Twelve months after the installation of several thousand feet of used and waste wool carpets in the Nord Vineyards in the Napa Valley, the extensive recycling trial has been declared a resounding success.
Julie Nord, owner of Nord Winery a prominent wine grower from the Northern California, is well qualified to pass judgment on the effects of the Bellbridge trial, as she is a qualified Soil Scientist as well as a well known owner and vineyard manager in the Napa area.
The carpets were laid in between the vines in October 2009, before the rains. The carpets achieved the results that Julie had wanted, they had significantly inhibited weed growth, improved the water retention in the soil and have aided in land erosion on the terraced slopes of this particular vineyard.
The success of this trial was very good news and is a great example of how wool carpets are not just ‘special’ when they are on the floor of your home!
The successes have meant that Julie Nord is continuing to lay used wool carpets in her vineyards.
Bellbridge have agreed with Sebastopol based carpet store Hendrickson Flooring to recycle their used wool carpets in 2010 and 2011. The first carpet in this new initiative was a Bellbridge wool carpet that had been in place in a residential home for 16 years and when the owner wished to remodel what better place for the ‘retired carpet’ than a vineyard!
Julie Nord of Nord Vineyards, Rob Hendrickson of Hendrickson Flooring and Bruce Bell, President of Bellbridge Carpets met at the vineyard to see the great results of the trial and to agree the next phase of recycling.
They may have also sampled the wine!
