# Ecotone Renewables

> Ecotone Renewables is a Pittsburgh-based public benefit corporation building a world without food waste. It is the only food-waste solution that does it all: on-site anaerobic digestion (ZEUS™), real-time waste data (Athena), a revenue-generating end product (Soil Sauce® organic fertilizer), and a full-service team (Hermes) that runs the whole thing — one partner, zero added staff labor, a waste stream that pays you back.

Key facts:

- Customers typically see a 30–40% reduction in waste costs, with 100% customer retention to date and zero added staff labor.
- Track record: 1M+ lbs of food waste diverted, 6K+ tons of CO₂e prevented, 14 ZEUS units operating, 100K+ gallons of Soil Sauce® created.
- Founded out of a 2017 University of Pittsburgh student project. Co-founders: Dylan Lew (CEO), Kyle Wyche (COO), and Elliott Bennett — all three named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
- Backed by a seed round from investors including Earth Foundry and Cisco.
- Serves K-12 schools, universities, healthcare systems, hospitality, commercial real estate, and municipalities.

## Products

- [ZEUS™](https://ecotonerenewables.com/product/zeus): A fully-managed, sealed, odorless anaerobic digester in a shipping-container footprint. Processes up to 1,000 lbs of food waste per week on-site — every organic category (meat, bones, dairy, liquids), no pre-sorting, no hauling. Diverts ~240 tons of CO₂e from landfill per unit per year and pays a monthly Soil Sauce® profit share of $500–$1,000. Fits a 25′ × 15.5′ pad with 220V 3-phase service. A custom in-building ZEUS variant exists for space-constrained sites (first deployed at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, 2026).
- [Mobile ZEUS™](https://ecotonerenewables.com/product/mobile-zeus): A containerized digester on wheels, fully off-grid, available for short-term rental and paid pilots (from 7 days). Processes up to 500 lbs of food waste per week — a low-risk way to trial on-site digestion before a permanent install.
- [Athena](https://ecotonerenewables.com/product/athena): Waste-analytics software. Vision AI photo-logs and auto-codes every batch to food categories, cost, and CO₂e in real time — diversion, cost, and emissions reporting by site, suitable for sustainability reporting (e.g., AASHE STARS, GHG disclosures).
- [Soil Sauce®](https://ecotonerenewables.com/product/soil-sauce): An OMRI-listed liquid organic fertilizer made in the USA — the output of every ZEUS. Ecotone's Hermes team collects, bottles, and resells it, sending customers a monthly profit share; 10% of every batch goes to community growers. Growers report a 4:1 ROI. Also sold direct at https://ecotonerenewables.com/store.
- Hermes (full service, included): siting, permitting, and install; 24/7 monitoring and maintenance; weekly Soil Sauce® pickup and bottling; monthly reporting and profit share. Kitchen staff just scrape into ZEUS — Ecotone runs everything else.

## Customers & proof

Deployments and partners include the University of Pittsburgh, Allegheny Health Network, Mercy Health, Bryant University, Rye Country Day School, Kent Denver School, Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, the Energy Innovation Center, the City of Pittsburgh, and Snooze, an A.M. Eatery (Mobile ZEUS in Denver, with InKind).

- "We have long composted at Pitt but have been limited in that by our compost vendors and the number of buildings they are able to serve… that's what led us to Ecotone." — Aurora Sharrard, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Sustainability, University of Pittsburgh
- "There are a lot of opportunities to not only rein in costs and save money, but turn that model around to actually make it profitable." — Dan Lesinski, Energy & Sustainability Manager, Allegheny Health Network

Industry pages: [K-12](https://ecotonerenewables.com/customers/k12), [Higher Ed](https://ecotonerenewables.com/customers/higher-ed), [Healthcare](https://ecotonerenewables.com/customers/healthcare), [Hospitality](https://ecotonerenewables.com/customers/hospitality), [How Ecotone compares to alternatives](https://ecotonerenewables.com/why/compare)

## Press & recognition

Full list: https://ecotonerenewables.com/resources/press

- [Forbes (video): How this Pittsburgh startup is turning commercial food waste into revenue](https://www.forbes.com/video/46f1f631-437a-4620-a3d1-6142385c20dd/how-this-pittsburgh-startup-is-turning-commercial-food-waste-into-revenue/)
- All three co-founders named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
- Coverage by 90.5 WESA (NPR), the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Technical.ly, The Allegheny Front, Waste Advantage Magazine, Innovation Works, and Pittwire (University of Pittsburgh).

## Resources

- [About Ecotone](https://ecotonerenewables.com/why/about): mission, story, founders, and impact stats
- [Pricing](https://ecotonerenewables.com/pricing)
- [Food waste cost calculator](https://ecotonerenewables.com/resources/calculator)
- [US food-waste law guide](https://ecotonerenewables.com/resources/waste-law)
- [Blog & monthly market intelligence](https://ecotonerenewables.com/resources/blog)

## Contact

- Book an intro meeting: https://meetings.hubspot.com/adam-guerra1/website-ask-ai-meeting-link
- Request a meeting (overview page): https://ecotonerenewables.com/request-a-meeting
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ecotonerenewables
- Headquarters: Pittsburgh, PA, USA