Labels like environmentally friendly, conservationist, sustainability, or tree hugger conjure images of old hippies prattling on about how you should live but investing little in the environment themselves. The man who is investing over $6 million in a construction and demolition debris recycling facility is anything but an old hippie blowing hot air.

Ken Mogul, president of Ace Recycling, talks the talk and walks the walk. Ace Recycling plans to construct and operate an indoor materials recovery facility at The Sustainability Park on North Enon Church Rd. in Enon. The project is expected to create approximately 30 new jobs.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Ace will accept construction and demolition debris such as cardboard and paper, carpet, concrete, dirt, metal, plastics, wallboard, and wood and recycle it. Construction waste typically ends up in a landfill but the debris run through a sorting process designed by Mogul will end up as raw material for plastic products, new wallboard, new paper products, steel, or wood chips. Some items may be recycled, as are 2-by-4s, other lumber, and architectural detail work from demolition projects.

Mogul is not only preparing to recycle construction waste, but plans to do so inside a 70,000 square foot LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building, one of only two certified to the gold standard in Chesterfield.

One process which will help Ace make the LEED standard is a rainwater capture operation. The rainwater from the roof of the building will be stored in the cistern below the floor of the plant and then used to mist dusty materials as they are processed.

For Mogul, 39, Ace is an integral part of who he is, not only a for-profit venture. Calling himself a serial entrepreneur, his energy is palpable. Tossing a baseball hand to hand, he walks quickly while giving a tour of facility being prepared for construction.

“My interest in recycling initially came from taking a class in environmental management. It clicked with me like nothing else, and being a practical person, recycling was the most clear career choice. This many years later I’m enjoying my work more than ever,” he says.

After getting his undergraduate degree at Purdue University, Mogul received an MBA and Master of Environmental Management and Policy from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. Splitting his time between Reston, Va., where he’s building a similar operation nearby, and Richmond, Mogul says he enjoys not only the business side of the recycling operation, but also getting into designing and installing the equipment.

He says his personal life keeps him balanced and calls his single greatest success “his family.”

“I’ve been married to a D.C. girl for eight years. She raises our children full time, though has taught part time at Virginia Tech, is on the Board of America Walks, and as a volunteer, runs a committee called the Pedestrian and Bicycling Advisory Committee in Reston. We have two girls – one nearly five and the other two and a half.”

Ace Recycling is not only a success story for Chesterfield County, but also a testament to the commitment by ESI, the owners of the Sustainability Park. Enon area residents were initially suspicious of what might take place on the 143 acres, but ESI president Brenda Robinson has worked with neighbors and since its inception, has encouraged eight environmentally friendly businesses to locate there.

“When we created The Sustainability Park, we wanted it to become a center for businesses that manufacture and market environmentally sustainable products – companies that are helping our environment and our community while creating new jobs and economic growth. Ace Recycling is a perfect fit for our objective,” Robinson says.

Barry Matthews, director of waste and resource recovery for Chesterfield, says it’s difficult to say exactly what the impact of Ace will be on landfill operations in Chesterfield, but that he could see the Ace operation as a catalyst to Chesterfield becoming a green county.

“These are the kind of people who are going to make it work,” Matthews says. “People who are make recycling commercially viable will have the most impact leveraging environment interest. Any business is good that has a low carbon footprint.”

According to Mogul, the EPA has reported that construction and demolition waste translates to 4.72 to 6.61 pounds per person each day. Household trash amounts to about 4.5 pounds per person a day. Ace Recycling will process up to 500 tons of construction and demolition waste materials a day at its Enon plant when it’s fully operational.

Ryan Schulze will be operation manager at the plant. For more information, contact Ace Recycling at 381-3701.

mfausz@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421

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