A new project at Carnegie Mellon draws attention to architecture's sizable carbon footprint.
Problem
Food waste is an urgent problem
- 40% of all food produced ends up in landfills
- Rotting food waste emits 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions
- Global food waste costs $2.6T in 2022
This global problem is also a local one for businesses of all sizes due to the high costs of fines and waste management. To tackle this, governments are banning food waste from entering landfills. Moreover, processing and recycling is also becoming unmanageable:
The ZEUS Solution
Creating a closed-loop ecosystem
Products:
ZEUS Digester: On-site food waste management
- 12 tons of food waste processed each year
- 20-year lifespan
- Fully automated and patented waste sorting system removes impurities (plastic/ glass/ metal)
- Managed by a proprietary mobile application providing real-time updates
Soil Sauce: World's first carbon-negative fertilizer
- Improves crop yields by up to 30%
- Diverts 90lb CO2 per gallon produced
- Generates $10/gal in large-scale farm contracts and $240/gal in direct-to-consumer sales
Business model
2 complementary markets, 2 key revenue streams: Zeus Contract & Fertilizer Sales
Zeus Contract & Fertilizer Sales
A range of lease agreements across a broad set of customers:
Financed hardware lease: fully produced and financed hardware means low upfront costs and short ROI
- Upfront $24K - $120K for financed contract
- 1 - 12 month system ROI for Ecotone
- Refinance every 5 years
Customer benefits: fully automated and self-contained solution limits extra staffing needs
- 10 - 30 % waste hauling cost reduction
- On-call full service and warranty
- 10 - 100% of Soil Sauce production to use or resell
Traction
8 operating ZEUS digesters, 2.4M+ pounds CO2 diverted
Competition
No other system of this size caters to this market
We have no barriers to entry!
Vision and strategy
Path to becoming a billion dollar company with 1% market share
Goals: