FAYETTEVILLE -- Recycling options grow, change and improve so rapidly that even people in the business race to keep up with their alternatives, a panel of recycling entrepreneurs told their audience Friday.
"You have to love the problem, not the solution, because the solution changes," said Tom Rohr, chief executive of Food Loops, a Rogers-based firm that recycles food waste into compost and other uses.
Rohr and other panelists spoke at the first NWA Recycles "pitch contest," an event sponsored by the Northwest Arkansas Council. Seven new companies competed for $5,000 in prize money to help their businesses, awarded by a panel of experts.
SIEV Technologies won the $4,000 first prize. The Fayetteville-based company converts waste into fuel and other useful chemicals. The Carbon Chicken Project of Siloam Springs, a company using sawmill waste and poultry litter to enrich agricultural soil, won the $1,000 second prize.
The competition was extremely close, event organizer Dan Holtmeyer told the group of about 70 people who attended. The entrants were judged on 80 different measures and the final tally between the two winners came down to one point, he said. The event took place at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville.
The Northwest Arkansas Council consists of community and business leaders looking to address regional issues. Holtmeyer is recycling program manager for the council.
Other participants in the competition included Amaya Consulting of Farmington, which helps small businesses recycle and use sustainable options when those businesses do not have a sustainability department of their own. Participating in the competition was worthwhile, founder Faebyan Whittle said after the event, because it gave people in the field a chance to meet with each other and give a presentation to potential customers and investors.
Besides the two winners and Amaya, other finalists for the prize money were: The Bandits, a group of University of Arkansas students who aim to collect, refurbish and resell used items left behind by students each summer when they move out of university housing, including furniture; Divertify, which reclaims discarded construction materials and demolition materials for use in other building projects; Foxfire Artisan Glass Co., which uses recycled glass bottles as refillable containers for candles; and WasteNaught Zero, which converts hard-to-recycle plastic waste into fuel and other products.
University students throw out 192 tons of materials each year, and more than 46% of it is furniture, the team from The Bandits told the group. Only 10% of the 192 tons is reclaimed. The Bandits group cooperates with the university and have agreements to use vacant dorm space in the summers to store the furniture until it can be cleaned and restored but need investment to get started, they said.
The Foxfire group is in business and is profitable but needs money to expand and diversify, according to its presentation.
Audience member Rick West of Farmington told the panel at the beginning of the meeting there needed to be a webpage or some other central resource to tell Northwest Arkansas residents of available recycling options. Businesses in the panel discussion before the awards ranged from a company that recycles bicycles to one that refurbishes used electronics to a service that washes out dumpsters while recapturing the dirty water it uses.
"I never would have looked all that up," West told the panel. "I wouldn't know where to find it."
Rural residents in particular need more recycling services, said panelist Alex Joannes of Neighbors NWA, which picks up recyclables for its rural customers. Other panelists agreed, citing the greater ease and economy of scale of picking up material for recycling in dense urban areas.
Richard Ims, president of Food Recycling Solutions, speaks Friday during the first NWA Recycles "pitch contest" at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for todays photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. Wampler)On the web
NWA Regional Recycling Report, 2023:
https://online.flippingbook.com/view/740961552/