Liquid Gold

Industrial by-products and wastes hold little glitter for most people. However, for Ted Sorokopas, the owner of a southeastern London liquid waste management business, those uninspiring wastes have the sparkle of gold attached to them.

His business, Environmental Management Corporation (EMC), handles between three and four million gallons annually of oily industrial sludges and wastes. That translates into approximately $5 million worth of business for 1988, a big jump from the $400,000 the business handled when Sorokopas purchased it in 1982.

According to Sorokopas, much of that boom in business volume can be directly attributed to increased government regulation of waste generators in the province -- regulations that have made services like EMC's indispensable to some manufacturing concerns. But that's not the whole story, because Sorokopas has built on the back of that government-enforced market to bolster his business fortunes.

After working a number of years at varied careers, Sorokopas purchased Mac's Liquid Disposal in 1982 and kept that name associated with the business until 1986, when his company's growth prompted him to select a name more appropriate to changing and expanded markets. He aggressively marketed his business during those four years and travelled from manufacturer to manufacturer in search of a wider customer base.

"We've actually knocked on doors and said "what do you do with your waste, where are you sending it?" said Sorokopas.

"We've actually knocked on doors and said 'what do...