BINGHAMTON, NY (WIVT/WBGH) – Koffman Innovations is back with a startup that has received numerous awards and grants.

KLAW Industries processes recycled glass and turns it into a raw material to make concrete stronger.

KLAW uses a proprietary method for cleaning the used glass and then grinds it down into a substitute for cement, the binding agent in concrete.

It was founded at the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator in 2019 and purchased its first facility on Griswold Street in Binghamton in June of 2021.

Chief Operating Officer Jacob Kumpon says community support has been key to the company’s growth.

Taylor Garbage provides the glass from recycle bins and ready-mix concrete maker Barney and Dickenson purchases their product, known as Pantheon.

Since its start, KLAW has won several business plan competitions and the Koffman has helped it secure grants, including half a million dollars from the EPA.

Kumpon says, “It kind of gave some legs to our material as we were starting to get it into some real projects at the same time, showing that there was both adoption from the industry side as well as people on the funding side and the regulatory side saying this actually has a shot of having an impact and we see this as something that can be integrated into regular concrete mixes.”

Another key partner has been the City of Binghamton, which last year used concrete with Pantheon for a series of sidewalk and curb reconstruction projects.

Now, Broome County, the Town of Union and Village of Endicott have all expressed interest in using concrete with Pantheon.

Kumpon says the ground-up glass has several advantages over traditional cement, which is made from limestone.

It’s stronger, it’s 97% less carbon intensive than limestone, which has to be heated, and, once they build up their scale, it promises to be cheaper.

Kumpon says that despite their success so far, KLAW is happy to remain working at the Koffman.

“Early on, the Koffman Incubator helped us through some of their mentorship programs, showing us how do we actually take something that’s an idea on paper that we have a really rough prototype for, and actually bringing it into the ‘real world’ and getting it into the actual hands of customers.”

Kumpon says KLAW is currently producing 1 ton of Pantheon per day.

It’s looking for additional grants and low-interest financing to upscale its equipment to process 2 tons per hour.

That would allow it to handle most of the available recycled glass in Greater Binghamton.

The plan then would be to expand to other New York cities with a goal of taking over the entire Upstate market over the next 5 to 7 years.