About the Invention

Marlene Conway is a magician when it comes to garbage. Give her old carpets, empty milk cartons and disposable diapers and, "abracadabra!" she'll turn them into building bricks or some other useful product. Without a scientific background, Marlene has invented recycling technologies and processes that are helping our world stay healthy and productive. At the same time, she has started successful businesses based on her inventions that are turning environmental nightmares into corporate opportunities. She holds ten patents as the inventor or co-inventor of a technology or product.

She launched her inventing career by pioneering a patented process that separates a diaper's wood pulp from its superabsorbent polymer, and allowing both to be recycled. Now that's magic! Disposable diapers are a huge environmental concern. Every year in North America more than 5,000,000 tons of used disposable diapers from homes, hospitals and daycare centres are trucked to landfill sites, where they sit for years before decomposing. Until Marlene's discovery, nothing could be done to stem the ongoing tide of garbage from the nursery.

The company she founded in 1989 to develop the technology, Knowaste Technologies Inc., now has clients from around the world that send their diapers for recycling. Clients include hospitals, day cares and nursing homes. In 1993, Knowaste was awarded the Recycling Council of Ontario's Waste Minimization Award. Though a principal shareholder with Knowaste, Marlene is no longer involved on a daily basis with the company.

Marlene foresees more areas in need of environmental solutions, and has since gone on to start other companies, the most recent being Agrilzer Inc. Her goal is to discover practical solutions to other environmental problems. Marlene knows that not all of the technologies she develops will be commercialized, since large amounts of money are required to take a technology to that point. She is working to create a pool of development capital so that long-term problems may be solved on a global basis in partnership with industry and government.

About the Inventor

Marlene never intended to be an inventor and discoverer. When she was younger, she had a promising banking career. Everything changed in 1988 when her husband walked out on her and her two children, leaving Marlene with massive debt. She was 26 years old at the time. She asked her friends for advice. "Someone told me, 'Do what you know best.'" And at that point, it was diapers since her children were still small. Weekly, she threw away a large garbage bag of used diapers. She knew there had to be a better way. Her financial situation was desperate. "You have two choices when faced with an untenable situation," she says. "You declare bankruptcy or you fight." Marlene chose to fight. She left her bank job and started raising funds for her diaper recycling idea.

Marlene's determination has contributed to her belief that she can achieve anything she sets out to do. Marlene graduated from Ontario's Mohawk College Marketing Program in 1979 and later, from the college's Business Administration and Finance Program in 1985. Without a background in science or chemistry, Marlene "hit the books," teaching herself what she needed to know.

For her achievements in environmental research, in 1996, the Chemical Institute of Canada presented Marlene with full Associate Degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. She has won numerous awards including the Premier's Award, Ontario, Business, 1998 and Regional Winner, Women Entrepreneur of the year award, 1998. Marlene has become so well known as the recycling lady that people will say to her "Hey, is anyone dealing with this problem?" and send her things in the mail. "We have a ton of shoes, dishwasher racks and a ton of used money. All these things can be handled, the trick is to develop an infrastructure that is affordable." Marlene says, "I have never sat back to see what has been done. I just see what needs to be done."