Green Steel Reaches New Heights After BREW

“Being able to talk frankly with long-established leaders in an industry is a remarkable thing, and I don’t know how I would have gotten that access without being a member of The Water Council.”

-Jon Teaford, CEO, Green Steel Environmental

One year after traveling to Milwaukee for The Water Council’s BREW 2.0, Jon Teaford found himself back in Milwaukee recently.

This time, the CEO of Green Steel Environmental was a finalist in the pitch competition at Summerfest Tech, a showcase for Wisconsin’s growing technology hub. He went home with the fan favorite award in the advanced manufacturing, food and beverage, and agricultural category.

That’s just one of the exciting things that has happened to Green Steel since participating in BREW last year. The Colorado-based company helps municipal and industrial wastewater plants control phosphorus and hydrogen sulfide through its patented media, Green Steel PSR™, an iron-rich material produced from a byproduct of steel manufacturing. This approach helps facilities meet stringent discharge limits while reducing chemical expenditures, mitigating odor and infrastructure corrosion, and improving biosolid dewatering.

Green Steel applied for the BREW 2.0 2025 cohort to accelerate the introduction of its technology to municipal and industrial operators of wastewater treatment plants.

”As an early-stage company, we saw the program as an opportunity to refine our go-to-market strategy and build relationships within the water industry,” Teaford said.

Unlike typical accelerators, BREW focuses on companies that are ready to enter the market, providing content designed to help companies develop their sales pipeline, improve their IP strategy and build a company culture. But the most valuable piece for Green Steel, as for many companies, was the connections.

“We have made some of our most significant customer contacts through either the BREW or by being members of The Water Council,” Teaford said. “I have had conversations with the leaders of some of the biggest players in the wastewater industry and have gotten remarkable advice from them in how to build my business. Being able to talk frankly with long-established leaders in an industry is a remarkable thing, and I don’t know how I would have gotten that access without being a member of The Water Council.”

This year, Green Steel hit a significant milestone by delivering its first system to a customer in the municipal wastewater treatment space after eight years of gathering data on the product.

“It is thrilling to see that equipment up and running and to see our material working its way through their plant,” Teaford said. “What may be even more thrilling is seeing the reaction that we get from our customer prospects to the news that we are up and running at full scale in a municipality. We are getting great feedback right now, and our sales process is accelerating.”

The company was a finalist at the SXSW pitch competition earlier this year and was excited to compete in Summerfest Tech, which it learned about while attending the Summerfest music festival with the BREW cohort last year.

“The Great Lakes region, and Wisconsin in particular, have been at the forefront of controlling phosphorus release from wastewater plants,” Teaford said. “We take every opportunity we can find to talk to communities and customers in the Great Lakes region.”

Long term, Green Steel wants to establish Green Steel PSR™ as a reliable, standard option for wastewater plants managing phosphorus and sulfide challenges, he said.

“As regulatory requirements grow more stringent and operational budgets tighten, we want to help facilities achieve compliance and protect their infrastructure in a cost-effective, sustainable manner.”