In today’s “modern” world, there is a tendency to search for those markets that advance the marketplace in a high tech manner – a “Jetson’s” sort of world, for lack of a better way to describe the process. In many markets, however, some companies have started to look backwards to move forwards. They look for natural or “older” processes that have been in action for generations. In many ways, this is a new way to approach new product development; looking for the products and services that have always been available but not fully exploited. If an investor can find a company that has found one of these hidden treasures, profit will very likely be at hand.
Converted Organics Inc., an organic soil manufacturer, works to convert and market food waste stream products into pellet and granulated fertilizers. Primary markets for the company’s products are lawn and garden centers seeking long shelf-life organic turf and garden fertilizer products.
When one considers the food waste issue, they think about the smell and “yuk” factors associated with rotten eggs and smelly produce well past its prime. The fact that these food waste products have begun their transformation back into the organic base materials that made up their composition is rarely a consideration. As the free market and farmers throughout time have understood, however, these products are the “black gold” of the agricultural industry. They provide the energy necessary to make life grow at its most basic level.
Unfortunately, the processes to get these waste products to the fertilizer stage take a bit longer than most are willing to accept, until now. Converted Organics Inc. has seized upon European technology, and Canadian testing of that technology, to speed the process along for a commercially viable organic turf and gardening fertilizer product. Generally speaking, the process follows nature’s lead but speeds up the process by injecting oxygen and heat in a closed system. This is much the same process that nature takes, but results in a finished product in as little as two hours, making commercial sale that much more attractive.
The company is currently finding a solid response to its new organic fertilizer products. Its three operating waste-to-fertilizer plants, located in New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, are manufacturing fertilizers for the retail lawn and garden market at a solid clip. Its recently announced partner, Gro-Group Inc., an affiliation of more than 90 percent of the regional and local nursery and garden centers in the U.S., has agreed to begin supporting the company’s products in those centers. As the US consumer has recognized the need for organic fertilizers in an increasingly synthetic, chemical-rich market segment, it does appear that Converted Organics is well positioned to profit in a fairly substantial way.
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