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Recycled Product Experience:

Grasscycling at the Regional Justice Center

Product The use of mulching lawn mowers for grasscycling
Application Mulching mowers are designed to process grass-clippings into a fine material, so that the clippings can be left on the lawn where they contribute nutrients to the lawn and reduce the need for supplemental fertilization.
Location/Date Regional Justice Center lawn-maintenance contract.
Started regular maintenance with mulching-mowers August, 1997.
Project manager/user Michael Woo, Regional Justice Building Supervisor
Kent, Washington, (206)205-8804
General Contractor DG Landscape, Seattle, WA
Background, history The Regional Justice Center asked contractors to include alternate bids for a mulch-mowing option when they learned that this option could reduce costs.
Performance The lawns look better with the use of mulching-mowers.
Cost The winning bidder's price for mulch-mowing was the same as for customary methods. Other bids indicated that the cost might be as much as 15% lower.
Cost savings or increase See comments
Installation, costs/savings See comments
Source of extra funds None
Would you use this service again? Yes.
Why or why not? This method saves money, saves time, improves lawn appearance, and may reduce fertilizer use in the long term.
Bid specifications: Alternate bid item for mulch mowing: All clippings must be properly dispersed so that cut grass is not accumulated in certain spots.
Comments The contractor provided the following observations:
  • Labor costs are about the same.
    Less time is spent raking and hauling, but more time is needed for grooming to minimize clumps left on the lawn. Such clumps could be unsightly and might actually kill patches of the turf.
  • Fertilizer cost is about the same.
    No change yet to the fertilization schedule, but the grass looks better and it may be possible to reduce fertilizer use in the future.

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Updated: June 25, 1998

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