In 2006 Mr. Patrick Garrett was asked by the Global head of catalyst at Shell Royal Dutch to visit their Convent Louisiana Refinery because they had a major waste management issue with spent catalyst. At the time of the call Mr. Garrett knew minimal about spent catalyst, but it has since become a major reason KAYAN has become one of the leaders in recycling of waste. Garrett worked with Motiva two years in order to come to the stage the pilot plant could be built. Once built the pilot plant was very successful and won two Shell/Aramco awards. Unfortunately, timing was bad (2008) when the technology kicked off; this was the year of the market crash, bank crash and metals prices falling.

The recovery and reuse of secondary materials is a high priority for not only governments but also generators.  Under the definition of solid waste, secondary materials which are recovered and reused are generally excluded from the definition of solid waste.

In 2008, members of the KAYAN Team lobbied the U.S. EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to implement a new law.  The law enabled refineries to relocate waste that had recyclable products to another refinery without designating the load hazardous.  This law was a key to creating a successful secondary material recycling campaign.  The law enabled a refinery to either build its own facility on site or to send to another facility with the same result.  Refineries in the USA have very little area to spare and often have long term plans that would have prohibited building a facility.