Photo/WES KELLER SCOTT BRYK, owner of Jemev Environmental, holds his 2008 and 2009 Chamber of Commerce awards for Environmental Business Excellence. Behind him are the certificates of congratulation from local members of provincial and federal government. With construction of Jemev Environmental's composting facility set to begin "before the snow flies," Scott Bryk is viewing the site as a small local beginning of a technology that could blossom into something so big it almost staggers the imagination.

Mr. Bryk is not some wild-eyed dreamer boasting of a fortune he's about to fall into as a result of discovering something that no man has dared think of.

He is a BSc in biology from University of British Columbia. The technology he speaks of has been proven at about 70 locations in the U.S. He has all the necessary provincial and municipal approvals to proceed with his Amaranth installation.

Locally, he uses biodiesel from the EverPure co-operative in all of his vehicles. He has been awarded the Chamber of Commerce's Environmental Business Excellence award in both 2008 and 2009.

Earlier this year, he was an invited speaker at an international symposium in Chicago, the BioEnvironmental Polymer Society, a group is comprising distinguished researchers, cohosted by the BioEnvironmental Polymer Society, the Biodegradable Products Institute, and the Society of the Plastics Industry.

There he says he was approached by the Brazilian delegation and by representatives of the U.S. Defence department to discuss how they could apply the technology. In particular, the U.S. military was intrigued by the concept of recycling its 20-foot steel shipping containers and the skids used in the transport of supplies.

Mr. Bryk does not aspire to huge international or defence contracts. In Dufferin, he does want to "manufacture" pure certified organic fertilizer from industrial-commercial sources — "no plastic, no diapers, no animal dropping."

His main source for pure organics would be the produce departments of grocery stores where, he said, 80% of the organic material is produced. That would mean only 20 per cent of the organic waste is available to the household green bin program.

Mr. Bryk applauds Dufferin County's plans for the EcoEnergy Park (DEEP) but notes that almost all suppliers are looking for greater quantities than Dufferin can provide.

He says every small municipality in Ontario faces the same dilemma, having to build for economy of scale and then finding added waste sources to be trucked in.

"If they could build a composter for, say, $1.5 million to handle their own organics, would it not make sense for ever town to have its own, just as they have to have their own sewage treatment plant?" With the Jemev technology, it could be done.

"Hamilton can build a $30-million composter. Small municipalities can't afford to."

But there might be bigger technological fish to fry. He said the University of Guelph is researching production of bio-degradable plastics for use in the automotive and other industries, to reduce reliance on petroleum products in production of plastic bottles and car bodies.

"Jemev can play an important role in the movement from the laboratory to full scale testing of the compostability of new and emerging products," he said.

"It is vital that researchers have the opportunity to test how their products react under real-life conditions when considering a complete life-cycle analysis of their products.

"Jemev's focus on processing exclusively preconsumer industrial/commercial organic materials is a natural fit to meet the large-scale field testing requirements of laboratories throughout Canada and the U.S."

It might have been his relationship with the researchers that earned Mr. Bryk the invitation to speak in Chicago.

He describes Jemev as "a regional leader in the processing of waste wood into high-grade biofuels used by the greenhouse industry to grow fresh Ontario Produce. Creating partnerships with the University of Guelph's new BioProducts Research Laboratory and the Niagara region's Vineland Research and Innovation Centre highlights Jemev's commitment to assembling a world-class team of researchers and business leaders.

"Our vision is to create industry-leading composts and biofertilizers using a quality control/quality assurance process like that found in the pharmaceutical and food processing industries," he said.

"With a technical solution that is modular, scalable, and a tenth of the cost of existing infrastructure options, we are poised to make major advancements in sustainable green infrastructure for Ontario."

When construction begins on the Jemev site, Mr. Bryk said all contractors will be local.

When composting "manufacturing" begins, the area will be odourfree. But he has a word on that, as well.

"There is an odour to composting. You can't avoid an odour, but you can handle it." Similarly, there are odours in paint factories (and other such things) but you don't care what it smells like inside as long as you can't smell it outside. "With (proper technology and handling) the odours needn't escape outside."

Yet, the Jemev facility will be in a rural area adjacent to the transfer station. "If a farmer is spreading manure, will I be blamed for the smell?"