THOROLD, Ontario, Dec. 29, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As 2011 comes to a close, John Bordynuik, Founder and CEO of JBI, Inc. (the "Company") (OTCQX:JBII), offers a recap of the Company's progress and key milestones over the past 12 months.
"It's been an exciting year for the Company," states Bordynuik. "We've taken significant steps forward and on many levels have out-paced traditional industry timelines – and it has been a team effort." He continues, "The successes we've seen in 2011 have involved many months of extensive testing, third party analysis and validation, and corporate due diligence. We are proud of our accomplishments and are confident about our growth moving into the next fiscal year."
In May 2011, JBI, Inc. announced its first sale of fuel produced by the Company's patent-pending Plastic2Oil® ("P2O") process. Shortly thereafter, Coco Asphalt Engineering, a division of Coco Paving, Inc., entered into a Supply and Service Agreement for the Company's ultra-clean, ultra-low sulphur fuel.
June 2011 brought more good news. "On June 17, 2011, we cleared a significant hurdle when the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ("NYSDEC") issued a permit to JBI, Inc. to operate 3 separate P2O processors at our Niagara Falls facility," comments Bordynuik. "At the same time the NYSDEC also issued a Solid Waste Permit which allowed us to store plastic feedstock materials on-site."
During the summer months of 2011, the Company continued to make enhancements to its P2O processor, giving it the ability to produce specific fuel types to meet the needs of its customers. Bordynuik continues, "This paid huge dividends later in the year when new customers with diverse fuel requirements came onboard."
In July, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") issued a Wells Notice to the Company in relation to its legacy accounting issues from 2009. "The Company is acutely aware of its responsibilities to its shareholders," states Bordynuik. "As part of our internal corrective actions, we hired a highly respected auditor, an American Certified Public Accountant Controller, and retained the services of another highly ranked auditing firm and numerous financial consultants to advise the Company and assist in preparations of the 10Q and 10K filings. Most recently, we welcomed our new CFO, Matthew Ingham, CPA. Matthew will lead our financial reporting and will continue the improvements which began with the amending of the 2009 10K filing."
The highlight of summer 2011 was the signing of a 10-year exclusive agreement with Rock-Tenn Company (RockTenn) to convert mill by-product waste into fuel using the Company's P2O technology. "The significance of this agreement is impressive as it provides a solution to waste plastic challenges," notes Bordynuik. "And JBI, Inc. will have access to free feedstock supplies for our P2O processors, which we will locate on RockTenn sites."
The fall months of 2011 were spent enhancing the P2O processor in preparation for the final NYSDEC stack test scheduled for December. Upgrades included the installation of low NOx burners and the addition of a pre-melt system to increase through-put volumes. The Company worked with third party fabricators to produce standardized reactors and towers and has received the assembled modules.
"December 2011 has been busy, to say the least," Bordynuik states with a bit of grin. "We kicked off the month by completing the final stack test required by the NYSDEC. It was a very exciting day – the emissions from the second stack test were found to be cleaner than the first test in August 2010, even with close to double the quantity of waste plastic through-put, while maintaining an 86.7% conversion rate to liquid fuel."
This success was quickly followed by the news of an Air Permit exemption in the state where the first RockTenn P2O site will be located, reducing the lead time for roll-out of the RockTenn agreement in that state.
The year came to a close with the signing of two major fuel supply agreements, the first with Indigo Energy Partners, LLC ("Indigo Energy") for the Company's No. 6 Fuel Oil and the second with XTR Energy Company Limited ("XTR Energy") for road transport fuels. The XTR Energy agreement will require the Company to purchase third party fuels to blend with its P2O fuel output until it can build out the capacity to meet the full quantities required by the customer.
"The beauty of the agreement with RockTenn, in combination with the fuel supply agreements with Indigo Energy and XTR Energy, is that we will be free to focus solely on the manufacturing of additional P2O processors as we move into 2012," says Bordynuik. "It's a huge step forward in achieving our vision of becoming a vertically integrated plastic recycling, fuel processing and fuel distribution company."
For more information about JBI, Inc. and the types of fuel produced by its proprietary P2O process, please refer to the Company's website: www.plastic2oil.com.
About JBI, Inc.
JBI, Inc. is a domestic green Oil and Gas company. JBI, Inc. developed a process that converts waste plastic into fuel (Plastic2Oil), without the need of further refinement. JBI, Inc. scaled a 1kg process to a 20MT commercial processor in less than 1 year. For further information please visit www.plastic2oil.com and review our SEC filings, including without limitation our Form 10-K, as amended, filed with the SEC on July 18, 2011.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains statements, which may constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees as of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of JBI, and members of its management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based, including the expected timing of the Company's Form 10-K, execution of the proposed agreements described above and consummation of the transactions contemplated by such agreements. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to: (1) JBI has a history of net losses, and may not be profitable in the future; (2) JBI may not be able to obtain necessary licenses, rights and permits required to develop or operate our Plastic2Oil business, and may encounter environmental or occupational, safety and health conditions or requirements that would adversely affect its business; and (3) JBI may experience delays in the commercial operations of its Plastic2Oil machines and there is no assurance that they can be operated profitably. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors, see the Company's amended Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed on April 20, 2011, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and its other SEC filings. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.