Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501200044
SECTION: ECONOMY PAGE: 7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
T.D. Steele majored in biology at Harvard and later received a master's degree in soil chemistry at Virginia Tech.
Steele, president of BioConversion Technologies, a 3-year-old company that has developed a revolutionary method of disposing of medical waste, doesn't really seem to credit either Harvard or Tech with what he has accomplished professionally in his 69 years.
He says that someone once told him that no one ever came out of college with all the knowledge that was there.
His late father - whom he described as ``a West Virginia country doctor'' - put it another way: ``He always said, `You sure were exposed to a lot of knowledge, but I don't know how much of it took.'
``I learned what I know the same place everyone else learns. The college of hard knocks.''
Steele made his mark in Roanoke in real estate. With partner T.A. Carter, he built Crossroads Mall, Tanglewood Mall and several apartment complexes in the valley.
``I built the building we're sitting in,'' he said of his office on the top floor of Tanglewood West on Electric Road.
But as Steele faces the turn of the century, he has also had to face the fact that real estate is not in his future.
``Commercial real estate is overbuilt. You don't have to be a genius to figure that out; just drive around,'' he said. Real estate developers built enough in the 1980s to last 20 years, he says.
Most men would hang it up as they neared 70 - but not Steele.
On a bookshelf across the office from his desk sits a photo of Steele and Carter in 1960, two young men with dark hair and a lifetime ahead of them, in front of the then-newly opened Crossroads Mall.
But to Steele, that's the past. And he's a man with an eye to the future.
So three years ago, he took an interest in municipal waste. Steele was working with the possibility of sorting municipal waste and taking its organic residue and converting it to compost.
That was when Clark Fuqua approached him.
Fuqua, BioConversion's vice president of research and development, was working on an alternative method of medical waste disposal.
In the past, such waste was disposed of either by incineration or by steam sterilization.
Both methods are costly, and incineration is not environmentally friendly.
Fuqua's theory was that the right combination of enzymes would kill most bacteria and viruses.
``Until 10 years ago, medical waste was a totally unregulated field,'' Fuqua said. He eschews the idea that it was with the onslaught of AIDS that this area became an opportunity, saying that what's hardest to kill isn't always what's infectious.
Steele found Fuqua's idea interesting enough to fund, taking on the new role of venture capitalist.
Steele credits the Center for Innovative Technology - ``one of the most helpful things to happen in Virginia in a long time'' - with getting BioConversion Technologies up and running.
``It's difficult to incubate a new company,'' he said.
Steele - who serves as president of the company, with Fuqua as vice president - sees a world of possibility. The world, in return, sees possibilities as well.
He pulls from his desk a letter from a laboratory in France, written in French. ``We're getting inquiries from all over the world,'' he said.
Fuqua's theory is now proven technology. But for now, Lewis-Gale Hospital and Lewis-Gale Clinic are BioConversion Technologies' only clients.
``The future is in the environmental field,'' Steele said. ``The government regulations created a lot of opportunity for business.''
He laughs as he realizes this is the first time he has ever had the government actually help one of his businesses. The government is limiting the growth of incinerators, forcing the country to look at alternative technologies.
BioConversion Technology is the only operation of its kind - the only one to come up with a biological solution.
Steele views this solution as a replacement for incineration of municipal waste, as well. ``We could eliminate landfills entirely,'' he said.
What Steele would like is the time and money to look at the possibility. But how does he expect to get there?
``I don't have all the answers,'' he said. But his problem now is the same one facing every small company: raising enough money.
``Now that all the little banks have merged into big ones, big banks won't help little companies until you're up and successful,'' he said. ``It's a slow process.''
Is Steele, perhaps, now in search of a venture capitalist of his own? Someone to do for BioConversion Technologies what he was able to do for Clark Fuqua?
``I guess you could say that.''
BIOCONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES
THE COMPANY: BioConversion Technologies is a 3-year-old company that has developed a revolutionary method of disposing of medical waste.
HEADQUARTERS: Tanglewood West on Electric Road in Roanoke County.
OPERATIONS: Lewis-Gale Hospital and Lewis-Gale Clinic are BioConversion Technologies' only clients at present, but the company is getting inquiries from all over the world on its alternative technology.
ANNUAL SALES: Declined to give estimates.
EMPLOYEES: 8.
Memo: T. D. Steele is not president of BioConversion Technologies any more.