona limited liability company and subsidiary of Palm Silage, Inc. The company is based in California and has been transforming palm fronds into nutritional livestock feed in pellet form, as well as dairy chop. Palm Silage’s qualifications and experience, business plan and the partnership’s potential financial return and benefits to the city were qualities that characterized Palm Silage as the highly recommended proposer.
The city’s new contract with Palm Silage has two phases: Phase 1 allows the company to lease six acres of land at the Resource Innovation Campus (RIC) at the 27th Avenue Transfer Station to dry and grind the fronds collected from residents and businesses; Phase 2 allows the company to lease four more acres at the RIC (for a total of 10 acres) to dry and grind the palm fronds, and to manufacture the actual livestock feed. Under this contract, Palm Silage will have a 10-year lease with two 10-year options for renewal. The annual rent paid to the city during Phase 1 will be about $47,000; in Phase 2, the yearly rent will total to about $78,400.
Palm Silage, Inc. will be processing the palm fronds that residents and businesses bring to the two city-owned transfer stations. The city will pay Palm Silage, Inc. $12 per ton of processed fronds it collects, which is $5 less per ton than what the city currently pays to transport and bury these materials to the landfill. This contract could potentially generate 12 jobs and up to $10M in taxable sales each year.
Using specially-designed equipment, Palm Silage, LLC. will grind the fronds until they have a hay-like consistency. The ground fronds are mixed with other nutritional ingredients, including dates as a natural sweetener. Palm hay or pelletized feed is produced as the finished product. True to the concept of a circular economy, where waste materials are regenerated and repurposed, the livestock feed produced will be sold statewide at first, and then nationally.
“Palm Silage, Inc. is the only company in the world with patents pending on a process to convert palm fronds into a highly nutritious livestock feed. We are very excited about our partnership with the city of Phoenix and are honored to be recognized as innovators in waste diversion,” said Jim Parks, CEO of Palm Silage, Inc.
According to the company’s research, palm fronds have the same nutritional value, or even higher, than the usual alfalfa used in livestock feed. Diverting 34,000 tons of palm fronds will increase Phoenix’s waste diversion rate by approximately 3 percent.