For more than a decade, John Engwer of Groundscapes Express and Phase II Stormwater Solutions has quietly led the field in developing ecologically sound erosion control products, using them for his own projects and gaining widespread support from engineers, architects and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Now, Engwer’s patented FilterMitt is the only product in the U.S. to satisfy the Massachusetts Highway Department’s Item 767.12 for mulch filter tubes.
As the Mass Highway specifications explain, “The purpose of this item is to provide a linear embankment of organic material, to be placed in the path of storm water flows for the purpose of filtering a substantial portion of the suspended sediments from the flow.” The document goes on to explain that the filter tubes exterior “shall be 100 percent organic hessian fabric (burlap) that will become incorporated with the organic interior material.”
“This is what makes our FilterMitt the only product in the country to satisfy this mandate,” said Engwer, who designed and produced the first fabric mulch filter tube in his garden shed a decade ago. “There are other mulch filter tubes on the market, but ours is the only 100-percent biodegradable, which is what this ecologically focused highway spec is all about.”
Engwer has run his own landscaping and storm water solutions businesses since 1979. He developed the FilterMitt to satisfy his own passionate need to have a biodegradable enclosure for his organic mulch; then he realized the tremendous applications for its use in protecting the environment in projects under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Phase II National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System water quality standards.
“It just makes sense,” said Engwer, who was grateful that the state highway department is taking a leadership role in this issue. “While there are other filter tubes on the market, they are made of petroleum products, and this is totally counterintuitive to the introduction of this ecological stewardship in building and highway projects.”
