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It's Easy Bein' Green

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: January 14, 2009

DADE CITY - Pasco County collected piles of old electronics and gallons of paint and household chemicals as part of Saturday's Green Living Expo at the county fairgrounds.

An exact count was unavailable. It will take about two weeks to sort, weigh and send off for disposal the various materials more than 120 people brought to the drop-off spot, said Faroud El-Shamy, the county's hazardous materials manager.

Most of the 600 or more people who attended the expo were like Paul and Wanda Herrmann of San Antonio.

The Herrmanns walked away from the expo with smiles on their faces and three hefty bags of compost in their hands.

Compost - the black gold of gardening - was one of the items on offer Saturday at the expo, which aimed to update people on ways to save energy, conserve water and reduce pollution in their homes and on their property.

Vendor Patrick Kolen was offering demonstrations of solar power and a waterless composting toilet, which turns human waste into fertilizer.

The expo was sponsored by Pasco County, the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the University of Florida Extension Service.

"I was impressed with the number of people who were engaged in the green industry," Paul Herrmann said of the range of vendors who filled an exhibit hall at the fairgrounds.

Many people walked away with pencil-thick cypress saplings, bags of compost and free compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Jeff and Mary Kirschner brought their two sons to the expo. The family left with two amaryllis bulbs and a box of hydroponically grown strawberries.

"We wanted to learn to do a rain barrel for our house and to learn what our carbon footprint is," Jeff Kirschner said.

The Herrmanns, who own a landscape nursery in San Antonio, collected their portion of the enormous pile of composted plant material donated by Angelo's Recycling.

The compost will come in handy at home, Paul Herrmann said. His grandson wants to plant tomatoes.

"He's only 7, and I want to keep him nurtured," he said.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201.

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