decided to copy this from raging bull thread
Walter Kolbe's answers to Bobby's questions:
1. how much savings for a company is there if they were to decide to use IECS for disposing of
their waste and paying them tipping fees rather than using landfills?
Answer:
Cost savings is a very localized issue. Particularly with respect to landfills. Generally our benchmark should be
landspreading ($10-$35 per ton). Landfill tip fees are generally lower in the west (usually in the $20's per ton
range) with a notable exception of Seattle which averages $75 per ton. Houston and Denver are very low (in
the teens). Atlanta, New York, and Miami are in the 30's, 40's, and 50's respectively. However, our proformas
are all based on $10 per ton to assure the universal viability of our program.
2. are landfill legislations getting more stringent?
Answer:
Stricter regulations enhance our opportunities but do not drive our business. I look for the next focus of EPA to
be on "non-point" pollution of water ways. The biggest culprit is agriculture and practices such as
landspreading (aka field spreading). The ROP program helps resolve this problem, save customers money,
and reduces environmental liability of our customers.
3. how competitive will IECS's output for hog feed compared to traditional hog feed? ie how much would it
save a hog farmer?
Answer:
Valuations of our products have been performed by independent 3rd parties (Agriculture Canada). Essentially
our proformas are based on a 20% discount to (3) year low prices, benchmarked against corn and soybean
meal.
Here's the table Walter provided to me (prices are over 3 years):
FEEDSTUFF LOWEST PRICE HIGHEST PRICE
PER TON PER TON
Corn $78.00 $159.00
47% Soya Bean Meal $279.00 $464.00
Pillsbury Sludge $144.69 $224.97
Pillsbury Liquid Vegetable Sludge $122.40 $231.89
Pillsbury Vegetable Sludge $100.84 $192.95
Pillsbury Sweet Corn Waste $66.95 $146.96
Omstead Sludge $166.47 $283.21
Omstead Vegetable Waste 1 $72.57 $151.13
Omstead Vegetable Waste 2 $116.54 $214.60
Omstead Onion Batter $78.15 $163.25
Omstead Raw Onions $62.27 $137.98
Fish Association Driece Fish Waste $267.76 $455.04
McDonald's Food Waste $183.00 $312.00
Wendy's Food Waste $128.00 $229.00
HJ Heinz Vegetable Waste $142.96 $263.64
Feed is the major cost in animal production. It accounts for 70% of the cost of finishing cattle, 55% of the cost
of producing milk, 50% of the cost of finishing lambs, and 65-75% of the cost of producing pork. ROP
products can consistently be marketed at a cost lower than the lowest costs seen above.
4. is it easy to create formulas for other livestock or do they plan just to stick with hog feed?
Answer:
It is relatively easy to create formulas for other livestock, however for a number of reasons that we are not
prepared to make public at this time we are starting with hogs, however rest assured that there is feed in
other animals.
5. a) do they have an endorsement from any reputable laboratory as to the quality of their livestock feed? b)
Have they compared their lifestock feed with the feed from other recycling companies? c) Who are the
competitors in the waste recycling field? d) How long does it take to build a plant under ideal circumstances?
e) How difficult is it to get permits for the plants?
Answers:
a) Yes, Agriculture Canada
b) please see answer #3 (above)
c) Waste haulers and landfill site owners. ROP is indirect competition with these industries, however, IEI plans
on forming strategic alliances with hauling companies.
d) Sorry, no answer on this or e) (Walter said to check the ROP Summary for these, but I couldn't find those
answers in it.
6. a) Have they contacted any environmental groups to get their endorsement?
b) re: oil remediation Is there any other process that is fast as IECS? c) Do they offer all their potential clients
a money back guaranteed or just the DOD? e) Who are the competitors for the DOD work? f) Is there more
legislation to force cleanups under a time frame? If there were to be a recession in a couple of years,would
that slow down the funds for cleanup projects?
g) Do they know how strong a lobby there is for cleanup programs? re:reclaimation
h) With their new contact who supplied them with the land, will they be more intent on developing a source of
revenue from reclaimation of land and selling it at higher prices?
i) What can go wrong?
Answers:
a) No
b) On low levels of contamination there probably is, but I don't know of reports of people dealing with heavy
contamination at our speed.
c) Yes
d) Generally, environmental engineering firms.
e) Yes, both on the state and federal level but there is frankly not much momentum in this area.
f) Yes
g) Well estabished, insitutionalized actually, but not garnering a lot of attention.
h) It's too early to tell, it's a potential huge money maker
i) Lots of things can go wrong, such as unknown contaminants, contamination of adjacent properties, poor
real estate market.
Also if you can get Walter's comments on all the hoopla of the environmental issues concerning
hog farming.. North Carolina seems to be taking a hard line against small farmers..there was news yesterday
and a couple of months back today I was shocked when I saw an editorial in NYTimes...incredible. I am
wondering also if IECS's remediation division could handle the type of cleanup or if the huge corporations
might go to the technology available from other companies..ie Bion or NVIC(sp).... wondering if some kind of
synergy is in the works..
Walter's comments on hog farming "hoopla". We believe the current difficulties with respect to environmental
plays to our strong suit. Our program is so comprehensive in terms of pollution control and odor management
that we feel our facilities are not incompativle with residential neighbors and yes, there is synergy between the
cleanup business and ROP.
that is an interesting thought about future of waste..before that
step wonder if there will be legislation against landfills once more
and more technologies are developed to recycle
ps. almost ordered my computer today..
is a dvd drive not necessary for the next few years?
bobby |
