Well, not so fast, the engineering manager with Abydoz Environmental told those gathered at the Business, Innovation and Green Economy forum held in Corner Brook Friday.
The success of his company, and plenty of others, aside, there is still a lot of talk about the green economy. Sharpe said the difference all these years later is there is progress being made.
"My cautionary comment would be, it might not move as fast and it might not produce sellable items quite as quickly as you might think," he said.
John McDoanld, president of ADI International, said success in the green economy is not particularly different from that of other technologies. It requires perseverance, patience, and tolerance with government and non-government agencies.
"Anything green comes with environmental baggage, we found over the years," he said during a panel discussion to conclude the forum. "Environmental baggage is usually a function of the state, the province, the country, to organize and run that.
"You can't get discouraged. It does take a long time."
He also encouraged small, start-up companies to network and plan ahead.
Tony Bouk, chief executive officer of Greenbug Energy, said entrepreneurs looking to make it in the green economy need to find customers and partners willing to take risks.
While there are many barriers facing Newfoundland and Labrador companies, geographical challenges being a major one, there are advantages that go with that too, according to Eugene Legge, president of the Federation of Agriculture.
He encourages entrepreneurs to use the existing resources.
"If you have stuff here, why not use it to its fullest advantage and keep rotating it over and over until there is totally nothing left of it?" he said. "That is the advantage we have ... Be creative and utilize whatever we have in natural resources until it is empty or can't be used anymore."
While Sharpe and McDonald both said the province's waste must be viewed as a significant economic opportunity.
churley@thewesternstar.com
Twitter: WS_CoryHurley
Unfortunatey...you mean Bill 61...and you should read it-it's not as restrictive as you claim