Alternative Community Training, Inc. (Columbia) was awarded $4,620 towards an $8,620 project to research markets for recovered videotapes and components and to determine the feasibility of recycling these materials. ACT is a non-profit organization dedicated to training and employing disabled individuals and has been recycling videotapes, along with computer disks and CDs since 1991. As uses of emerging technologies, such as DVDs, increases, videotapes are becoming obsolete and ACT no longer has a market for its extensive inventory.

Green Forest Engineered Products, LLC (Nevada) was awarded $6,808 towards a project costing $13,008 to investigate additional sources of recovered polypropylene, research new product markets and develop a product brochure. Green Forest Engineered Products currently produces a low-density wood plastic composite and an "oriented" wood plastic composite with several strength and durability advantages. This project intends to help the company locate Missouri sources of recovered feedstocks and to refine its product offerings.

Windswept Worm Farm, LLC (Kansas City), was awarded $4,790 towards a project costing $8,290 to conduct an expanded market analysis for new business outlets. Windswept Worm Farm has grown from three modest beds housed in a garage to over 10,000 square feet of worm beds in the Kansas City Interstate Cave Complex. The worms consume large volumes of organic waste and convert it to a valuable soil amendment, castings. This project intends to research possible casting byproducts, such as worm castings tea and additional retail outlets for the castings.

Carpet Recyclers, LLC (Bates) was awarded $5,863 towards a project costing $9,863 to research the development of and end markets for new products made from recovered carpet fibers. Carpet Recyclers has been in operation for one year, removing carpets and pads from residential and commercial locations and selling recovered carpet for a modest price. This project intends to evaluate the feasibility of pelletizing the material for use by another industry as a feedstock versus developing end products from the material.

Coon Manufacturing, Inc. (Spickard) was awarded $6,400 towards a project costing $10,918 to determine the feasibility of waste styrene reclamation. Coon Manufacturing currently makes a variety of products from recovered plastics. While there has been some activity in Missouri with regards to developing procedures for reclaiming styrene, appropriate end markets for the material have not fully been realized. This project intends to identify sources of waste styrene in the Midwest, review styrene processing procedures and research potential end markets for reclaimed styrene and products made from reclaimed styrene.

Boonslick Industries, Inc. (Boonville) was awarded $4,500 towards a $9,000 project to investigate the availability of local recyclables and to research the possibilities of processing them into feedstocks. Boonslick Industries is a sheltered workshop that provides services such as assembly, sorting and packaging to businesses in Cooper and Howard counties. The workshop has started to design products that can be made from collected textiles and has generated some market interest in these. This project will perform a business review to determine the profitability of a new endeavor.

Grisham Farm Products, Inc. (Mountain Grove) was awarded $6,500 towards a $13,000 project to determine the feasibility of expanding its existing food waste recovery operations. Grisham Farm Products currently processes a variety of grain-based food waste, including cereals, snack foods, cake mixes and flours, to make animal feed products. The company currently processes over 57,000 tons of waste food each year and employs 34 people and would like to increase the amount of materials it processes and investigate new end products.

Richmond Bargain Town (Richmond) was awarded $4,595 towards an $8,095 project to conduct a market analysis to identify new business outlets. Richmond Bargain Town is a retail outlet for several surplus and salvaged items. The company currently collects and refurbishes approximately thirty computer systems each month and would like to expand that portion of the business. The project intends to evaluate financial requirements for expansion and investigate markets for refurbished computers and unusable computer components.

Terrene (St. Louis) was awarded $5,000 towards an $8,000 project to research the feasibility of implementing a coordinated composting effort among area restaurants. This project intends to evaluate waste food collection and composting options, determine an appropriate partnership arrangement and evaluate the financial feasibility of the proposed composting operation.

Rustique Inc. (St. Charles) was awarded $2,750 towards an $8,250 project to explore retail markets for manufactured home skirting kits made from recycled plastic. The owners of Rustique would like to bring this product to retail markets, such as Lowes or Home Depot, enabling individual homeowner installation of the skirting kits.

Feather Light Lamp Mfg. (Kennett) was awarded $4,000 towards a $14,000 project to determine the feasibility of adding a handbag manufacturing line to its existing lampshade production operation. The company has produced sample handbags from scrap lampshade material and these have been well received in a few small test markets.

Fisherman's Famous (St. James) was awarded $4,640 towards a $9,340 project to develop engineering designs for a light weight container designed to hold live fish for short periods of time. Sometimes referred to as a "live box," this sort of container is often used around fishing docks. Fisherman's Famous believes the product could be made from recycled plastic and has identified two companies able to do so when the design is complete.

Hogenmiller Appliance Company (Arnold) was awarded $4,480 towards an $8,980 project to develop marketing strategies for an expanded appliance recycling center. Hogenmiller Appliances currently operates an appliance recycling center, averaging 900 units each month and is hoping to double their processing capacity over the next 18 months with a new facility. This project will develop marketing strategies to launch the new facility, explore additional end markets for recovered materials and evaluate existing processing operations for efficiency gains.