THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 19, 1994 TAG: 9410190461
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Meet Philly Frog: three or four times larger than life, gazing solemnly into space, seeming nothing more than a run-of-the-mill lawn ornament. A small sign announces why passersby should take notice. Philly, says the sign, is ``a concrete frog manufactured from stabilized, contaminated soil.''
Creator W. W. Phil Robinson, president of the Richmond-based Environmental Solutions Inc., sees Philly as a kind of clean-cut poster amphibian for the emerging environmental technology industry.
``The cost of virgin, natural materials continues to go up,'' Robinson said. ``Recyclable materials are in your back yard. The true growth potential, the future, lies in producing products from those materials.''
Some 125 environmental engineers, business people, consultants, scientists, policymakers and academicians gathered in the Holiday Inn off Woodlake Drive Tuesday for a symposium sponsored by the Environmental Technology Center, a nonprofit organization in Chesapeake that acts as a statewide environmental technology clearinghouse.
``Hampton Roads will probably be the state's center for environmental technology,'' predicted Jack M. Heinemann, director of energy and envirotechnology programs for Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, a state agency that fosters high-tech business development.
``There is a mass of engineering and science capability in his area. There are tremendous opportunities here to make a mark and move out (commercially).''
Conference participants huddled around Philly, schmoozed, networked, attended industry briefings and otherwise spread the good news that clean is making green. Organizers said that green, in this case, is the color of what environmental biotech firms are taking to the bank.
``Interest in environmental technology has gone through the roof,'' said Keith Miller, the environmental center president. ``Regulators realize these technologies work. They're allowing the technology to flow out into the marketplace, to industry, to contractors and consultants. It's definitely good news.''
Miller said emerging partnerships between industry, colleges and universities, and federal labs are creating new products and procedures that help repair the environment in ways that would have been impossible five years ago. Although many have come to market, he said, more are on the way.
``You'd be amazed at the thousands of technologies that are sitting on the shelf,'' waiting to be tested in the field, Miller said.
According to Heinemann of the state's technology center, nationally the environmental market is worth roughly $150 billion. He estimates that perhaps two or three percent of that amount, or upward of $4 billion, is being funneled in business to the state's estimated 600-700 environmental companies.
As Phil Robinson stood in front of his exhibit, he proudly displayed paving stones and revetment blocks made from contaminated soil, coal ash, shredded rubber and recycled plastics. Nearby sat synthetic woods derived from waste plastics and peanut hulls.
``There is a tremendous amount of money that will be spent in cleaning up contaminated material,'' he said. ``It will be driven either by regulations, economics or public demand for cleanup. There will be enormous dollars spent. We're talking billions.''
Although he wouldn't provide details, Robinson said that soon, giant Philly cousins may appear in downtown Norfolk. Like Philly, they would be made of environmentally safe ``cittercrete.'' But they more than likely wouldn't take the shape of a bullfrog. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JIM WALKER
Keith Miller, president of the Environmental Technology Center;
Brenda Robinson, vice president of Environmental Solutions Inc., and
W.W. Phil Robinson, president of Environmental Solutions, are
attending the Chesapeake symposium.
by CNB