Gold from Garbage

The April 2012 Report on Business featured a number of cool entrepreneurial companies focused on making money from the stuff we throw away. One example is New West Gypsum (http://www.nwgypsum.com/) based in Langley B.C. Started by Tony McCamley in 1985, he invented and patented a way to recycle discarded drywall, one of the biggest contributors to our ever-growing trash stream. Key to his process was to figure out a way to remove the paper backing from the gypsum at high-speed.

Today, they have seven plants in Canada, the U.S., and Europe with 100 employees that currently handle almost half a million tonnes of gypsum annually. New West makes most of its money at the front end by having companies pay them to take their waste drywall off their hands. New West charges less than what renovator and construction firms would have to pay in haulage and dumping charges. New West then also makes some money at the back-end selling the recycled product.