What We Do

Blue Hen Organics compost facility is located on 46 acres just west of Frankford and Dagsboro, Delaware on Fox Run Road.  The facility will soon be open 6 days a week for material drop-off and product purchases.  Our facility is the first permitted landscaping residual composting facility in Sussex County Delaware and is capable of processing over 120 tons of material daily.  This facility currently accepts all types of vegitative debris, yard waste, land clearing debris, and poultry manure.   These materials will be professionally recycled into high quality compost, topsoil, and compost-based specialty soil blends.  

Who We Are

Blue Hen Organics

In 2004, the founders of Blue Hen Organics, Shannon Argo and Robert Tunnell III, recognized that Delaware's recycling rate significantly lagged the recycling rates of nearly every state on the east coast.  When examining the waste collected by an affiliate waste hauling company, they noticed that significant volumes of organic waste were being hauled to our landfills and buried.  Diverting this organic material from being landfilled is one of the easiest ways to increase recycling rates and dramatically improve our ecosystem by reducing methan emissions from landfills, and the finished compost product is a natural, organic soil amendment that can be used in place of synthetic fertilizer.

Shannon and Robert began researching compost methods, attending educational seminars, and developing relationships with compost companies around the country so they could determine the best composting method for the organic waste produced on the Delmarva Peninsula.  By 2008, Blue Hen had completed their site selection process and hired Craig Coker, on of the composting industry's foremost experts, to design a windrow composting facility.  Blue Hen received final regulatory and zoning approval in early 2009, and site construction began in July 2009.  The Blue Hen Organics Recycling Facility opened to the general public on May 3, 2010, and began accepting organic materials that are recycled into environmentally friendly compost.  

Bay Organics
Lonnie Heflin founded Bay Organics in January 2006.  Initially, Bay Organics was contracted to Dorchester County, Maryland to assist the County in cleaning up the environmental disaster left behind by New Earth Services.  By June 30, 2008 the former NES site was clean and working together, the Dorchester County Department of Public Works and Bay Organics had saved the citizens of Dorchester County approximately $2.5 million dollars over the original clean up cost estimates. 

A local citizens group, The Concerned Citizens of Northern Dorchester mounted a vicious smear campaign against Bay Organics proposal to open a new, state of the art "in-vessel" composting facility at the Dorchester County landfill site.  By July 2008, Bay Organics Dorchester County operations came to a halt. 

The deepening economic crisis made it impossible for Bay Organics to attempt to relocate.  In September 2008, Lonnie Heflin accepted the position as Sales & Marketing Manager for WSI International, LLC,  a design/build wastewater engineering firm headquartered in Annapolis, MD with offices in Denver, CO, Hawaii and Costa Rica.

Lonnie Heflin no longer has an ownership or investment interest in the "new" Bay Organics, but is active in helping Blue Hen Organics return Bay Organics products to the market place as soon as possible.

Lonnie takes great pride in knowing these quality organizations will continue to offer Bay Organics products to both retail and professional customers.

Blue Hen Organics

Email us at the addresses below to learn more about material drop-off or product purchases from the Blue Hen Organics Frankford Organics Recycling Facility that is about to open. 

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - Founder of Bay Organics, LLC.

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - Vice President, Blue Hen Organics

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - Director of Operations, Blue Hen Organics