Jeff Gold of Nexus: Five Strategies Our Company Is Using To Tackle Climate Change & Become More Sustainable
“This is going to be hard”. New businesses are always created on the hopes and aspirations of the founder. Speaking from personal experience, I know this was the case with me as I consistently viewed the great outcome of my efforts without knowing what pitfalls awaited. This is how wisdom is acquired and it is imperative for those in this position to view failure and missteps as learning opportunities that have not been afforded to others. These opportunities can then be used to advance the company, whether it be technically or in a business context. My wife gave me small plaque as a gift recently that simply says, “Hard Things are Hard” which sums up building a business on the cutting edge of a nascent technology.
As part of my series about companies who are helping to battle climate change, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Gold.
Jeff Gold is founder and CEO of Nexus Fuels, a plastics-to-oil conversion company utilizing advanced designs and technology to achieve high energy efficiencies, oil yield, and high quality chemical feedstocks. Under Jeff’s leadership, Nexus has advanced quickly to become the global leader in sustainable, circular molecular recycling.
Prior to starting Nexus, Jeff founded and is president of a 30-year-old technology-based high-hazard chemical remediation, engineering and management firm currently serving governmental and industrial clients around the globe. Jeff is the named inventor on over 30 patents that helped propel this specialized company to its world-class reputation.
Jeff is also the founder and president of an ISO 9001 engineering and manufacturing company specializing in high-pressure containment devices and high-hazard robotic handling systems for the global industrial gas industry.
Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit how you grew up?
I was born and grew up in upstate New York. During my early childhood, my family lived outside Ithaca in an area that was fairly rural but still close to Cornell University and Ithaca itself. I was the fourth of four children in my family (2 sisters and an older brother, all a few years older than me). I was blessed with very supportive parents and siblings, although they often commented on how I somehow got out of having to do some of the household chores “because I was the youngest”.
Forests and fields surrounded our house in Ithaca and I spent most of my time outside, often going on adventures searching for crayfish in the stream, climbing trees, fending off pirates from the treehouse my brother and his friends built, ice-skating on the neighbors pond, and generally having a great time. We later moved to a suburb outside of Albany NY and that gave me the chance to make a lot of new friends while we played street kickball, built go-carts, and took our bikes to explore the countryside. Some of my fondest memories are from spending time at the dairy farm in western New York where my dad grew up and where one of his six sisters and her husband continued to maintain a thriving business. All of these places had a profound influence on me in that I developed an appreciation for and deep emotional connection to the natural world and its inhabitants. This love of nature plays out to this day in that my professional focus has been on preserving our natural environment and doing everything in my power to reduce or eliminate the man-made risks to our fragile ecosystem.
You are currently leading a social impact organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
In a general sense, we are trying to inspire and educate people to be better stewards of our planet. Now, that is a rather lofty goal, but by sending the clear message that a material which today is regarded mainly as an undesirable and polluting waste can, with a change in attitude and more importantly, with a change in behavior, be a valuable and recyclable resource.
Plastic pollution poses an enormous environmental threat in our world today. It is literally found in our waters, land, and in the form of micro-plastics, our air. It is, unfortunately, one of the main catalysts that has allowed an improvement in the standard of living throughout the world through better food storage and preservation, improved health care tools, strong and lightweight building materials, and in a myriad of other ways. Plastics are simply an integral part of our modern society, but they have been seriously mismanaged when they reach the end of their life and that is why we are now faced with this current environmental crisis.
Plastics are not inherently evil or bad, but when they are carelessly discarded into the environment, be that the ocean, a roadside, or even a landfill, the very properties that make them valuable such as their durability, are now a serious liability. Plastics simply do not readily degrade or decompose like other waste materials and therefore accumulate in the environment. Recycling offers a solution to this problem but people have to care enough to actively think about how they are handling their waste and the consequences of their actions. This extends all way from how we as individuals view recycling and act on a personal level to how large producers and brand owners manage and take responsibility for the plastic materials they control.
At Nexus, we are striving to show that all these plastics that are considered waste can, in fact, be a valuable resource and continue to benefit our society while reducing and hopefully eventually eliminating them as an environmental liability.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
As I mentioned when talking about my childhood and upbringing, I developed a deep appreciation of the natural world but also of its fragility. Humans have facilitated the most profound changes in that natural world, most of those changes coming in the past 100–150 years. While only one person, I felt it was my responsibility to do all I could to better understand the complex interactions between humans and our planet while at the same time, taking direct and targeted action to protect our world from the damaging aspects of those interactions.
I remember a number of years ago reading a short magazine article that described a process being used in Europe to convert waste plastic bags back into oil and that article changed my life. I had some training and experience in practical chemistry could understand how this seemingly alchemy of converting plastic back into oil could conceivably work but I had to see for myself. Using the resources of my environmental clean-up company, we undertook some basic research and experimentation that led to one stunning revelation after another as we took waste plastics and recreated this magical transformation for ourselves! It was as if we were witnessing a miracle! From then on, we knew that if this process could be done efficiently on a large enough scale, maybe, just maybe, we could be part of the change needed to help reverse the onslaught of burgeoning plastic waste.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest it. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
I have always been a person that believed that tangible action was needed to bring about any change, large or small. In one of my other environmental companies, we have experienced success in eliminating some of the most dangerous materials created by man by applying a scientific, systematic approach coupled with direct action. This has allowed us to be successful combating chemical and one-off biological weapons as well as highly toxic rocket fuels, radiological wastes, and exotic industrial wastes. These successes have taught me that science coupled with curiosity, conviction, experience, and most importantly, action can bring about great change and it was this realization that attacking the problem of plastic waste need not be any different. For that reason, we choose to embark on the adventure of proving that commercial-scale chemical recycling using plastic waste could be done and that we could make a tangible improvement in the world we live in. A Chinese proverb notes that the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, but the next best time is now. Positive change does not happen unless someone takes action and steps up to the challenge.
Many people don’t know the steps to take to start a new organization. But you did. What are some of the things or steps you took to get your project started?
I have noted that Nexus is not my only business. I have been operating an environmental remediation company for the past 30 years that has conducted specialized clean-up operations around the world. I also have a small manufacturing company that produces specialized emergency response and containment equipment for use with hazardous gas cylinders (such as chlorine). Being a business owner, there are many things that are required but you learn very quickly that you must be able to spot viable business opportunities and to make money from these opportunities so that you can survive. Without the ability to make money, you simply will not survive very long and achieve whatever goals you might have.
For Nexus, I knew that plastic waste was a big problem and that anything that could be done to help reduce the amount of plastic in the environment would likely be a viable business opportunity. So that is step one; know when opportunity is knocking and figure out a way that you can make enough money to survive.
Step two is look at your project objectively and determine if it addresses a real problem or if you are just creating a solution to a problem that may or may not exist. I have seen many companies start because someone has a neat idea and thinks it will be great. Well, that is all fine and good if the idea has real merit but many times, this is just not the case and the owner if alone in thinking how great his/her idea is. These are the companies that contribute to the 95% failure rate of new companies in their first year.
Step three is to ensure your business model is flexible. This is where vision and foresight come in. When Nexus first started, we thought we would be making oil that would be sold into the fuels industry, which is why the company was originally called Nexus Fuels. While converting plastic into a fuel that would later be burned in some type of engine was okay in that it helped eliminate some plastic waste, it really was not ideal from an environmental perspective. When it became apparent that the same oils and waxes we were making could be used at a molecular level to create new, virgin plastics, we were thrilled since using our product in this way allowed the carbon in the plastics to be fully captured and reused instead of being released into the environment. While we could have continued making products that could be used as fuels, we were able to be successful in pivoting to a new model that has a much greater environmental and commercial benefit.
Step four is simply making the mental and emotional commitment to take action to launch your business and being willing to put everything you have into it. This is the scariest step because you are putting it all on the line. This is also the point where you go from zero to one and start to create something real.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
It is hard to pinpoint any specific story as every day is filled with new learnings and understandings. While this is not a specific story, for me, the most interesting story around this idea of converting waste plastic back into oil is the fact that it can really be done! To me, it seemed like modern-day alchemy where you are able to take something that has no value, put it through this process involving lots of heat and it emerges on the other side of that process in a completely different form but now has a great deal of value. We started out on this journey not knowing where it might lead and now are operating a commercial-scale facility that has diverted more than 2.5 million pounds of waste plastic from being landfilled.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that?
This is story where we can just sort of laugh at ourselves and while it was necessarily a mistake it points out how learning takes place as a series of small steps.
When we first began investigating whether or not you could really convert plastic back into oil, we set up our test apparatus inside an enclosed chamber called a glovebox. This allowed us to keep the inside of the chamber filled with nitrogen so that if our process produced gases or liquids that suddenly reacted or burst into flame, it would be safely enclosed in an environment that immediately suppress any fire or explosion since there is no oxygen to feed it. As we began heating our test flask that contained a small amount of plastic, we nervously watched for signs of reaction, leakage, or anything else that might signal the process was heading in a bad direction. As we stared attentively, a couple of drops of liquid emerged from the tubing the directed gases from the flask to a small condenser tube. That was it. Nothing happened; no fireworks, no runaway reaction, no shattered glass. Just a couple of drops that turned out to be actual oil.
Fast forward a few years and we now do these tests daily without the nitrogen-filled enclosure as we test a wide variety from plastic suppliers that want to send their material to us for processing. We now run these tests to determine if the plastic produces enough oil and that it does not contain any of the chemicals that could damage our equipment or impact the quality of the oil we produce. When we think back to those early days, we just smile and chuckle.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
Success is measured in all kinds of ways, but I think that part of my definition of success is creating something that genuinely leaves the world a better place because of your actions. I have come to that definition through the influence of many people in my life that started with my parents and siblings who have always been incredibly supportive and taught me the value of respect for all people regardless of background and viewpoint. My own wife and son have exerted a tremendous influence on me in terms of validating the importance of preserving our world for future generations and creating a world that in itself is sustainable.
My mentors in business early in my career have taught me the value of patience and objectivity. One of those mentors lived by example the importance of always doing the right thing, regardless of circumstance. He died when the ValueJet flight from Miami to Atlanta crashed in 1996 but he left a lasting impression on me in terms of how business could be done in a caring way that considered the wants and needs of your employees and others around you while at the same time, making sure you provided your clients and customers with the best possible product. Throughout my career of building companies, I have tried to live by these values and create meaningful purpose for those who I have the privilege of working with.
Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
Yes! It is all about education and understanding the nature and importance of recycling. Educating a community takes a long time but it can be done. Atlanta has a program that involves inspection of curbside bins and noting if there are any materials in the bins that should not be in there (like regular trash). A note is left for the homeowner describing the problem and the reason the bin was not picked up. This program has been incredibly successful, but it takes a lot of time and effort. If the private consumer would just take the little extra time that it takes to recycle only those things that can actually be recycled. Wishcycling just does not work regardless of how much we would like to see that old (fill in the blank) be recycled; instead, it usually just contaminates the whole recycling load.
In a perfect world, all the people within a society would care about their environment. Unfortunately, as we know, this is not generally the case and it is usually through laws, regulation, and enforcement that societal change is accomplished. In this sense, it would be a tremendous help to our cause if our society would handle their waste responsibly and most importantly, treat recyclables, like plastic as a valuable resource and an opportunity to create value from discarded waste.
Legislatively, a great deal can be done to promote improved recycling programs through public education, local grants and programs geared to support recycling efforts. Specific to our business, it is very helpful to have state legislatures pass rules that designate the waste plastic we process as feedstock and inventory rather than waste. This simple reclassification goes a long way toward facilitating the permitting of facilities like ours and speeds their construction. There are currently 13 states with type of legislation in place and it is because of this legislation that these states will likely be the ones where advanced chemical recycling plants will be built.
On a federal level, it is imperative that our elected officials become better educated on the issues and science surrounding chemical recycling. Being politicians, they often have knee-jerk reactions to the issues placed in front of them that are frequently severely mis-guided. The “Break Free From Plastic” bill proposal is an example of this type of legislation. While we all want a world with less plastic waste in it, it is not practical or even desirable to follow a path where plastics are banned, regardless of their utility.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
The answer to this question with regards to business boils down to one basic thing which is, do the right thing for the right reasons and profitability will follow. I started Nexus without a clear understanding of if it would ever be profitable but it was very clear to me that the world needed some kind of solution for the plastic waste problem and what we were trying to do just might be part of that solution. I also “knew” that if our process could do what we thought it could do, it could form the basis of a solid business model since we would be reducing a waste problem while at the same time producing a product that could be used in any number of applications. This is a good example of how a profitable business has been built by being environmentally conscious around the issue of sustainability.
On a larger scale, the companies that are taking our product are building a profitable business by marketing new plastic made directly from waste plastic that was originally bound for the landfill. There is tremendous consumer demand for this type of product from manufacturers which is entirely driven by sustainability concerns. Products made from recycled materials are expected to have a long-lasting demand cycle with supply being very constrained. These market dynamics of low supply and high demand allow for the creation of a very profitable business that is built on environmental sustainability.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
Since I already own and operate several businesses, there were not a lot of new lessons I needed to learn in the context of Nexus. However, the several shown here bear repeating as they are pretty much timeless.
“This is going to be hard”. New businesses are always created on the hopes and aspirations of the founder. Speaking from personal experience, I know this was the case with me as I consistently viewed the great outcome of my efforts without knowing what pitfalls awaited. This is how wisdom is acquired and it is imperative for those in this position to view failure and missteps as learning opportunities that have not been afforded to others. These opportunities can then be used to advance the company, whether it be technically or in a business context. My wife gave me small plaque as a gift recently that simply says, “Hard Things are Hard” which sums up building a business on the cutting edge of a nascent technology.
“You cannot do this alone”. Most entrepreneurs and founders often have a good grasp on what is required to get a business started. It is the idea, the seed, that launches the business. If this effort is successful, the work required to do everything that is needed quickly surpasses the founder’s ability to do it all.
Although I have owned an operated several businesses over many years, I was still not fully aware of the skills and time that would be needed and are still needed to grow Nexus into what it is destined to become. I have had to focus on the areas where I have the most to offer and allow other aspects of the business be handled by others who are more than capable of handling it.
“Hiring good people is very hard”. Everyone is different. We all have different needs, different wants, and have all kinds to backgrounds. As a business owner, you want to believe that all of your employees will always show up on time with a great attitude towards work. The reality is somewhat different and managing people to keep them as content as possible and wanting to continue working with you demands a considerable amount of time and energy which is exactly what you need to develop the business itself. While people can be a businesses greatest asset, and they are, they are also the one thing that requires much more time that ever plan on it taking.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
I would tell them that they have been given a gift but it is up to them to decide what to do with it. That gift is life and you only get one. The key takeaway here about why they should consider doing something with that life that will make a positive impact on our society or environment is that we don’t have another world to go to if we damage this one but this one requires its residents to take care of it, not just for their benefit but for the benefit of all those that will follow and like them, have only world to live in. Preservation of the world not only for humans but for all its inhabitants is, in my mind, one of the noblest goals one can have and if they want to have a positive impact on their world and society, this is a good place to start.
Each person is given the same amount of time in any given day and it is entirely up to them as to how they will spend this time. I would challenge them to be curious, ambitious, and most importantly, to take action to make this world a better place for everyone.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.” — Marc Anthony
Without actually distilling it to these words, I have always striven to do things that carry meaning for me. The meaning of this bleeds over into all aspects of life since when I believe that when you are doing something, anything, that is meaningful for you, it can be effortless. This does not mean that pursuing something you love to do will not be punctuated with incredibly hard times, as any business owner can tell you, but it is those hard times and heart-breaking events that create strength, resolve, and resiliency that then allow to continue your pursuit. There will be times when what you are doing will feel like work and will not be all that much fun but if you now why you are doing something and are fulfilling your destiny or your purpose, the journey becomes immeasurably easier and truly, effortless.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I think it would be interesting to meet with Elon Musk just to get his take on the future with regards to the environment. He is highly technically oriented and so I think he would appreciate what we are doing at Nexus and just might have some insights on where this goes in the future, maybe even on Mars!
How can our readers follow you online?
I have a LinkedIn page and Nexus has website that is kept updated with our latest developments and news.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Jeff Gold of Nexus: Five Strategies Our Company Is Using To Tackle Climate Change & Become More… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.