#22: How to Save & Upcycle Food Waste Sustainably - Gary Schuler from GTF Technologies

Dennis: Hello and welcome to the Impactful Ninja Show. I'm your host, Dennis Kamprad. And today, we're joined by Gary Schuler from GTF Technologies. Gary, welcome.

Gary: Yeah. Thanks, Dennis. Glad to be here.

Dennis: My pleasure having you. Now before we dive deep into your story, give us a brief overview. What is GTF Technologies and what are you guys doing there?

Gary: GTF Technologies, we design and manufacture a very, very unique food drying system. And what's unique about our system is that we can take a plant material, whether fruit, vegetable, or other plant materials, and turn it into a powder in less than a second without using outside heating sources such as natural gas. It's very compact and provides really a solution for a lower cost alternative to food drying.

Dennis: Sweet. Super curious. So to get a little deeper into that as well and also having to look, okay, how how does that actually make the food more sustainable? But before we go into that, let's rewind slightly. What did you do before founding GTF Technologies? What's your background?

Gary: I spent 23 years with the largest uniform supplier in the country here in the US called, CentOS. So we had not only manufactured work apparel, so imagine the airlines, their hotels, cruise lines, that was typically provided by Cintas, and as well as automotive. So if you went and got your car serviced that those uniforms and the laundry service was provided by Cintas, and so I was in charge of our largest corporate clients. So those accounts that needed uniforms for their manufacturing facilities, that was my role. And then that's really kind of how I got involved with the the company. It's because I saw what we were doing with excess garments were being landfilled and thought that there might be a better alternative than landfilling brand new clothing.

Dennis: Was there any kind of connection already to you mentioned beforehand, like, how you're powering the pool, like, super rapidly, like, within a second. It sounds quite a little a bit different from from what you did before. What was what was the journey? Did you encounter any kind of problem on the way, or was there any other connection?

Gary: Yeah. It's been it's been a challenge, but with every challenge was a different opportunity and a much larger opportunity. I think that had more of a impact it could have on on sustainability, as well as helping to feed people with excess food that was being wasted. So the original how I started was to try to redirect garments clothing from going into the landfill and helping those garments get donated. So there was an impact for the company. It saved money from landfill cost. There was an additional tax savings by donating it to the nonprofit organization. And then we also realizing that working with these the right nonprofit organizations, they were really helping to get the clothing to places around the world with extreme poverty.

Gary: And so what I also realized in working with some of my clients that when I worked at Cintas is that these larger manufacturing facilities had problems not only with their their materials, their excess, whether it be return products or, I I would say sort outs, and they really didn't have a good disposition option other than landfill. And I just thought it was a shame because here you have something of value that is being landfilled. And yet we have all these needs around the world. Is there a better model here to help these companies? And so the transition really came from food was perishable foods. And the problem that companies were having was the governmental regulations about banning organic waste going into landfill because it's the biggest contributor of carbon. We're one of the biggest contributors of carbon emissions. And so the key came down to is if there was a way that we could stabilize some of that food waste in such a way that it didn't get landfilled and it was a better asset use of that material. That was really where the transition of the business model came into into play.

Dennis: It really sounds like you you discovered a problem in your previous position, and I was completely different with clothes going to landfill. And then you discovered something somewhat related from the process of, like, purchasing the food going to the landfill as well and thought about, like, well, when we can solve this one issue, why not solve this this other, maybe even much bigger issue when it comes to the carbon emissions and when it comes to foods food going to landfill and do something else about of it. How did you how did you make that concrete first step there? It sounds like that might be not just like a a problem that you were able to encounter, but also a technology challenge to actually make that happen. What was your first step there?

Gary: The first step was working with some of the retailers, the larger big box retailers that both did, apparel. If you can imagine like Walmart, Costco, Target. They now also, you know, typically had a lot of merchandise, hard good merchandise, I call it, whether it be sporting goods or, you know, the the clothing that they offered. But then they started to also expand their grocery line items, perishable foods, meats, delis, dairy, breads, those types of items. Well, the challenge we came in is what do we do with expired food? And there was an opportunity to donate it, but the challenge that we all have in perishable foods is time is not on our side. So So we've all experienced food waste. We don't go to the grocery store and buy grapes and bananas and apples with the intent that we're going to throw 30% of it away. Yet worldwide, 30% of all what is being produced in terms of, growing is wasted.

Gary: And it's because it starts to perish. So the real business concept said for me was if there's a way that we could stabilize that food. If I can take it from a waste and turn it into an asset that once it's stabilized then you have time on your hands. So for example, if we can take an apple that's got a a certain shelf life, but our technology, I can turn it into a a powder in less than a second. All the nutrients of that apple are in this packet of powder. It's got a shelf life of 3 to 5 years. Now we have time. We're not transporting water.

Gary: I don't have to worry about bacterial decay of that product. And yet it can be rehydrated. It can actually be used as a muffin, let's say, and re being used. And it can also help, and part of our mission is to help feed people. We've got 850,000,000 people around the world on the brink of starvation. Yet we have all this food waste. So So if there's a way that we can stabilize that material, we could help feed those people with a direct environmental impact if everybody wins in that scenario.

Dennis: How did you how did you go about this from from your position to working together with the big supermarket chains or the big retailers to actually getting GTF technology started and, creating the first product. So

Gary: The challenge there was the first business model was really gonna be a what I call is a, a waste managed donation service provider for these companies. The intent was to really show them the tax savings by donating some of their, you know, the retail products. And then when I realized the bigger problem they were having was was the perishable foods. The original technology it came across was not really being used fully for food. It was a older technology initially created for the mining industry to separate coal from dirt, believe it or not. But that's where surrounded myself and had some great investors initially on who understood the mission that we were trying to be as a company. In other words, we wanted to have a company that was a prop you know, a for profit company with a mission, that had a purpose in mind. And the key was to develop the technology in such a way that it made financial sense to look at the capital expenditure for the the material.

Gary: So food drying has been done for years. Right? You have dehydration, you have spray drying, and drum drying, all these different technologies. But the key was is how do we how do we do that in such a way that it actually provides a financial value for those corporations. So that was the real key is the investment in the technology that would allow us to dry the material at a lower cost and the value. So for that Apple example that I just just talked about, I've had 3 companies that reached out to me this last month that were producing over £300,000,000 of excess apples. And so the older technology for food drying took a lot of natural gas, a lot of time. It just didn't pencil in well from a financial model. So our objective as a company in terms of getting investment dollars, we had to really pour all that investment monies over the last several years into the technology.

Gary: We had to develop a system that was able to dry that material at a low enough cost to where the value exceeded the cost of drying. And that's when the the real opportunities existed. So now it really made sense for a company financially to have a more sustainable option, providing a new revenue opportunity for them and really keeping some of this food waste from being waste, but actually turn it into an asset.

Dennis: Sounds like so many things happened since the beginning yet, like, you're still staying so close to to your quorum. Like, from discovering the problem, seeing some similarities to to your previous work, seeing different partners that you could could work together with, starting with a completely different business model similar to what you did before with the donation afterwards to figure out, well, to make that really happen, there's 2 big things that you need to change. 1, the business model to make it so that it makes financial sense to your partners as well. And the second thing is to improve on the technology that used to exist with the food chain beforehand, but to make it more sustainable, to make it more cost efficient, and it sounds like also much more instant.

Gary: Correct.

Dennis: Mhmm. Nice. Now walk us along the journey there. What was some of the of the biggest challenges that for you along this process? It sounds like in hindsight, it sounds like it's a big red threat. And it sounds like way too smooth sailing. No?

Gary: Well, I think one of the biggest challenges that you have is starting a business as an entrepreneur and having a vision is you don't realize how much time it's going to take, how expensive it's going to take, and the commitment. And one of the biggest impacts was on my my wife. When you're you kinda feel like I'm jacking the beanstalk a bit. Say, oh, you know, look at this business and what we're gonna do. We're gonna help save the planet and help feed people. And and yet you get into the weeds of that, and it's very difficult. It could be straining. You have more setbacks than you have wins.

Gary: You learn from failure. And it really takes its it can take its toll if you're not careful. And you really need to kind of work through that as well as having the right investors, the right people around you who have that longer term vision. It's not like, hey, we're gonna build this company and then, you know, sell it in 2 years. It's it's gotta have a longer vision for what the company's trying to do and make sure that everybody's on the same page, and I've been very, very fortunate to have the investors and also the team that works here at GTF. It's just amazing that we all realize that there's a bigger purpose outside of just selling some equipment. We have to help solve business problems. I have to help the company make money or save money.

Gary: But in that process, we can also partner with some of these companies and say, hey, we have excess flour that could be made into bread. Let's help donate that to a nonprofit that's doing some great work to help feed people around the world with who are facing malnutrition. That really gets exciting.

Dennis: I love the love the connection with the mission as well next to next to the business model. When it comes when it comes to the whole orientation and the mission of the of your organization, getting investors, but then also acquiring talent to work for you. Would you say that this was one of the key points that you focus on that everyone is fully aligned with your mission?

Gary: Absolutely. And we we talk about that quite a bit because you can get very focused on the day to day problems and trying to solve those problems, which is you kind of can lose sight of, okay, are we making any headway to help advance the technology to really position the equipment with these clients in the right way. And working with the larger corporations, it just takes time to you're talking a new technology. You're really in an area that they typically have relied on cattle farmers for their waste product. And now we're talking about a whole new way of looking at their materials, not only for food applications, but, you know, we're now utilizing some of that material as like bioplastic uses. And so the more that we keep our team and our employees focused on here is the end goal. Here's what we're trying to achieve. This is the potential impact that your job is having.

Gary: It's we we are a team, and yet there's somebody around the world that, you know, that may not see a direct impact for several years. But in a couple of years, we don't know what that need is gonna be. And because of the advancement of all the hard work of the team, we could, you know, help to save a life down the road. We don't know. I think the bigger importance is that we all have an impact that we don't realize in a day to day that I think a lot of people just fail to, you know, to see. And we we kinda have to look at, okay, what what am I doing and why? And if I'm trying to help better our world, help to somebody else, the business issues will eventually take care of themselves if we're really focused on our core mission.

Dennis: You mentioned a few interesting points to to kind of go a little deeper as well. Like, one is that that you have kind of a different or new product for a different solution, as compared to, like, where the food goes otherwise. Was there any kind of communication challenge for you as well to onboard new partners, or was that something that was quite easy too easy to visualize, easy to come across?

Gary: Communication. I mean, my ex external partners that were

Dennis: Yes. So basically to to get someone new to use GTF technologies.

Gary: You know, the biggest challenge, Dennis, that we have is some of the waste product that that companies produce is just mind boggling. It's not unheard of for a brewer or some of the companies we're working with to produce over £1,000,000 of waste every week at one facility. And so the normal math on that, let's say if I'm working with a big brewing operation, a brewer, Folks don't realize that for every 6 pack of beer, they produce about a pound of brewers spent grain waste. So the question becomes is that material could be turned into a great flour that could be used for bread, but there's not enough buyers for that material. So in other words, if I'm gonna take something that's a £1,000,000 and turn it into £200,000 of flour every week, the question that comes back in that communication process is, what am I gonna do with all this flour? And and I know that there's a huge value. It's just they're making beer. They're making juice. They're making a food product.

Gary: They're not in a powder business, and yet we import so much of our powders from overseas. And yet we have a opportunity to really be a disruptor in the industry because we're now taking something as a zero raw material cost in feed. So these companies that was a waste, now it's a could be a basis for a new revenue opportunity for them. The way that we're doing it retaining all the nutrients, but it's a climate smart ingredient. And so the more that we can communicate with the industry, the packaged goods, food companies to say, Hey, here's this new ingredients that are now being available to you that have a direct impact on your ESG scores. That communication is the biggest challenge that I'm having as a company, is these companies going, Hey, can you help us, you know, find a buyer for this flower? We'll we'll be interested in your equipment, but we we don't know what we're gonna do with all this this material.

Dennis: It's interesting. I wouldn't have expected that. It's it sounds like you have an amazing technology that helps reuse waste, turn it into something valuable in powderized form. But now in addition to while providing this this kind of value, it sounds like kind of the in intermediate position in the marketplace would also be what is really helpful in a sense that turning waste into something valuable, but where's the buyer? And there's something that you could also really provide value kind of finding these buyers.

Gary: Yeah. You know, Dennis, it's, it's amazing within the in the organizations of the disconnect in communication as well. So for an example, I talked about the brewers spent grain from the the brewing industry. For every 1,000,000 pounds of that brewers spent grain, we turn into a to a flour that that could be used as a bread. There's 1600 tons of carbon offsets every week potentially. And yet it we're putting together the financial model and and saying, hey, you're going to reduce your risk, potentially have a new revenue opportunity. And oh yeah, by the way, one of the other deliverables here is a significant carbon reduction. Sometimes the sustainability person's not even in the room.

Gary: And I'm the one that's asking, hey, who's your director of sustainability? They probably wanna know about this conversation. It's coming up from operations. So it's really getting these corporations. They they all talk sustainability. It's all in the annual report. But if you're really going to come down to provide a solution, it's it's coming together as a team and say, okay, what's the operational challenges or concerns? What's the financial concerns? But if we can address all those issues, it's it's a huge win for them. And I think that that's also part of the challenge where I also see some of the non profit organizations, some of these bigger foundations, all wanting to invest in in climate solutions. They're all wanting to invest in in helping to feed people.

Gary: And they could be a catalyst to help these companies to say, okay, what am I gonna what am I gonna do with all this apple flower? Well, if, you know, we could do it so cost effectively that it can feed millions of people really in a fraction of maybe what they're buying their food for now. But I know that some of the larger nonprofit organizations like the UN or UNICEF, they have a food shortage. And it's it's kind of crazy. I've got I've got this surplus of potentially of of food ingredients that's available. It's just making a connections within the company and making the connections with the outside food ingredients or the nonprofits who are really helping to make an impact. And everybody has the same kind of goals, but there's definitely a disconnect among everybody. And I'm hoping that through time we can help, you know, start to work collectively. And if that's the case, I think we could really, really put it that that dent in reducing food waste, helping the environment as well as to really helping, those with malnutrition around the world.

Gary: Yeah.

Dennis: Isn't it crazy how it seems like it's such an obvious solution that should have been in place, like, not just with the companies that you're working with, but basically for every company? And then it it helps reuse waste. It helps feed more people with nutrients as well. And it helps, like, reduce carbon emissions, not just offsetting carbon emissions, but actually reducing it at the source.

Dennis: And yet you it seems to be communication challenges like getting the products to those who who actually need it and also around in the world as well.

Gary: Correct. Yeah. And I I also think that some of the companies, you know, again, we've made paper out of some of the the, the different materials that are wasted. And yet, every one of the companies are looking for sustainable packaging. So could there be a more of a 3 60 model here? In other words, if I've got a product that could be used in paper production, even if it's 10 to 20%, we could actually start introducing that as a material within your own sustainable packaging based upon something that was typically either landfilled or given away as an animal feed. There's maybe a better solution there that achieves multiple goals within that company. And so that's also an opportunity here that's just, again, it's getting everybody on the team, you know, singing from the same hymnal as they say.

Dennis: No. I love that. It's also a beautiful transition to look a little more into the future of what's what's your plans for GTF Technologies are. It sounds like trying to help the organizations become much more like a circle organization so that they they don't have anything that is wasted that is that cannot be reused. Is that some kind of direction you wanna go to? Or what are your what are your plans for the future, Jim?

Gary: Our immediate goal is for those companies that reach larger processors that we can actually take their side streams and and turn it into a new asset for them. I also think it's in the future what I would like to see is more as a solution for some of maybe the, other developing countries that I heard statistics that said that 60% of the crops grown in certain developing countries gets wasted. And it's a distribution issue. They can't get their, you know, product to the market quick enough. Could there be a way that we could actually reduce the cost of food by stabilizing the food more at the source, doing packaging, you know, closer to the source of where it's grown before it then hits the shelves on the supermarket. So if you think about the cost of a a spice or some of our products on the shelf, 60% of that is the packaging and the transportation. If we can push that back in the supply chain, it can reduce the the cost of food. It could help those developing countries.

Gary: I also think one of the other opportunities is certain byproducts in the production of different food could dramatically impact the local grower or the farmer. Let's talk about the coffee for just a moment. In the coffee growing, the actual coffee cherry is very similar to the cherries that that we eat and, you know, that you would see. And the cherry is high antioxidant, has some great nutrient value for it could be used in the beverage industry, is making bread, vitamins. And yet all that is a waste product typically for the coffee grower. Imagine if we were able to take that side stream and turn that into a powder that now that we could use as a food ingredient. What impact would that have financially on these communities that are brilliant, very poor areas growing the coffee? It could be a whole another revenue opportunity for them that has a direct impact on sustainability. Right? Now I'm taking, you know, they're they're selling their coffee to the coffee bean for the coffee, industry, but they're now taking the cherry, and it could actually be used a scone or a bread mix or other product.

Gary: And now that farmer has another you know, there nothing is getting wasted, and they actually are able to do more and help their local communities as well because there's another revenue opportunity coming in from their farming operation. So that that's another goal for us down the road is we potentially in some of these developing countries could really help that local farmers.

Dennis: Sounds like so many so many opportunities to to go for. And I especially like that part about, like, turning something that has inherently a negative value in the current state into something that is, like, a positive value on on so many different levels to make it true, like, a win win probably a few more wins on along the way situation.

Gary: Correct.

Dennis: Now for for everyone listening, what would be a good way for us or for any kind of organizations to help you along this journey to to help make it happen? Would it be spreading your message, getting connected to people in power, or what would be the best way for us?

Gary: That would be fantastic. I think for your listeners is that there's a basically a term or an organization called the Upcycle Food Association. And it's really getting product certified as being, you know, what's the carbon impact. I like to call it carbon smart ingredients. So I think there's going to be a natural pull from consumers very much similar to what the organic industry was 20, 25 years ago. Is that, you know, what is that carbon footprint, or what's that carbon impact on what I'm eating in my packaged material? And so really having a demand is really going to be pulling this supply forward so that companies now look at saying, hey, if I'm able to invest in the cat you know, the the capital to dry my waste, that could be an asset. I know that there's an offlet. So that that would be number 1.

Gary: And I also think that potentially is again, it's the connections with larger foundations organizations is, you know, we do have an opportunity here with a source material that could really move the needle in helping to put a dent in those with malnutrition. Whether that's a grain from a brewer spent grain or other healthier vegetable materials that that really I'm talking significant volume. If those organizations say, Hey, we're willing to invest in that, that also is a catalyst that could help tip these large organizations to say, Hey, we're willing to partner, we're willing to invest in the equipment. If I know that I could even sell the material at our cost to produce, at least we're not upside down on it. That would be a huge value in in helping everybody along the the whole process here.

Dennis: Awesome. We'll put all the information into the show notes. Also link to your to your website on screen. So it hopefully, people in power reach out and make the make the right decisions. Now before we go into some personal reflections as well, was there anything that I forgot to ask you that you would have liked to share with our audience?

Gary: I think one of the other applications potentially for the for this, we've been talking a lot about the brewing, farming producers, but let's let's also not forget post consumer food waste, Right? Another statistic said that between 40 60%, I think it was a statistic of our landfills or organic waste. And so if you're thinking about the food waste that comes off of the university or a hospital or even the consumer, there's a big push for composting. In New York City, or these larger cities, there's no composting, commercial composting available. So you're shipping something that's got a 80 to 90% moisture and trying to compost it, which potentially could be a way of powderizing it. And if it's turned into a powder very quickly within the area, the urban area, there could be another, you know, use of that material, say fertilizer or even sustainable packaging. So I think we're trying to address all those areas as well. So I think that that's the next level is what could be used with the post consumer food waste to help, again, reduce the carbon emissions because it's not going into the landfills.

Dennis: No. I would. I would love that option to to be available to everyone as well. Yeah. Nice. Now let's make a little little turn and have a look at, at your personal reflection and personal learnings as well. How would you say since, well, founding and working with TTF Technologies, how would that have impacted your personal life?

Gary: I think it's it's really having faith. And the hardest part of that, it's real easy, especially, you know, just getting older to really focus on, okay, do I have enough money to retire? And why why am I doing this? Why am I working so hard? And the reflection that keeps going is to say, wait a second. There's people in need. There's a a widow in the Sudan with 3 kids in a grass hut that hasn't haven't had a meal in 3 days. You know, I ate breakfast this morning. I have clean water. I'm blessed. And so the really my faith is and the team here is is it keeps us going.

Gary: GTF actually stands for gleaning the fields, which is out of the the old testament in the bible, and it was basically saying that the outer edge of a field was there for the for the poor. So I look at companies or what we're doing as a field. It's, you know, I've got to steward that field the best that I can, and yet if there's excess that comes off the field, then we have an obligation to help those in need. And so that's really the personal reflection is we expect it's gonna be hard. Expect that there's going to be challenges. But within those challenges, we learn. We grow. We stretch ourselves.

Gary: And I think that can apply to everybody. Is that if you're trying to do the right thing and you're trying to help somebody else, it's not always going to be easy. But it's the right thing to do. And I think that that's really the the personal reflection is if it wasn't hard, then maybe I'm not really trying to trying enough. So that's really the I would probably say one of the major personal reflections I've had.

Dennis: I love it how that also sounds so closely connected to the mission that you have with GTF.

Gary: Yeah. Thanks, Dennis.

Dennis: Well, now to our final question already. If you had to share one tip with our audience on how we could become more impactful, what would your number one tip be for us?

Gary: I think people need to not spend so much time on their cell phone. And the reason being is then you don't see the needs of other people that you could make an impact. I'll give you an example. I was on a plane earlier this week and my seat was on the window. And the plane was, you know, almost full. And somebody was sitting in the aisles or the middle seat in the aisle. And an elderly gal, probably in her mid eighties, was coming down, and her seat was the row right ahead of ours. And she was trying to put her bag up into the overhead compartment.

Gary: I think we've all flown. We've probably have seen that, you know, experienced that. And I looked around, and the person next to me in the middle seat, as well as the aisle, as well as on the other side of the aisle, were all on their phones. Nobody saw her. And I reached over to the gentleman on the aisle and I just tapped him and I kind of just mentioned or pointed over to to look at this elderly gal who needed help. He gave me a look like how dare you interrupt my cell phone time. And I got him I gave him a look like if you don't help her out, you know, I got another use for that piece of luggage. And it it was just, you know, he he did get up and helped her put it.

Gary: I couldn't do it. I was on the window seat, so I couldn't get up quick enough to to help her put her luggage up there. But I thought to myself how how blind. And I realized that from a standpoint that the tip is that we can all make an impact. I mean, across the street there may be a widow or somebody who's in need or hasn't had a meal. Feed them. Open your eyes to really impact of encouraging the gal to check out. Or we have all have such an opportunity within our communities, within our street, within our schools, within within our jobs right now today.

Gary: There might be a 100 opportunities for every one of your listeners to make an impact. But if we're, you know, if we're preoccupied with the wrong stuff, you'll never going to see that. And so if we just open our eyes to the to the different opportunities, I think that's that's the the one tip. And then I also think if we're in an organization or a company where can you make an impact of where you're at today with the resources you have? So I think that so many companies have so many opportunities to make an impact, and they have the resources given to them. Look for those opportunities within your own within your own field, in essence.

Dennis: Beautiful. Thanks. Thanks so much for sharing that, Gary. Thanks so much for the work you're doing with GTF Technologies. It's a pleasure having you.

Gary: Well, thanks, Dennis. It's been a pleasure.

Dennis: And to everyone else, thanks so much for listening in as well. And stay impactful.