Groundbreaking in Sussex looks to the future

WAVERLY —The state of Virginia, and especially Sussex County, got an early Christmas present last month when Restoration Bioproducts broke ground for its new facility in Waverly – the first such site in the entire commonwealth.

So popular that first seven years’ production for the plant, which is scheduled to open this summer, has already been pre-sold, Restoration Bioproducts is a Virginia-based, private-sector conservation company that provides custom-engineered, environmentally sustainable business solutions for companies dealing with agricultural or forestry waste. 

The company, which deploys pyrolysis-based solutions to sustainably produce biochar and syngas, will invest $5.8 million at the site over the next three years, create five high-paying jobs, and purchase 34,560 tons of Virginia-grown wood products.

“I want to thank everyone and congratulations to the county and the town and the industrial development authority for adopting the performance agreement with Restoration BioProducts. This agreement helps stimulate additional investments in Virginia’s largest private industry, agriculture, as well as timber and lumber,” Jeff Waldon, Managing Partner of Restoration Bioproducts said. “I am so pleased that we’re seeing activity bringing a new industry right here into the town of Waverly. I think it’s wonderful that they’re taking a product like sawdust that’s right here now, and we’re in the wood basket of the state. We have all this extra sawdust just sitting around and now here’s a company that’s going to make use of it and turn it into a bio product.”

“What an exciting day for the Town of Waverly.” exclaimed Waverly Mayor Angela McPhaul during the ceremony. “Four years ago when I took office I would have never predicted a company as cutting edge as Restoration Bioproducts would select the Town as the location for their state of the art facility. Thank you to Mr. Waldon for choosing our town as location of the first biochar facility in the Commonwealth of Va.”

Jeff Waldon, Managing Partner of Restoration Bioproducts, LLC, indicated that he and his partners “have been involved in this for 30 plus years” expressed excitement at how in-demand their product is currently, and revealed, “One of my partners set up a separate company to make this available specifically to farmers under a new USDA program. They add it to soils to loosen up red clay or in sandy soils to hold moisture and nutrients in, so it does both, actually. For example, with the amount of money going into fertilizer right now, not losing fertilizer is a big deal.”

Waldon, who worked as research director for VA Tech for 23 years, said that he has found was that for rural economic development in particular, theirs is a situation that works extremely well for small communities, particularly those that have lost jobs and population, but have a lot of this biomass available, which makes Waverly a particularly good fit for their company – especially with Wood Fuel Developers right across the street.

“This is such a great opportunity for Waverly,” said Sidney Harrison, owner of Wood Fuel Developers, which makes wood pellets for heating – Easy Blaze – popular all over the northeast. “I’m so happy to bring this new and exciting product to the state of Virginia. I think it’s a great day!

“We are excited to have Restoration Bioproducts locate in Sussex County,” said Sussex County Supervisor A.G. Futrell. “We greatly value our partnership with the Town of Waverly and all of the County’s other towns… It’s an honor to have this company choose Sussex County.”

“This is a wonderful project because what it does it says we’re open for business,” said Keith Boswell, President and CEO of Virginia’s Gateway Region. “Sussex County and the town of Waverly are great Economic Development partners, and a lot of the positive activity that’s going on in Sussex is because the County Administrator Richard Douglas is at the helm.”

“This town is a wonderful place for something like restoration bioproducts,” he added. “They already do the sawdust – the raw material – and now they’re going to be able to produce something new with it that’s high value added, and this is the epicenter of it. So we’re real delighted that this is their choice for a new home.”

Describing the day as “very exciting”, Douglas said, “It’s cutting edge technology, and to have the first of its kind in Virginia, that’s a win. It also supports existing business. I’m really happy about the partnership and how the county collaborated with the town of Waverly to make this happen and get the grant in place.”

David Conmy, Deputy County Administrator/Economic Development Director for Sussex County, explained that the $50,000 Governor’s AFiDF (Agricultural Forestal Industries Development Fund) has played a key role in the project, with Sussex County and the Town of Waverly making up the required match.

“We’re all super exited,” he said. “The county’s motto is Rooted in the past, growing for the future, and this is a perfect example of that. Utilizing wood products from our history with Sussex’s origins in timber, and looking to the future for what bio char could mean for greenhouse gas emissions and carbon capture. It’s a cutting edge product for enhancing agricultural products – you can add it to the soil to add nutrients back in. I couldn’t think of a better example of “Rooted in the past, Growing for the future.”

Source: Emporia Independent Messenger