Florida Company Produces GeoHay from Post-Consumer
Crestview, FL, December 20--Mike Mikell's claim to fame lies in recycled carpet fibers.
The dull gray sheets might not be glamorous, but they keep Mikell's new factory in Crestview humming 16 hours a day, six days per week. That's down from 20-hour days a few weeks ago.
"We're not doing that anymore, thank God," Mikell said. "But when there's a truck coming next morning, you do what you have to do."
Mikell invented and has a patent for a product called GeoHay, which converts recycled carpet into filters that prevent sediment from entering storm water systems and block erosion. They're most often used at construction sites and the slender cylinders are often seen lining curbs.
"I've seen it for years," said E. Lynn Riley, a contractor who helps Mikell and is using the product himself to restore beach dunes in Destin. "I've seen it all over the country."
The GeoHay factory opened about a month ago with the help of a $200,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the city of Crestview processing the request.
Mikell, whose shoulder-length gray hair lends to comparisons with the late Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, wants to give back to the community.
"We've spent 85 percent of the money in the city limits," said Mikell, who can't stop talking about all the people who have helped him. "We use local electricians, contractors, suppliers."
Four years ago Mikell was a contractor working mostly on road projects. Like other contractors, he had been using hay bales to prevent erosion. But Mikell noticed they weren't doing the job and needed to be replaced often.
"I wanted to come up with a better mousetrap," Mikell said. "It was a big risk. My wife thought I was crazy. Almost every business person told me one, that it would never work and two, that I could not sell the product."
Six months later, he had come up with GeoHay. He started marketing the product and partnered with a company in Atlanta. That relationship ended after two years and Mikell began to look locally.
He found a 3-acre site that was a former flooring factory and went to work. When the doors opened he had enough orders to fill 12 semitrailers.
His operation was bare bones the first few weeks. "We were doing this stuff on our hands and knees," Mikell said.
He soon added a large table. The factory takes rolls of recycled carpet fiber, cuts them to size, rolls them into cylinders, cuts holes for anchors and then ships the finished product. Mikell said the simplicity keeps costs down and marketing a recycled product keeps the orders flowing.
"I'll come in here and there will be so many orders the fax machine is out of paper," Mikell said, walking around the office that he rarely occupies. He spends much of his time on the production line.
Mikell is already talking about expanding his plant, which employs five people.
Currently, 38 different state departments of transportation have licensed contractors to use GeoHay after testing the product. Most orders go to California and Texas.
Some states put GeoHay through unique tests. Wyoming wanted to see how bears reacted to it. Bears have a habit of eating hay bales and tearing them apart. When the bears found GeoHay, they smelled it, urinated on it and moved on, Mikell said. GeoHay was approved in Wyoming.
Mikell prides himself that there is little waste at the factory. The carpet scraps are turned into dog beds. Mikell never considered himself an environmentalist but said working on construction made him aware of the need to protect nature.
"You've got to keep the water clean," Mikell said. "If we don't stop runoff, you can't keep the environment clean. Everything that goes into a storm water system eventually goes into a creek or stream."
