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May 23, 2006
EcoCover News
Organically Certified
Biodegradable Mulch Mat Made from Waste Paper
Greetings,
Lots happening with
EcoCover that might interest you.
EcoCover Wants to Partner
in the US Market
EcoCover Developments Ltd. is apparently only a
few days away from closing a manufacturing plant
sale to Australia. This event will free up some
reserve capital and Managing Director Murray
Cruickshank has expressed an interest in joining
with the first North American purchaser of an
EcoCover manufacturing plant for a substantial 6
figure investment. In addition, EcoCover has
several significant incentives available to the
first plant purchaser. If you are considering
an EcoCover plant purchase, there has never been
a better time to act. Please contact me to
discuss the details.
EcoCover
EcoCrop Update
 In previous
newsletters I have talked about the development of a
lower cost shorter life EcoCover mat that will be
suitable for seasonal row crops. The mat has less
waste paper shred in the core and will likely
biodegrade in 4-6 months as opposed to a year or
longer for the standard EcoCover Mulch Mat.
Product development is
still underway but we have made some huge strides in
productivity. The bottom line at the moment is that
all indications are the EcoCover
EcoCrop
will be price competitive with better grades of
plastic film used for mulch .
There are two reasons
for this:
-
We are able to
produce the mat at faster line speeds than
we thought possible.
-
The price of
plastic resin used to make plastic film has
increased over 100% in the past 12 months
and as the cost of petroleum continues to
rise, the price of resin will follow.
The advantage to
EcoCover manufacturing plant owners is that the
manufacturing line used to make premium EcoCover
Mulch Mat will also manufacture the lower cost Crop
Mat with a quick and simple changeover. This
doubles the market opportunity with an alternative
product that will be directly price competitive with
environmentally unsustainable alternatives.
Oil and
Agriculture - The Future is Localization
My friend Lester Brown
wrote in his Earth Policy newsletter today titled
The World After Oil Peaks: "The
food sector will be affected [by the decline in
worldwide oil production] in two ways. Food will
become more costly as higher oil prices drive up
production costs. As oil costs rise, diets will be
altered as people move down the food chain and as
they consume more local, seasonally produced food.
Diets will thus become more closely attuned to local
products and more seasonal in nature."
EcoCover is a key
component of agricultural productivity today, and
will be even more so in the future. EcoCover
provides local benefits environmentally,
economically and socially, using local waste paper
to manufacture mulch that benefits plant growth and
soil health, providing local investment and local
production, and providing local employment to
operate the manufacturing plant. As petroleum
declines and alternative fuels for transportation
and agricultural production reflect true
environmental as well as economic costs,
localization of your food supply will be driven by
economics. Today the average American meal travels
more than 1,500 miles from the source of production
to your dinner table. Cheap energy has made this
possible. Expensive energy will make it
economically unsustainable.
The future market for
a network of EcoCover manufacturing plants providing
local production to local markets is huge.
Localization is one of the keys to the future. The
future is EcoCover.
Merry
Marigolds Choose EcoCover
Merry Marigolds is
a Junior Achievement project of the 8th grade
geography class at Summit Middle School in Boulder,
Colorado.
Junior Achievement is a non-profit organization
which sponsors youth in elementary schools through
high schools to create small, short-term businesses
to learn about free enterprise.
This new company is made up of ten 8th
grade students plus workers, supported by
counselor
Derrick from Colorado University, and Christopher
Koch, the World Geography teacher voted History
Teacher of the Year in Colorado for 2006.
The Merry Marigold product being manufactured is
environmentally safe biodegradable paper with
marigold seeds attached. You can cut the paper into
shapes and the flowers will grow in that shape. So,
if you want an arrangement in your flower bed the
shape of a crescent or a star or a triangle, you cut
the paper, lay it in the bed, put about a half inch
of soil over the top, water it in and up come the
marigolds.
Team member Nate Forman contacted me about a month
ago saying, "It has been
exceedingly
difficult to find
biodegradable, environmentally
friendly
paper. EcoCover, from your
web site's
description, seems like the kind of paper we've been
searching for. If you would be willing, we'd love
to make a pact with you and buy your paper for our
product."
We shipped the Merry Marigolds team two rolls of
EcoCover and they are in production. All of the
profits from the Merry Marigolds venture are going
to be donated to Educate Kenya, which sponsors
children in Kenya so they are able to go to school.
If you would like information on ordering Merry
Marigolds seed mats to support this worthy project,
please contact me and I will put you in touch with
the sales department.
EcoCover Succeeds at the
Bottom of The World
Stewart Island is at the very southern end of New
Zealand and is one of the most exposed islands in
the world, at 47 degrees South Latitude. The
prevailing wind from the southwest comes straight
from Antarctica and runs unabated from the bottom of
South Africa, below Australia, right through the
Southern Ocean. The New Zealand Government's
Department of Conservation has had a great
experience using EcoCover Mulch Mat in one of the
toughest climates in the world.
QUOTE
Sorry it's taken a while to get back to you but I am
at the bottom of the world!! We laid the EcoCover
weed mat in February as January was extremely windy
and wet. All went well with the mat, it was a
pleasure to lay down. I was impressed at how long it
lasted (before we got bark on top of it) in the
unfavorable weather conditions. We had lots of rain
and wind gusts up to about 100 kph. The plants we
put in have taken extremely well all credit to the
EcoCover, no weeds have broken through and in places
the bark on top is only 1" thick. The company we did
the work for is very pleased with the end result,
and much interest in EcoCover was taken by locals
and tourists alike. Regards
James Ware
Ranger - Pest Plants
Department of Conservation
Stewart
Island
If you are
interested in the EcoCover manufacturing plant
opportunity,
please
contact me. Or, if you know of someone who
would be interested, please contact me to discuss.
Another plug for my
good friend Lester Brown: Go to
www.earth-policy.org
and order Lester's books Plan B 2.0
and Outgrowing the Earth. You will
then clearly understand why I say.....
The future is EcoCover.
Cheers,
Ron Castle
North American Business Development
EcoCover Developments Limited
Tennessee USA Office
Phone 931 967 2053
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