WastAway has global implications
Most people would agree it’s rare when a home-grown business from a small Southern town has the potential for global impact, but that’s exactly what’s happening with Warren County’s own Bouldin Corp. and its WastAway waste disposal system.
WastAway was recently one of only 22 American companies asked to attend Earth Day in Washington, D.C. to discuss and present new and environmentally safe ways to deal with the world’s ever-growing waste disposal problem.
Bouldin Corp. owner Floyd Bouldin attended the conference accompanied by Jeff Golden. Both men were impressed with the global interest in protecting the environment and the progress being made in the waste disposal industry.
Bouldin was understandably pleased to be one of the companies included in the conference.
“It was an honor to hear that they were pursuing us to come up and visit with them and show them what we’re doing,” Bouldin said. “A lot of that came from our relationship with the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers who we’ve been working with for a couple of years now.”
Still, exhibiting in the halls of government was somewhat daunting, according to Bouldin.
“It was quite an experience going to the State Department of course,” he said, “as well as going through all their security,” he added with a laugh. “We actually exhibited right in the hallways of the State Department.”
Though he didn’t get to meet Colin Powell directly, Bouldin did meet with some of his staff, including the Deputy Secretary of State and two of his assistants plus several others who were very interested in what he had to offer after touring his exhibit.
“Several of his staff, who they were dispersing into other areas, had been on the Iraqi team with Colin Powell. Probably half a dozen of those people who had been given new assignments just that day came down and most of them were involved in environmental concerns around the world.”
Bouldin said he talked about his process with representatives from Africa, India, and noted that several south sea islands showed a particular interest in the system.
“Well, here’s a country with garbage they end up taking off to the reef and they don’t have a tree or a piece of wood to build something with, so they were really super-interested,” Bouldin said.
No surprise there since the WastAway process can both dispose of waste in an economically and environmentally sound manner and provide building materials at the same time. A definite win-win situation for those countries.
“I talked to one person who said they would like to get us in Guam,” Bouldin said. “So we’ll see what happens. The main thing is that the State Department from the top down is very much aware of us and what we’re doing.”
WastAway is already marketing one of their products, a mulch with uses for potting plants and in nurseries, and the company had examples of landscaping timbers and park benches made with their materials on display at their plant.
And, Bouldin said, when WastAway takes over processing Warren County’s garbage around the first of June, the county will reach a milestone in recycling .
“The exciting thing is, and I told our governor this when he was here, ‘Governor, you are governor over the first county in the United States to ever recycle 95 percent.'”
But WastAway has so much more to offer the county than just the amazing recycling figures according to Bouldin. He says he plans to build much the equipment needed for his process right here at home, as well as farming some of it out to local industries, so the potential for creating jobs in the area is just as exciting.
“Our intentions are to work with local industry and get everything that we need manufactured right here in Warren County,” Bouldin said. “And as a matter of fact, there’s nothing that we purchase for this system that can’t be manufactured right here.”
And how many jobs might this generate over the next 10 years or so as WastAway begins what promises to be a phenomenal growth cycle?
“Thousands,” says Bouldin. “Thousands is the word.”
Good news for an economy that has lost a significant portion of its industrial base over the last few years.