WastAway sells first system for recycling
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WastAway announced yesterday that it has sold its first solid waste recycling system to a company in Alton, Ill. The system is expected to be operational by the end of the year.
Alton Steel, which purchased the recycling system, plans to recycle household garbage from the St. Louis area. Coupled with Alton Steel’s scrap metal recycling program, it will give the St. Louis area a chance to recycle nearly 100 percent of its household garbage.
“This is huge. It’s a giant step for us to sell one outside our community,” said Floyd Bouldin, CEO of BouldinCorp, the parent company of WastAway. “Making these recycling systems is what we feel is going to bring manufacturing jobs to McMinnville. We can build all the equipment locally.”
Bouldin says he would like to get to the point where WastAway can manufacture one recycling system a month. The company has already purchased two vacant factory buildings in Warren County and is in the process of expanding one of them, the old Findlay facility in Morrison.
WastAway has been recycling the county’s household garbage for the past two years. The company recently reached an agreement to handle garbage from the city of McMinnville.
WastAway’s one-of-a-kind process takes ordinary household garbage – cans, diapers, table scraps – and turns it into a product called fluff. The fluff has been used by local nurseries as a rich soil amendment, but it can also be turned into building materials similar to boards. Fluff is currently being tested to see if it can be used as a source of energy.
“Our research is focused on finding as many uses for the fluff as possible,” said WastAway president Tim Hill. “We are currently examining bio-fuel uses and we have found certain situations where fluff can be used to generate electricity. We have just started looking into that aspect.”
As far as marketing the recycling system, Hill says WastAway has received interest from well over 50 companies and governments. WastAway sells the necessary equipment, sets it up, and then provides training on how to properly use it.
“We certainly hope to announce additional sales in the future,” said Hill. “We’re beginning to develop a steady pipeline of interest. We have what you would call a very long sale cycle. It takes time to put it all together, especially when you’re dealing with local governments. But it should take time because recycling is a long-term commitment.”
Bouldin said one major obstacle is convincing officials in other communities that recycling is the best thing to do because the supply of household garbage is not going to stop.
“One of the things that’s hindering us is you can still bury garbage,” said Bouldin. “The thinking is it’s out of sight, out of mind. We’re still trying to overcome that mentality.”