TSX Venture 50 Spotlight: Environmental Waste International Inc.
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By Jordan Luy
Environmental Waste International develops new systems to address the treatment and disposal of various organic waste streams
Environmental Waste International Inc. (TSXV:EWS) ranks seventh this year in the Clean Technology Sector of the TSX Venture 50. The company uses technology based on its patented Reverse Polymerization process to break down organic materials including tires, medical and food waste and biological wastewater effluent. Through this process it can recover valuable hydrocarbon oil and gasses which can then be recycled into new products or safely disposed of.
Founded in 1992 and based in Ajax, Ontario, Environmental Waste began listing on the TSX Venture Exchange in late September, 2001. Share price grew 48 per cent last year while market capitalization went up 50 per cent.
The design and development company currently has primary installations of its eco-friendly systems in the US and in the UK. It has two wastewater sterilization systems in the US, one installed in 2004 for the Department of Agriculture in Maryland used to study disease in plants and animals, the other located at Abbott Labs in Chicago. This smaller unit is used directly in the labs, allowing for a more versatile alternative to larger systems which may require elaborate plumbing and piping systems. In 2005, it built a food sterilization system for the UK Ministry of Defence to use onboard naval vessels. This system sterilizes food waste allowing the naval freight to remain at sea for up to 45 days without the food waste fermenting or causing any storage problems. The company also has a medical waste system installed at a facility in Liverpool, England.
President and CEO Stephen Simms discusses the achievement with TMX News, the challenges of bringing new technology into production and what's next for the industry.
TMX: What factors led to the company's success in the past year?
SS: This past year, and from late 2009, we received a contract from an outside group to build a tire pilot plant based on our technology to act as a showpiece for both its development and future sales of the commercial models. So 2010 was mainly about the implementation and development of the actual system. It's located in Sault Ste. Marie and we're now in the final stages of setting up the system to begin operation in the next couple months. I think the present snapshot of the company and a lot of the excitement that's driven the stock and interest in the company has been the gain of credibility in the last ten years working with major clients like the USDA, Abbott Labs and the Royal Navy. Working on trying to develop this technology that obviously has such major potential on the world front, we think there will be a major drive towards the company and a lot more interest continuing to grow into the company, the stock and our future potential.
TMX: Your company states that waste is not the future of the industry. What emerging markets will drive the industry?
SS: The future areas of the markets are those related to organic items resulting in a positive economic model whereby the bi-products recovered have value in the marketplace that can drive it to actually be a profitable business. One of the best examples right now is with used tires. If we take a 20 pound car tire and put it through our process, we can break that down into just over seven pounds of carbon black, two pounds of steel, just under a US gallon of oil per tire and we get about 50 cubic feet equivalent of natural gas which we use to generate the power to actually operate the system.
TMX: Do you have a lot of competition in your field?
SS: Not in our area. Other areas of tire recycling such as grinding, shredding and even the use of tires as a fuel are well established and developed. Our area is a very new application for the tires even though we've worked on developing the technology for over 15 years. We've brought it to the stage where we're building this system and hoping to take it into the final development of the commercial system. So there is no direct similar application. There are other companies that have attempted work in this field and a lot of them have had issues. Previously, the technology that would be comparable has been pyrolysis which is where the tires are melted in a high heat vessel. Our technology doesn't involve that at all. We actually break the tire down in a relatively low temperature using heat as more of a bi-product than actually using it to melt the tire.
TMX: What challenges did your company face in the past few years either internally or within the industry as a whole?
SS: Most of the challenges on this application have been the development of the technology as we take it into the new system. This involves new development work on new designs and processes which are common challenges for new development of a new application or process. As we're now getting ready to start the system, we'll obviously be facing the final challenges of tweaking and getting all of the potential kinks worked out. In the marketplace, the biggest challenges have obviously been the fragile state of the economy, the tougher times for raising capital and just surviving in the world of business as it is so that's been an ongoing challenge for the last couple of years.
TMX: Is it a challenge to market and raise awareness for a new technology such as yours?
SS: At this point we've been focused on completing the development of the technology but the awareness doesn't seem to be an issue. The technology and more specifically the potential of this application, has attracted interest from all around the world. So if anything we've been inundated with interest and we're looking at it as more of a challenge of meeting the ongoing interest and potential demand for the product.
TMX: What is your ultimate vision for the company and what is planned in the next year or so to get there?
SS: The ultimate vision is the continued development and work on the tire application and using that as a spring board to begin working on several other applications that have an economic benefit when operating such systems. This will include work with oil shale and coal and different processes that we've been doing initial tests that show potential for successfully designing a system like that. Our short-term and long-term goal is to continue the development of new applications while successfully launching each of these individual applications into the marketplace.
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