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For the past 40 years, David Tress of Kemstar Corporation has been in the surplus chemical business. For 30 years prior to that his father Martin Tress was also in the surplus chemical business; and now Jason Tress, David's son, is carrying on the tradition. David arid Jason, along with a crew of 10 (including David's wife Dawn and daughter Jessica,) buy and sell surplus materials nationwide. David told us, "The 40 years has all gone by like a quick day. This business is exciting and dramatic because we never know what is going to be offered to us from day to day."
We're pleased to note that CALMAX has been a great help to the business in recent years. David also said that "...CALMAX has been very helpful in letting west coast manufacturers know what we can do for them. Having an organization like CALMAX to help us disseminate information about our company has been enormously helpful."
What Kemstar does is very simple. It buys surplus materials is from companies throughout the United States, such as chemicals solvents, pigments, halo carbons, dye, resins, fiberglass advanced composite fabrics, graphite-carbon, Aramid fabrics and other related materials. Then Kemstar finds companies who need these materials and sells them at a discount. It does not however, handle highly toxic or hazardous items. Oftentimes, Kemstar will pay high prices for materials that their owners think are worthless, but David Tress and his staff know there are people out there who will pay for these materials. In 1996, they made over 36 exchanges through CALMAX totaling over 30 tons. One exchange was for 38,000 lb. of an ion resin that was in storage, unused, for over 14 years. The ion resin was destined for the landfill, but Kemstar was able to regenerate it, and sell it at an enormous discount to a happy end user. So far in 1997 they1ve been able to find over 12 tons of material through CALMAX, and we're not even half way through the year.
Like the ion resin, many of the materials Kemstar finds are one step from being lost to the landfill. One of the goals at Kemstar is to find a way to make use of the unwanted materials in a practical and environmentally responsible manner. From electronic to industrial chemicals arid raw materials, to advance composites of all kinds, they strive to find other businesses that can use these materials and, therefore keep them out of the landfill.
David Tress and Kemstar have been CALMAX subscribers since 1992 (CALMAX'S first year in operation). So far David's been able to find and obtain many different types of materials (as people find him) and hopefully will continue to do so. With 11 separate listings in CALMAX, Kemstar is sure to find many of the materials it is looking for and some that may be surprises - soon to become opportunities, Speaking of surprises, we were surprised to find out Dave is also a poet. Maybe in a future issue there will be a poem about CALMAX.
For Dave Tress and his family, Kemstar has been a happy and prosperous business for over 70 years. They look forward to many more years of helping others as they help themselves and the environment. CALMAX salute Kemstar as our summer 1997 Match of the Catalog and is proud to be part of a successful economic and environmental solution to reducing waste in California.
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