4 minutes with… Mike Everton, CEO, Sustainable Fuels Limited

Tell us about your company and it’s role in the Advanced Bioeconomy.

Sustainable Fuels is a Hong Kong based feedstock company with subsidiaries in Indonesia and USA. The company’s main business is the collection and further processing of PSO (palm sludge oil). The operation is based in Sumatra, Indonesia. We have full Indonesia government approval by EPA and DPI. Our PSO is ISCC approved in Europe. US EPA approved.

Tell us about your role and what you are focused on in the next 12 months.

My roll is to guiding the company in this politically controlled market. Sustainable Fuels has worked very hard to show how waste products can be turned into a very profitable product. Working in extreme conditions the Sustainale team has successfully carved out a business recovering waste oil from Palm mill ponds then treating it and storing at its tanks on the port of Dumai for export.

Over the next 12 months we will start shipping large quantities of ISCC approved PSO to Europe, particularly Germany, where the product attracts a premium due to its extremely low carbon emissions.

In order to ramp up quantity and also quality we will be expanding our indonesian facilities over the next 6-9 months.

What do you feel are the most important milestones the industry must achieve in the next 5 years?  

Migration away from food based feedstocks with greater use of waste products and other 2nd generation feedstocks.

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the Advanced Bioeconomy, what would you change? 

Either increased governmental assistance for biofuels or alternatively, a complete removal off assistance for fossil fuels.

Of all the reasons that influenced you to join the Advanced Bioeconomy industry, what single reason stands out for you as still being compelling and important to you?  

Earn an income in an ethical industry

Where are you from? 

Australia

Who do you consider your mentors – could be personal, business, or just people you have read about and admire. What have you learned from them?

Not one particular person. Many people I have met who have influenced me. Particularly people who succeeded in both business and personal life. Learned that it is important to have good work life balance. And in a business sense the most important lesson learned was that perseverance in the face of adversity is paramount.

What’s the biggest lesson you ever learned during a period of adversity?  

Never give up. But also be flexible to change tack if required.

What hobbies do you pursue, away from your work in the industry?

Watersports

What are 3 books you’d want to have with you, if you were stranded on a desert island

Bear Grills Survival

What books or articles are on your reading list right now, or you just completed and really enjoyed?  

Daily newspapers. Top gear magazine. The economist,

What’s your favorite city or place to visit, for a holiday?  

South of France