PittMoss to Open Second Facility Overseas
PittMoss is excited to announce that we will be opening a second facility overseas in Lebanon, in partnership with DTCare. PittMoss has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expand oversees in this key region to help support the people and economy of the Bekaa Valley and turn local waste into valuable resources. You can read our full press release below!
Pittsburgh based eco-friendly PittMoss expanding overseas to Lebanon
PittMoss, made from recycled paper, is more efficient, effective, environmentally-friendly than conventional peat-based potting soils
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA—June 5, 2021: It’s a groundbreaking idea – literally.
“We feel like we can disrupt the soil economy,” says PittMoss President Brian Scott. “Instead of hauling peat moss all over the world, we can use local paper waste to grow food.”
PittMoss, the Pittsburgh-based, “Shark Tank”-invested potting soil alternative made from recycled paper, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expand all the way across the world, to Lebanon. It’s a partnership with the nonprofit DTCare, to expand the world’s most environmentally-friendly potting soil to another part of the world, bringing jobs and eliminating landfill-bound paper waste.
“DTCare’s mission is to advance our goals of promoting civil society, reducing poverty (especially for women), pursuing the advancement of science and scientific research as well as providing jobs and training for veterans,” says DTCare’s president Marco Gruelle.
A new factory in Lebanon is intended to begin a virtuous cycle in a key part of the Middle East, which is teeming with refugees and struggling with poverty.
“This production facility represents a big step forward in helping to manage the flow of reusable waste materials,” says Gruelle. “We have retained experts to help make sure the soil is perfect for the climates it will encounter in the Middle East. The plant will provide a wide range of jobs. Our hope is to also make enough Pittmoss to be able to start soil remediation in the Bekaa Valley, which is the main agricultural area in Lebanon.”
“We studied Pittmoss for about a year in the Arizona desert and found that it is the perfect medium for what we are trying to accomplish, and the fact that it allows us to reuse local waste makes it perfect,” adds Gruelle.
If you’re growing food—or growing anything—PittMoss also happens to improve aeration, nutrient absorption, and uses less water than conventional peat-based mixes. It’s also a victory for the environment.\
A typical bag of soil (most are 2 cubic feet) has the same carbon emissions as burning 22 pounds of coal. Most peat moss is dug up in peat bogs in Canada and trucked south—and it’s an ecological catastrophe.
“Peat bogs make up less than 3 percent of the Earth’s land mass, but sequester more carbon than all of the forests on the entire planet,” explains Scott. “They’re a massive carbon sink. You don’t even have to light it on fire--as soon as light and air hits peat moss, it will oxidize and release carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.”
“The UN has identified elimination or reduction of peat mining as one of their top 10 carbon reduction priorities for the world.”
PittMoss is currently made from recycled paper and cardboard in a factory in Ambridge, PA, outside Pittsburgh.
“We’re diverting paper waste from the landfill and turning it into soils, basically,” says Scott. “We use lightly processed paper, like newsprint, coloring books, mail ads, magazines, some office paper, as well as cardboard and cardboard dust.”
“We are using a broader array of feedstock to prevent more and more cellulose fiber from being landfilled. Our vision is to have a hyper-local model in every major market to recycle local waste and distribute it locally as a soil.”’
PittMoss calculates that in 2020, its products prevented 81,111 cubic feet of peat moss from being extracted, which equates to the reduction of 811.11 metric tons of C02 emissions. That equals: 893,737 pounds of coal burned, or 91,269 gallons of gasoline consumed, or 2,012,680 miles driven by an average passenger vehicle.
Annually, PittMoss gives each customer an “Environmental Savings Certificate,” which displays their calculation and certifies a specific number of metric tons of C02 emissions they’ve avoided that year.
It also just works better than conventional products. Plants grow more substantial root systems and also absorb nutrients better.
“When you fill a pot with PittMoss, it holds water better, you get way better aeration, really good biologicals—so plants absorb nutrients better—and because of that you can fertilize less, and water less, and still get a bigger plant,” says Scott.
About DTCare
DTCare’s mission is to fund and promote civil society, strive to end generational suffering, reduce and end poverty, pursue the advancement of science and scientific research, and provide jobs and job training for veterans. DTCare focuses on small to medium-sized projects which they believe will have a greater long-term effect on the people we are working with, ultimately causing positive generational change. They are headquartered in Pittsburgh and currently operate in South Africa, Panama, Bosnia and Lebanon. For more info, see dtcare.org.