Teru Talk Newsletter with current news, action items, and some trash talk on matters of waste conversion for resource recovery.

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Teru Talk Newsletter

Volume I, Issue 5 -  March 28, 2011 
Teru Talk by Michael Theroux (pronounced "Terú") 
 
Teru's Trash Talk 
 

What is it about waste that gets people so … so irritated? It isn’t the myriad ways for recovery of waste, it isn’t really recycling, or even waste disposal, per se, it’s waste. The very fact that we have such a commonly employed negative term is polarizing. It’s the TV cliché of the punk on the street, throwing empty fast food wrappers on the sidewalk just to show Who’s Boss. I suppose it’s saying to the Powers that Be: You’re Not the Boss o’ Me!! Well, we have always managed to do a lot of stupid stuff, just to show we’re in charge, just to prove something … maybe, just to get attention. It's just dirty.

 

I heard a tale of a family man in Japan years ago that refused to separate the family’s refuse into the 17-or-so separate containers mandated by the community’s Administration for recycling. Nobody in the whole town would look at them, or talk to them, or sell anything to them for a month. Maybe that was just a false rumor; maybe not. It does tell us that not recycling in Japan is socially unacceptable.

 

If someone is consistently throwing something away and you ask them to give it to you, all of a sudden it has Value. If it has Value, it gets counted; we usually don’t count what we don’t value, so counting no-value “waste” is a lot harder than counting “recovered resources”.

 

“Say, buddy, mind if I have your  waste ?” … “Get lost, ya bum … that isn’t waste, it‘s Resource.”

 

Hey Rube!

 

Comments are due April 4, 2011 (that's a week from today) to the CalRecycle on their 382-page Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for statewide Anaerobic Digestion of MSW. Teru's Focus Report summarizing the Draft PEIR and why it is important is posted here. Take a look and consider submitting your own comments. It matters.

 

The Week's News

 

New Chinese Ethanol Plant Will Use LanzaTech Offgas-to-Fuel Technology  New Zealand based LanzaTech, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the steel and iron conglomerate Baosteel Group Corporation have begun construction of a 100,000 gallon per year ethanol plant that will use LanzaTech’s gas fermentation technology to make fuel ethanol from the flue off-gas emissions produced by Baosteel’s steel mill. 03/27/2011

 

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Students Learn to Make Biodiesel  Florida Biodiesel Inc will provide a modular biodiesel system to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College to demonstrate Green Fuel technology for on-campus activities, and show students how to make renewable energy. 03/27/2011

 

ECRI Explores Large Scale Collection and Composting of Food Waste  The Environmental Council of Rhode Island (ECRI) held a community meeting last week to explain and explore the potential for collection of the community’s food waste and conversion to compost and renewable energy as an alternative to landfill disposal. 03/27/2011

  

DTSC Announces Green Chemistry Initiative Sub-Committee Meetings  The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has announced meeting agendas for the three recently-formed sub-committees within their Green Ribbon Science Panel (GRSP). 03/26/2011

 

MSU now Licensing Fuel-Additive Producing Fungus

Researchers at the Montana State University (MSU) have announced that their Eucalyptus-oil-producing fungus Hypoxylon sp. is now ready for licensing. 03/26/2011

 

Highmark Receives US, South African Integrated bioRefinery Patents  Canadian biorefinery developer Highmark Renewables has received US and South African patent assurances for their newest waste-to-energy Integrated bioRefinery technology platform. 03/25/2011

  

Butamax Receives Patent for Bio-Butanol Production Methods

Wilmington, Delaware based Butamax Advanced Biofuels has announced that the US Trade and Patent Office has granted a patent for their proprietary isobutanol production methods, covering a key step in their biobutanol production pathway using genetic constructs with highly active enzymes. 03/24/2011

 

DOE Fully Funds Commitment to EdeniQ and Logos for CCM Pilot Biorefinery  Logos Technologies Inc has announced that their partnership with cellulosic fuels company EdeniQ has received full commitment of $20.5 million from the US Department of Energy (DOE) under the Integrated Biorefinery Program. 03/24/2011

 

Delta Diablo Sanitation District Receives $1MM for Gasification Project  In yesterday’s Business meeting, the California Energy Commission (CEC) unanimously approved an award of $999,924 to the Antioch-based Delta Diablo Sanitation District to develop, demonstrate, and implement a system to turn biosolids into energy. 03/24/2011 

 

Free Gasification Technology Workshop Scheduled for Regulators

The Gasification Technology Council (GTC) has announced their 2011 Gasification Technology Workshop schedule, this year to be held April 6-7 in Tampa, Florida. 03/23/2011 

 

3-Diary Digester Project Kicks Off in Washington State

NativeEnergy has announced their partnership with Rainier BioGas and three Washington state dairies to build a 1200-cow manure digester which will generate 1 megawatt of electricity for sale to Puget Sound Energy and reduce over 4,000 tons of greenhouse gas emission annually. 03/23/2011 

 

California Biomass Collaborative’s 8th Annual Forum, April 5-6, 2011  The California Biomass Collaborative (CBC) has announced the agenda for their 8th annual Forum at the University of California at Davis (UC Davis) Conference Center on April 5-6, 2011. 03/22/2011

 

US EPA Hosts Free Co-EAT Webinar

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will host a free training webinar on March 31, 2011 for their Co-Digestion Economic Assessment Tool. 03/22/2011

 

RSB Launches Voluntary Certification System for Biofuels

The international organization Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) will publically launch its global standard and certification system at the World Biofuels Market event in Rotterdam, Netherlands on March 23, 2011. 03/22/2011

 

UK AD & Biogas 2011 Expo & Conference July 6-7, 2011 in Birmingham  The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) is hosting their 2nd annual industry event this July 6-7, 2011 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. 03/22/2011

  

FuelMatic Biodiesel Processor Manufacturing Moves to Nevada

Green Fuels America (GFA) will manufacture their 5,000 gallon per day FuelMatic and other commercial biodiesel processors in their Sparks, Nevada headquarters. 03/21/2011

 

The Week's Action Items

Due 06/02/2011: Comments on Fuel Quality, Renewable Energy Directives The United Kingdom’s (UK) Department for Transport (DfT) released parallel Consultation Documents this month, seeking public comment on the Government’s regulatory plans to come to parity with the greenhouse gas intensity reduction requirements of European Directive 2009/30/EC. 03/24/2011
 

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