A National Granite Recycling Conference will be held on October 21st and 22nd at the Hotel Indigo Conference Center, 301 N. Union St., Nashville, TN. Registration is required for this event.
The 2-day event promises to be filled with tons of money making ideas. A hands-on demonstration of the Tomahawk Stone Splitter and a tour of Stone World Tennessee will be included. There will be live demonstrations on various types of products produced by the Tomahawk. Split Stone Panels, easy templating methods and advanced installation techniques are just a few ideas that will be demonstrated. Recycling left-over granite countertops was started several years ago, but truly became economically viable since the Tomahawk Stone Splitter came on the scene.
The truth is that due to the current economic environment many fabricators who bought the Tomahawk Stone Splitter had a difficult time finding a market for the end product. Others had difficulties with installations and some companies had to lay people off due to the recession. They had no time to focus on recycling their granite. It was more important to get their kitchen countertops manufactured quickly and as cheaply as possible.
However, the good news is that there are also companies with incredible success stories, whose businesses have grown tremendously since the Tomahawk landed in their shop. Many have delivered beautiful projects as seen in the photo above. Their success, in part, has to do with the Granite Recycling Network.
Julie Rizzo, of Recycled Granite, approached Louwrens Mulder, the inventor of the Tomahawk, with the idea to create a forum where all existing owners of granite recycling equipment could get together. The idea was that if they put their heads together they could share good ideas that work. To date, this network has recycled over 5,000,000 pounds of granite remnants and is now beginning to get national attention.
Here are a few discussions and presentations listed on the agenda for this event:
What's happening throughout the United States in the Granite Recycling world?
Speakers from the Department of Environment & Environmental Protection Agency
SBIR/STTR Is there really grant money available?
New stone recycling machinery: China vs. U.S. machines
Recycled Granite Paver studies: Can I use these to help sell my pavers?
Installations: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! Don't make the same mistakes
Can I really get free workers from the Government?
Marketing 101: What works and what doesn't in the "GREEN" world?
Friday, October 21st. The Hotel Indigo, 301 Union St., Nashville, 1:00 pm - 5:00pm Saturday, October 22nd. 9:00am - 12:00 The Hotel Indigo 1:00pm - 5:00 Visit to Stone World-Tennessee for hands-on demonstrations
For more information and to register, contact Riana Mulder at 615-852-0827 or email Louwrens@wastetovaluestone.com
Left: Julie Rizzo will present her success story on recycling granite methods and marketing.
Below: Tomahawk inventor Louwrens Mulder demos the machine at StonExpo, 2011.
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