Tools

In Steve Stone’s line of work, it’s not uncommon to find him rifling through trash in search of usable remnants. It’s more glamorous than it sounds. He doesn’t actually get his hands dirty, but he certainly searches for financial worth in waste like paper and wood destined for the landfill. As the vice president of Balcones Resources, he rescues, retools and resells one company’s “trash” to another, who treasures the bi-product as a valuable commodity.

“We’re developing new ways to reuse waste,” Stone said, explaining the importance of finding more economical fuel alternatives and the need to recycle non-traditional waste streams. “We’re constantly investigating new technologies and seeing if they’re real and viable,” he said.

Twenty years ago, Stone was a Centenary College student schlepping recyclables across town for his mother. “After driving around for more than an hour taking paper to the paper recycler, plastic to Kroger and glass and cans to War Memorial (Stadium), I thought, ‘I bet people would pay for someone to do this for them,’” Stone said, recalling the epiphany that spawned an entrepreneurial enterprise: curbside pick-up of residential and later commercial recyclables. With the help of some college friends, Stone created Green Rock Recycling Company, which quickly gained momentum and captured the attention of Balcones Resources. In 1996, Stone accepted an offer to sell and an executive position with Texas-based Balcones.

Today, Stone does more than simply gather and process waste. He helps companies turn their waste into resources, counsels them on increased sustainability efforts and helps them establish recycling programs. With his expertise, companies like Kimberly-Clark and Wal-Mart have been able to improve their bottom lines by saving money on landfill tipping fees and sometimes sharing in the profits generated by their reinvented waste. Kimberly-Clark approached Balcones about 10 years ago because they no longer wanted to landfill their baby wipes, which are made of both plastic and paper. “We came up with a totally new recycling process for them, and as it turns out, baby wipes have great energy potential,” Stone said.

Balcones’ résumé boasts many environmental success stories such as this. In fact, the company’s recycling and alternative fuels programs save 4,000 tons of paper, wood and fuel from landfills each month. “Sometime we don’t save companies money. Sometimes there is a cost or it’s simply a break-even scenario,” Stone said. “But the environment always comes out ahead.”