MeadWestvaco, Zera Energy and VOW Resources Form Strategic Joint Development Agreement for Renewable Energy Solutions

EVADALE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE: MWV), VOW Resources and Zera Energy today announced a strategic, collaborative development effort to enable the conversion of organic waste streams into biogas and other value added products. The companies will immediately begin construction on a demonstration plant adjacent to MWV’s Evadale, Texas, mill. VOW Resources, an organic waste management and resource recovery company, will provide the design, engineering and testing of the process to be used at the plant; Zera Energy will be responsible for the construction and operation of the plant; and MWV will determine the technical and commercial feasibility of the biogas generation process and, upon successful testing, will apply the technology to its waste treatment operations.

Construction of the demonstration plant is expected to be complete around November of 2010. Initially, the biogas facility will create approximately 30 construction jobs and provide 12 full-time positions at the demonstration plant. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“This is an exciting opportunity to apply advancements in green technology to enhance our operations and generate renewable energy sources,” said Jim Gresham, vice president, MWV’s Evadale Operations. “We anticipate numerous benefits from this collaborative effort, including reducing consumption of water and natural gas, lowering our landfill requirements and creating a valuable organic fertilizer.”

About MWV

MeadWestvaco Corporation (NYSE: MWV), provides packaging solutions to many of the world’s most-admired brands in the healthcare, beauty and personal care, food, beverage, media and entertainment, home and garden, tobacco, and commercial print industries. The company's businesses also include Consumer & Office Products, Specialty Chemicals, and the Community Development and Land Management Group, which sustainably manages the company’s land holdings to support its operations, and to provide for conservation, recreation and development opportunities. With 20,000 employees worldwide, MWV operates in 30 countries and serves customers in more than 100 nations. MWV manages all of its forestlands in accordance with internationally recognized forest certification standards, and has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the sixth consecutive year. For more information, please visit www.mwv.com.

About Zera Energy

Zera Energy Inc. is a closely held U.S. Corporation based in Woodville, Texas, whose senior leadership collectively bring extensive management, technical and operating experience in providing sustainable solutions to the emerging green-energy business arenas. Zera Energy applies proven technologies in innovative facilities that operate under mild, environmentally friendly conditions to produce green fuel gas as well as protein meal and organic fertilizer from 100% bio-waste feed stocks. Zera is focused on modest-sized, affordable and quick-to-market facilities; that it believes are ideally fitted to the current U.S. and International markets.

About VOW Resources

VOW Resources is a privately held company and has over 35 years experience in the development and implementation of unique processes for the treatment and resource recovery of organic waste. VOW offers a suite of technologies utilizing the innovative bioaugmentation approach developed by Dr. Dennis Evers, CTO-Global of VOW Resources, whose U.S. office is in Terre Haute, IN. The VOW Process optimizes the output of commercially desirable end products such as high quality biogas which can be used to generate electricity and/or heat, organic matter for animal feed or fertilizer, and recyclable water.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6420478&lang=en

Source: MeadWestvaco Corporation

Smart Multimedia Gallery

View this news release and multimedia online at:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100908005281/en