Sustainable Green Team receives mulch certification

Florida firm’s subsidiary can convert storm-downed trees into playground mulch.

mulch zanker recycling
Florida-based SGTM has been certified by the IPEMA to convert storm-felled trees into playground mulch.
Photo by Brian Taylor.

Orlando, Florida-based Sustainable Green Team Ltd. (SGTM) says its wholly owned subsidiary Mulch Manufacturing, acquired in February, has received International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA) certification to recycle storm cleanup debris into playground surfacing material.

SGTM, which describes itself as provider of environmentally beneficial solutions for tree and storm waste disposal, says the Mulch Manufacturing acquisition was made “in keeping with the company’s mission to help keep the environment sustainable and green.”

That same motivation, says SGTM, was behind the company’s recent name change from National Storm Recovery Inc. to Sustainable Green Team.

The certifying body IPEMA describes itself as a nonprofit membership and trade association that encourages safety in playground environments by validating participants’ products and ensuring they consistently adhere to compliance, professionalism and integrity standards.

 “This [certification] is a major achievement for us,” says Tony Raynor, SGTM’s CEO. “We are now able to provide playground surfacing material through our manufactured recovered resources, further diversifying and increasing our revenue stream.”

SGTM says it plans to expand its operations through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Those operations include the treatment and handling of tree debris “that has historically been disposed of in landfills, creating an environmental burden and pressure on disposal sites around the nation,” says the firm.

As an alternative, SGTM says it collects tree debris through its tree services division and collection sites and then, through its processing division, recycles and uses that tree debris as a feedstock manufactured into a variety of mulch products packaged and sold to landscapers, installers and garden centers.