I received the following email from Priscilla Hayes for reprint on Green Talk.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.– Are you a nervous investor, looking for a sign that it is safe to go back into the market after the great meltdown? Are you a municipality looking to support sustainable ratables for your town? Attend New Jersey’s first-ever Investment Forum focusing exclusively on the rapidly growing markets that convert something plentiful and local—food waste and other organic waste—into the soil, fertilizer, and energy products we all need to maintain our fast-paced life style. The Investment Forum, which is the creation of Rutgers University’s Solid Waste Resource Renewal Group (SWRRG), starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends with a reception starting at 4:30 p.m. on June 16, 2010, also on the Cook Campus in New Brunswick.
Investing in the rapidly growing food waste recycling industry presents an advantageous investing opportunity that offers return on investment at both ends—companies in this sector are literally paid to take in their raw materials and paid again for the products which they make. The industry is particularly lucrative when situated in a state as densely populated with people—and with food waste—as New Jersey.
The Investment Forum will feature a roadmap to understanding the growing organics recycling industry, using food waste as a key feedstock, as well as many of the exciting new companies looking to be established in the most densely populated of all the states. The keynote speaker at the Investment Forum is Andrew Kessler, a fifteen year senior investment banker at HSBC, Waller Capital, Morgan Stanley, and Duff & Phelps and one of the founders of Turning Earth, LLC, an organics recycling firm developing facilities for the production of biogas, compost and local greenhouse-based agriculture. Kessler, who regularly speaks and writes on the organics recycling industry, will speak on “Building Bridges Between the Investment Community and Organics Recycling Industry.”
“In a very difficult market, approximately $155 billion was invested in clean energy companies and projects worldwide in 2008, a four-fold increase since 2004,” said Kessler. On the compost side, the developing technologies play a role not only in waste management, as would be expected, but also in water conservation, local and sustainable agriculture, carbon sequestration, soil fertility, and uptake of nutrients by crops. All of this will be increasingly important as fuel costs rise, making it harder to simply transport food and other products from out of state or out of country.”
Nora Goldstein, editor of BioCycle Magazine, and Dr. Stuart Buckner, executive director of the United States Composting Council, will join a panel on “Why Food Waste and Why the Northeast?” The government role in encouraging and enhancing an industry that can provide local products, local capital, and local ratables will be covered in a multi-level panel that includes Adrian Brunori, green energy specialist from Florida, who will speak on municipal support of green energy and products through mechanisms such as Feed In Tariff, already used widely in Europe. This mechanism pairs private investment with government guarantees to purchase energy from organics recycling facilities producing renewable energy from organic waste.
The Investment Forum is being supported by a variety of institutional sponsors, including PSEG, the New Jersey Wastewise Business Network, the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, the Municipal Land Use Center, Sustainable Jersey, the New Jersey League of Municipalities, Edison Wetlands Association, Inc.. Financial sponsors include the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Composting Council, The Davis Family of Hamilton New Jersey (“Stewards of God’s Creation”), and Organic Recycling Solutions, LLC. Additional sponsors are currently being sought.
For registration or sponsorship information, see here. For more information call 732-932-9155, x233 or email Priscilla Hayes at hayes@aesop.rutgers.edu.
Matthew says
May 12, 2010 at 3:42 pmI think its a good topic to discuss. I think most people just don’t want to talk about waste because of how disgusting it is, but i’m sure a lot could be recycled that could benefit us.
Felix Nagel says
December 8, 2014 at 6:24 amEvery school or educational institution should make this a regular event perhaps at least once a year, cause I believe it’s really going to help remind the people the importance of recycling, specially when it comes to food knowing that other thrive, while a lot waste food.
I hope there’ll be more events like these.