Featured guest Garrett Benisch is Chief Development Officer at Bioforcetech Corporation, a Bay Area company turning organic waste into carbon negative materials. Bioforcetech promotes a few basic tenets: Stop Landfill, Protect Ecosystems, and Utilize Waste, to name just a few. That last one is important.

In the company’s efforts to Fix and Store Carbon (two other tenets), Bioforcetech manufactures a distinct form of biochar called OurCarbon. Biochar is made when biomass sources like trees and plants undergo pyrolysis to yield an ashy and sterile carbon byproduct – has been used to improve soil fertility and boost agricultural yields.

OurCarbon is a form of biochar. But where it comes from, how it’s produced and scaled, and what it’s used for all represent something truly new in the waste-to-value economy.

For the inaugural episode of Waste to Value, I connected with Lew Epstein, CEO of Lot21, a non-profit content platform and resource for advancing climate action across the built environment to help decarbonize the world.

Lew’s environmental advocacy began decades ago with the emergence of the forestry stewardship movement and has since expanded to encompass a broader range of carbon removal solutions focused on restoring our climate.

Our conversation delves into the topics of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and waste-to-value solutions, highlighting the evolution of these areas and their impact on climate action and sustainability. It explores the challenges, advancements, and applications of CDR, as well as the local and global impact of waste-to-value initiatives.