Company’s Subsidiary, Pellechar, Has Secured Production of its Proprietary Combination Pellet and is in Final Stages of Completing OMRI Certification and Other Regulatory Requirements
GOLDEN, Colo., Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Strategic Environmental & Energy Resources, Inc. (SEER) (OTCQB: SENR), a provider of environmental, renewable fuels and industrial waste stream management services, has received $1 million of equity funding for its newly formed division, Pellechar, a company dedicated to the production of organic fertilizer pellets. The Company closed the funding transaction earlier this month by selling 49% of the equity to strategic partners. SEER will maintain voting control and management of day-to-day operations.
COMPANY STRATEGY & INDUSTRY PARTNERS
“The focus of SEER’s corporate objective is to identify and bring to market unique and protectible technologies that improve our environment and create sustainable revenue streams for the Company,” said John Combs, CEO of SEER. “The new organic fertilizer pellet being developed by SEER’s newly formed and funded division, Pellechar, combines proven technologies as well as strategic industry partners to further the Company’s objectives.”
THE MARKET AND DEMAND
“The growing domestic and global market for new and better organic fertilizers is compelling and undeniable,” said Combs. “Overall, the market continues to reaffirm there is an ever-increasing demand and need for sustainable crop production by improving soil enrichment properties of organic fertilizer products. Being fueled by the recent meteoric rise of hemp production, the organic fertilizer market is expected to reach a valuation of US$19.7B by 2026.”
Domestically, according to the Fertilizer Institute (www.tfi.org), the fertilizer industry generally is expected to contribute nearly $140 billion to the US economy. In 2016, manure-based organic fertilizers were responsible for the most revenue in the market and that trend is expected to continue. More specifically, in 2016, just over 72% of global organic fertilizers were of animal origin.
“The industry has been focused on improving the precision with which the nutrients are being applied, but has not adequately addressed what happens post application. The failure to effectively address the problem at its source is contributing to the wide-spread environmental issue. Reducing the amount of nutrients required by more effectively securing them in the soil for plant uptake rather than being washed away will contribute to the solution and is the focus of SEER’s new product. This creates the opportunity and value proposition for the Company,” said Combs.
THE PRODUCT AND MARKET ADVANTAGES
“Since SEER, with its REGS division, has the exclusive rights to manufacture the kilns and related equipment for BCN as it expands, we have been working closely with the management of BCN to facilitate its growth in all markets, especially the development and production of an organic fertilizer pellet made from combining organic chicken litter and biochar. This unique combination brings together the best organic fertilizer characteristics for enhancing crop and plant production as well as an environmental solution to address an ever-increasing global problem caused by fertilizer nutrient runoff. The chicken litter is a natural and organic fertilizer that delivers essential and universal nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium). The biochar is a natural and organic carbon product to improve the soil consistency, reduce the amount of water required to grow, and lock the nutrients in the soil to prevent runoff of those nutrients. Locking the nutrients in the soil until the plant can use them mitigates adverse environmental impact by reducing the primary cause of harmful algae blooms and the destruction of aquatic habitat caused by those nutrients washing away,” Combs continued.
INDUSTRY PARTNERS
“There are many inferior and poor biochar products currently being offered. After extensive research we became convinced the Biochar Now (www.biocharnow.com) (“BCN”) product is equal or superior to any biochar product available today. We also believe partnering with Viatrac (www.viatracfertilizer.com) and developing a proprietary blend of quality chicken litter and BCN biochar positions SEER perfectly in a multibillion-dollar fertilizer market that is growing at an unprecedented rate being driven by the exploding international organic fertilizer and hemp markets. This new product opportunity, coupled with SEER’s exclusive right to manufacture equipment for BCN, made this a multi-layered revenue proposition very attractive for SEER,” continued Combs.
Biochar Now
“We have always known pelletizing our product in some form or fashion was a huge market, but have lacked the bandwidth to exploit it properly,” said James Gaspard, CEO and founder of BCN. “Having partnered with SEER a year ago we are pleased to have it leading the charge in the fertilizer pellet market and BCN is committed to providing them what they will need to achieve immediate market penetration. Keeping up with demand has and continues to be our biggest challenge but we are preparing to grow into the demand both at our headquarters Colorado facility and by establishing satellite, regional production centers. SEER has been and will continue to be a great partner for this growth initiative,” concluded Gaspard.
Viatrac Fertilizer
“Finding the right pelletizing partner was a critical part of our objective and after extensive research and due diligence we are proud to have the opportunity to work exclusively with Viatrac in Texas (www.viatracfertilizer.com),” said Combs. “They source and work with only the best raw materials and have created a very impressive, high-tech production facility. They have in place an international customer base in the big ag space, as well as existing retail channels with the two largest home improvement and garden centers in the United States. Most important, Viatrac management shares our view that a one-of-a-kind combination pellet comprised of a proprietary blend of biochar and chicken litter will not only create a demand for the new product but also solve a huge, coast to coast environmental problem that continues to plague our environment,” stated Combs.
“We have been in and around this market a long time and know it very well,” said Brett Banner, Product Development Manager at Viatrac. “Frankly, we didn’t know what to expect when we were approached by Mr. Combs at SEER and then started our initial production runs with the first batch of the BCN biochar product. We were more than impressed with the finished pellets and how the BCN product pelletized. After our subsequent research, we believe the BCN product to have unique characteristics and are not aware of any similar combination biochar-chicken litter pellet. Viatrac is please to be working with SEER on an exclusive basis and is assisting the Company to dial in several product lines with various nutrient packages tailored for different fertilizer markets. We are also interested in working with SEER and BCN to explore other biochar markets and using different delivery mechanisms,” concluded Banner.
ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTION OPPORTUNITY AND COMPANY GROWTH
“At the Company level, the infusion of the equity capital not only enables us to aggressively attack the fertilizer market and contribute to a needed solution, but also provides general working capital to shore up our other divisions, create some much-needed BAM media inventory for our MV division, and otherwise prepare for the manufacturing of the BCN equipment by REGS. This opportunity fits perfectly into SEER’s corporate mission, buoys our REGS division and, most important, creates what we believe to be an imminent and sustainable revenue stream in the multibillion-dollar fertilizer market. While it is too early to project sales and income, we are confident commercial sales will commence in the second quarter 2019 and we should see revenue by the third quarter. We will provide updates as this exciting project commences as well as our other developments as they progress,” concluded Combs.
About Strategic Environmental & Energy Resources, Inc.
Strategic Environmental & Energy Resources, Inc. (SEER) (OTCQB: SENR), identifies, secures, and commercializes patented and proprietary environmental clean technologies in several multibillion dollar sectors (including oil & gas, renewable fuels, and all types of waste management, both solid and gaseous) for the purpose of either destroying/minimizing hazardous waste streams more safely and at lower cost than any competitive alternative, and/or processing the waste for use as a renewable fuel for the benefit of the customers and the environment. SEER has three wholly-owned operating subsidiaries: REGS, LLC; MV Technologies, LLC and SEER Environmental Materials, LLC; and three majority-owned subsidiaries: Paragon Waste Solutions, LLC; PelleChar, LLC and ReaCH4biogas, LLC. For more information about the Company visit: www.seer-corp.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of various provisions of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, commonly identified by such terms as "believes," "looking ahead," "anticipates," "estimates," and other terms with similar meaning. Although the company believes that the assumptions upon which its forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these assumptions will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements should not be construed as fact. Statements in this press release regarding future performance or fiscal projections, the cost effectiveness, impact and ability of the Company's products to handle the future needs of customers are forward-looking statements. The information contained in such statements is beyond the ability of the Company to control, and in many cases the Company cannot predict what factors would cause results to differ materially from those indicated in such statements. All forward-looking statements in the press release are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements and by reference to the underlying assumptions.
Investor Relations
MZ Group
Chris Tyson
Managing Director – MZ North America
Direct: 949-491-8235
chris.tyson@mzgroup.us
www.mzgroup.us
Released February 25, 2019