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Pure Earth, Inc. (PREA-OTC: BB) |
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October 2, 2009 Issue |
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The Most Powerful Name In Corporate News and Information |
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Having Founded And Sold Two Other Environmental Service Businesses, President And CEO, Mark Alsentzer Feels That He Can Repeat The Same Successes With Pure Earth, Inc. |
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Pure Earth, Inc. (PEI) is a leading provider of innovative, unique, and sustainable solutions to alternate energy and recovery services in the United States. PEI’s corporate objective is the management of complex projects to maximize the beneficial energy, land resource reuse, and recycling potential of various materials throughout the United States. Our success in removal and reutilization of materials from urban construction projects and recycling of petrochemical materials into energy has translated into additional exciting sustainable opportunities in the alternative energy and environmental arenas.
Mark Alsentzer is the current CEO and President of Pure Earth Inc. Mr. Alsentzer has 26 years of experience in the environmental services industry. During that tenure he built several large privately held companies and sold them to public companies. Mr. Alsentzer was the Founder and President of Clean Earth, Inc., a company he built from inception to over $120 million in revenue and sold in 2002. Mr. Alsentzer also served as President of Stout Environmental, a company that he and several partners built from less than $1 million to $100 million in revenue and subsequently sold to Republic Services, a NYSE company in 1992. Mr. Alsentzer holds a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University and an MBA in Management from Farleigh Dickenson University. |
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Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFOinterviews.com, Published – October 2, 2009
Mr. Alsentzer: I founded Pure Earth several years ago, it is a start-up company and it is my third go-around in the environmental services business. I had two other companies that I built up and ended up selling, one in 1991 and one in 2002. I am starting my third one because I still see a tremendous amount of opportunities in the environmental arena that and I feel that we can repeat the performances that we have in the past.
CEOCFO: What is the vision of Pure Earth? Mr. Alsentzer: We are in the business of taking something that has no value, which is generally waste materials that have been traditionally landfilled thrown away or discarded, and turning them into something that has some value that can be reused in the marketplace. For example, we have a division that recycles carpet. We remove nylon from the carpet, take that nylon, and use it in the cement process to help strengthen and add flexibility to cement. So in this case we are taking carpet, which would traditionally be landfilled, removing the main constituent, which is nylon, and reusing that product to actually help improve the performance of cement. That is one example, we have another of others like that, but that is generally our theme.
CEOCFO: How did you come up with this idea? Mr. Alsentzer: Our business strategy is to try to own and operate these processing facilities. Most of these facilities require complex permits, as we are heavily regulated. Therefore, the barriers to entry are very high. Once we have these facilities established, whether we own them or operate them, we then install the processes that can handle waste streams that normally would just be thrown away. Another good example is C&D waste, which stands for construction debris, a fairly large component of that is wood, paper, plastics and other things that if you put them in the right form they have energy value. What we plan to do is take these wastes and put them in a form to make a processed engineered fuel that we then sell to a cement kiln. Cement kilns in this country primarily burns coal. Coal is a fossil fuel and coal generates a lot of Co2, which adds to global warming. So we take a waste that would have gone to a landfill, we separate it, process it and we make something that has an energy value that someone like a cement kiln can use. This is not new technology but it is somewhat new in the US. In Europe, it has been done there for years and we want to adopt that technology and process in the US. It is particularly of interest now whereas in the past it was not, primarily because traditional of the low cost of fuel in this country, much lower than in Europe. Secondly, our process does not generate the carbon dioxide, which is the cause of global warming that comes from the burning or usage of fossil fuel.
CEOCFO: With so much talk about the environment there has also been much inertia; why is this the time that people are ready to act? Mr. Alsentzer: If you asked me that question five or ten years ago, I would say ‘yeah’ it sounded good, but things are different now. Everybody laughed at global warming, but now the government is putting in more regulations to limit that. In addition, the cost of energy in this country probably enjoyed the lowest cost anywhere in the world except for maybe Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Iran. The cost of energy is not going to go back down to $1.00 or $1.25 a gallon of gas. These processed engineered fuels are major drivers of savings for these companies.
CEOCFO: Would you tell us about patents and if it is the technologies or your knowledge that sets Pure Earth apart? Mr. Alsentzer: We do have some patents, which give us some protection, but we primarily rely on our technology and know-how that comes from past experience and development of new ideas and processes. It is experience at having done this work in the past, it is knowledge of cement kilns and how they operate. It is our experience as a management team of what you can do with these materials other than what conventionally has been done in the past. It is also our ability to get permits to be able to do these things. It is not easy to get these permits so you have to understand what you want to accomplish and how you will operate to insure a safe operation.
CEOCFO: Do you line up the the customers first and then develop the processes? Mr. Alsentzer: The way I started this company is I went and actually acquired a couple of companies that had existing customers. They had existing customers that were manufacturing contaminated soils that traditionally went into landfill. I acquired those companies and then I took the waste streams or the materials that they were handling and I funneled them into other lower cost more recycling type of operations that allowed us to beneficially reuse the products in the market.
CEOCFO: How is business these days? Mr. Alsentzer: Actually, we have suffered a little bit because several of our divisions were reliant on the construction industry. Our other divisions that have specialized in recycling of refinery wastes and recycling oily wastes have done Ok.
CEOCFO: What is the competitive landscape? Mr. Alsentzer: There are a number of facilities in this country that process and dispose of wastes. We try to create a niche market for recycling or beneficially reusing waste products. There are a lot of landfills in this country and basically it is all about price and location as to which landfill to choose. In our business, we want to try to sell the value added of beneficially reusing something or making something out of something that was discarded. A lot of companies are adopting zero disposal policies. You have heard ‘I want to be a green company’ I don’t want anything going to landfills. We fit that niche and our energy products that we plan to make will eliminate landfill disposal. We are probably one of only a handful of companies in this country trying to do this now. We try and protect ourselves by entering long-term agreements supply agreements with the users of our products.
CEOCFO: Pure Earth has an aggressive growth strategy; what is ahead? Mr. Alsentzer: I think 2009 will end up a down year for us, but in 2010 when we start to get some of these projects off the ground and into full-scale production, I think we can grow our business 15% or 20% a year. Mainly we are in the northeast right now, we have some things we are working on in Florida, but we can duplicate some of the things we are doing in other regions. That is part of our growth strategy to be able to do that in the future.
CEOCFO: What is the financial picture of the company today? Mr. Alsentzer: We are having a year where we are struggling a little bit. We have always been successful in raising money and we need some additional money to install some of these projects, but we have a lot of interest in the company. People like what we are trying to do and they believe we are on the right track. They believe that we can carry our plan out although it certainly takes time to get these permits. I believe our ideas and vision are looked at favorably even in a down economy.
CEOCFO: Is the permitting because of the nature of the material you are using? Mr. Alsentzer: Yes, it is the nature of the materials; it is some of the contamination in the materials that needs to be regulated. It is making sure that these materials are handled properly, that there is no shortcuts. Our facilities are inspected almost on a weekly basis by the state or the county; they come in unannounced for inspections. They want to make sure we are in compliance with our permit and all the regulations. Back thirty or forty years ago most of these wastes especially industrial wastes were dumped in rivers, ocean, or in ground or in landfills. These wastes caused contamination of the ground, water and air which the government stopped with strict new regulations.
CEOCFO: In closing, why should potential investors pay attention to Pure Earth? Mr. Alsentzer: Potential investors should pay attention to Pure Earth because of our vision. We are certainly not a big company, but we are not a small company either; fifty or sixty million a year in revenue. We have a good management team, a good vision, and business plan for the future. All the things we are talking about are revenues that you can grow by just duplicating the process in other locations. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel after you have done one or two of these projects. If you think about it, you get paid by somebody to take their waste away; you process it and then somebody pays you for the product. Therefore, you are getting a bargain on both ends of the spectrum, which is a unique thing.
CEOCFO: And you have done it before?
Mr. Alsentzer:
Yes we have! |
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I founded Pure Earth several years ago, it is a start-up company and it is my third go-around in the environmental services business. I had two other companies that I built up and ended up selling, one in 1991 and one in 2002. I am starting my third one because I still see a tremendous amount of opportunities in the environmental arena that and I feel that we can repeat the performances that we have in the past. - Mark S. Alsentzer |
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Mark S. Alsentzer