BioHiTech Global Initiates Operations at West Virginia HEBioT Facility

BioHiTech Global, Inc., a technology and services company that provides sustainable waste management solutions, announced it has initiated operations at the nation's first HEBioT renewable resource recovery facility located in Martinsburg, W.Va.

The company has successfully completed the first phase of plant commissioning including the facility's reception area, overhead bridge cranes and its primary mechanical sorting equipment. The company has begun the next phase of plant commissioning and progressing operations, which includes receiving limited amounts of waste and beginning runs of its patented mechanical and biological treatment process (HEBioT Process) for producing a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-recognized solid recovered fuel (SRF). The limited processing runs are expected to result in the production of SRF in the coming weeks with the facility reaching full operations early in Q2 2019.

The Martinsburg facility is expected to generate $7 million of high-margin revenue annually while diverting as much as 80 percent of the waste that enters the facility from landfills. The majority of the waste, to be delivered as feedstock to the facility, is covered under a 10-year put-or-pay agreement with a local waste hauler owned by Gold Medal Group, a regional waste management services company backed by Kinderhook Industries. Additionally, 100 percent of the SRF that will be produced is subject to a 10-year, take-or-pay agreement with Argos USA, LLC, one of the largest producers of Portland cement in the United States.

The SRF manufactured at the facility will be utilized by Argos as a partial replacement for coal used in the cement manufacturing process. The 56,000-square-foot facility is completely enclosed and fully automated with no waste being exposed to the outside environment and no workers in direct contact to the waste processing, according to the company.

"The initiation of revenue generating operations at this first facility of its kind in the United States is a pivotal moment for our company and an important step forward in the movement to lessen the environmental impact of waste management,” said Frank E. Celli, CEO of BioHiTech Global, in a statement. “This flagship facility will add significant high-margin revenue and will serve as a model for how BioHiTech can cost effectively create positive environmental change throughout the United States. By bringing this facility across the finish line, we are now at the starting line for sustainable long-term revenue growth with a roadmap to build significant value for our stockholders."

BioHiTech is the largest owner of the Martinsburg facility through a majority owned subsidiary company with a 78 percent controlling interest in its operations. Gold Medal Group owns the remaining minority stake in the subsidiary.

"We are excited to be a part of this important project, which marks the beginning of positive change in the way we can manage waste in this country,” said Mike Schmidt, executive vice president of Gold Medal Group, in a statement. “The Martinsburg facility will allow Gold Medal to divert over 60,000 tons of the municipal solid waste we collect in the area from landfills annually at no additional cost to those residential and businesses customers we service. This landfill diversion, as well as the creation of a renewable fuel that can be used locally, helps to solve two environmental problems while serving as a model that BioHiTech and Gold Medal can replicate throughout our current business footprint. We look forward to working together with BioHiTech to roll out this technology in the U.S. and reduce the burden that waste generation has on our environment."