Palm Silage, a California-based palm recycling business, grinds up dried palm fronds and turn them into food for livestock. The company says all of its feed products are non-GMO and contain all-natural ingredients.
Jim Parks, the founder of the company, got the idea when he saw cattle freely eating palm fronds. The company's feed includes dates, palm, canola, wheat mids and rice bran. The dates are used to sweeten the feed as an alternative to molasses, which is commonly used in many livestock feeds.
Sweet Date Feed is an all-stock feed that works for cows, goats, sheep, horses, hogs and camels. It comes in loose and pellet forms. The company also plans to release a chicken feed soon. It will include chicken scratch and oyster shell.
In a bag comparison on the company's website, Sweet Date Feed may offer more fiber or protein, in some cases both, than other leading feed products.
Palm hay can also be fed to livestock.
The company has multiple patents pending and is beginning to do business worldwide.
Keeping palm out of landfills
This is alternative helps keeps palm out of landfills, as it takes 50 years to decompose. Palm Silage recently signed a 30-year contract with the city of Phoenix.
Phoenix estimates it will divert 34,000 tons of palm fronds every year from landfills. City officials expect that partnership to generate $10 million in taxable sales each year.
Stacy Hettmansperger, an operations manager for the Phoenix Public Works Department told KJZZ the fronds must be clean to get recycled.
"Palm Silage doesn't want the trunks or the stumps," Hettmansperger said. "They also don't want other green waste, yard trimmings, which makes sense if you think about the ultimate destination for these palm fronds is going to be livestock feed."