Soilands plan push into reuse

Purchase of recycler Grab N' Grow key piece of new strategy

[caption id="attachment_15873" align="alignleft" width="392" caption=" Stony Point Rock Quarry's management team includes (from left) Randy Swegle, Sonoma site manager; Mark Soiland, president and COO; Marv Soiland, board chairman and CEO; Don Liepold, Santa Rosa site manager; and Marlene Soiland, secretary, treasurer and CFO. "][/caption]

SANTA ROSA – Stony Point Rock Quarry Inc. plans to make a big shift in the next five years toward producing reused materials with the acquisition of a west Santa Rosa company that recycles landscaping and agricultural waste.

The company, owned by Marv Soiland and his family, acquired Grab N' Grow Soil Products Inc. from Chip Sandborn, who continues to operate Sandborn Tree Service and take his trimmings there.

"My goal is to increase the sustainable portion of our product line by increasing recyclables from 20 percent to 80 percent of total sales by 2014," said Mark Soiland, president of Stony Point Rock Quarry.

Grab N' Grow, located at 2759 Llano Road southwest of Santa Rosa, is integral to that plan, he added. Mr. Sandborn started the company 25 years ago, and it annually recycles 30,000 cubic yards of residential and commercial green waste as well as 50,000 cubic yards of grape waste from wineries and manure from dairies and ranches.

Stony Point Rock Quarry's locations in Cotati near the Petaluma landfill and in Sonoma Valley near a transfer station each year take in 100,000 cubic yards of concrete rubble, asphalt shingles, ceramic toilets and roof tiles from residents and contractors then grinds the materials into class 2 road base and recycled asphalt products such as road patches and more shingles. The company is testing recycled asphalt in paving an employee parking lot in Sonoma.

"We've increased our ability to recycle from commercial and residential markets to landscape and agricultural markets," said Marlene Soiland, owner and president of Soiland Management Co., an umbrella organization for family holdings.

Quarries in Sonoma County are evolving as regulators and neighbors have restricted expansion of operations. Some like Wheeler & Zamaroni in Santa Rosa have transitioned to retail sales, while others such as BoDean Co., which operates the Mark West and Blue Rock quarries, have been reprocessing asphalt.

"When you mine the resource, there is no future there," Ms. Soiland said. "If you stretch the resource and have a sustainable side to it, there is no end."

As the Soilands move into the  composting business, they have been using their know-how in turn-around projects, such as the overhaul of the Soils Plus business, according to Ms. Soiland.

At the new Santa Rosa location, Stony Point Rock Quarry is investing in new, more efficient equipment and upgrading the facility. The company has replaced three aging wheel-loaders with equipment that has lower-emission tier 3 engines that the state is requiring for contractors in coming years.

Still being evaluated is a new screening system that will have more capacity and be more fuel-efficient, yet provide more professional consistency in size of the resulting compost than what is currently offered, according to Ms. Soiland.

Also upgraded were the stormwater and water systems. In the works are a paved driveway to reduce the amount of dirt tracked onto Llano Road and a vehicle scale.

The Soilands found out about Mr. Sandborn's interest to sell the company through an equipment salesman and made an offer in May. The deal closed Sept. 1.

Stony Point Rock Quarry now has 30 employees, with eight in Santa Rosa, including manager Don Liepold and four other existing employees.

For more information, call 707-575-7275 or visit www.sprqinc.com.

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