South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance awards Green Energy Biofuel ‘Innovator of the Year’
- Green Energy Biofuel
- 51 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Green Energy Biofuel LLC, a vertically integrated grease collection, processing and organics-recycling company based in South Carolina, has won the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance’s 2025 Innovator of the Year Award.
The prestigious award was presented to co-owner BioJoe Renwick at the 2025 SC Manufacturing Summit held mid-October in South Carolina’s capital city of Columbia.
“I’m still on cloud nine,” Renwick said. “Of all the awards we’ve gotten over the years, this has to be the one I’m most proud of.”
The annual awards program, hosted by SCMA and the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership, honors the state’s leading manufacturers and industry professionals, recognizing exceptional achievements in innovation, operational excellence, leadership and community impact.
SCMA President and CEO Sara Hazzard said the honorees represent the best of what South Carolina manufacturing stands for.
“Each one of our award winners—just like each one of our manufacturers—represents the very best in our state’s innovation and creativity,” she said. “They drive our economic achievements, and they are the lifeblood of so many of our communities. In celebrating these award winners, we celebrate the success of an entire industry—and the future of manufacturing across our great state.”
Renwick said Green Energy Biofuel epitomizes innovation at work and sustainability in action.
“From recycling to renewable fuel, we’re proud to keep pushing boundaries with zero-landfill solutions,” he said. “Turning waste into energy isn’t just our mission—it’s our promise for a cleaner future.”
SCMEP President and CEO Andy Carr praised the recipients for their commitment to continuous improvement.
“The manufacturers and professionals honored today represent what makes South Carolina’s industrial base so strong—they lead with purpose, invest in their people, and never stop striving to be better,” he said. “Their accomplishments elevate our entire manufacturing ecosystem and set a standard of excellence for others to follow.”
While Renwick accepted the Innovator of the Year Award on behalf of his company as co-owner and self-described “head honcho,” he said Green Energy Biofuel staff members are really the ones who deserve the credit.
“Last month alone we sold over 4 million pounds [of refined, recycled biofuel feedstock] in 30 days,” Renwick said with enthusiasm. “Innovation takes a lot of courage and a heaping helping of desperation. And fear of failure. Oh yeah, and then actual failure sometimes, over and over. That drives you to fix the problem, and to try again and again because everything you have—and all your employees have—is riding on figuring it out every day, week, month and year until, 17 years later, you get an award for actually figuring out how to do things nobody has ever done before. With no playbook, and no instructions—just faith.”
Despite the 17-year-long journey growing from a local, small-scale grease collector and biodiesel producer in Winnsboro to a vertically integrated solid and liquid recycling operation and service provider spanning multiple sites in South Carolina and into Tennessee, Renwick said Green Energy Biofuel is just getting started.
“It’s just the beginning for us,” he said. “We have big plans to unveil over the next six to 18 months and I can’t wait to share them when the time is right. Stay tuned.”
