Polk County Environmental Service
Phoslab Environmental Services has been servicing Polk County since the early 1960's.Phoslab Environmental Services' main facility is based in Lakeland, FL. Lakeland is Polk Counties largest city, making it an advantageous business location in between Tampa and Orlando. At 2,000 square miles, Polk County is as large as the state of Delaware. Polk County is strategically located in the center of the Florida, about equal distance from the east and west coast of the state and almost half way between the Georgia-Florida border and the southern tip of the state. Phoslab Environmental Services benefits from it's location, being that it services clients statewide. Sample transportation/arrival is always very quick and accurate, whether it's coming from east, west, north, or south Florida. Polk County lies on Interstate-4, again just east of Tampa and just southwest of Orlando. As the geographic center of Florida, it is estimated that more than 7.5 million people reside within a 100 mile radius of Polk County, making it one of the largest concentrations of population in the southeast.
Phoslab Environmental Services was established in the 1960's to service the local phosphate industry, hence the name "Phoslab". Although Phoslab Environmental Services has evolved and is now regarded as a full-service, analytical laboratory and environmental services facility, it still provides a significant amount of services to the phosphate industry. Phoslab provides services to several companies in Polk County and not just in Lakeland. Just within Polk County, Phoslab Environmental Services provides analytical services to companies located in Mulberry, Ft. Meade, Winter Haven, Haines City, Bartow, Auburndale, and Lake Wales.
The active Polk Phosphate Mines (PPM), clay settling pits and reclaimed areas are in southwestern Polk County. The discovery of phosphate rock in the Peace River, near Fort Meade, Florida in 1881, initiated the mining of the world's largest deposit of phosphate rock, known as the “Bone Valley Deposit.” This deposit, which encompasses approximately 500,000 acres in Polk, Hillsborough, Hardee, and Manatee Counties, provides approximately 75 percent of the nation's phosphate supply and about 25 percent of the world supply. Although Phoslab is located in Polk, it services several clients within the phosphate industry who are based in Hillsborough, Hardee, and Manatee Counties as well.