Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
23, June 4,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
MRF First! A "MRF" is a
Materials Recovery Facility,
which is a fancy name for a
garbage pick-apart station.
Before we send trash elsewhere,
before we decide what else to
do with the stuff we toss, we
try to send it through a MRF
first. A MRF is where all the
stuff we've thrown away gets
gathered together, dumped out
on a "tipping floor", and
pushed onto long conveyors.
From there, integrated sensors
and hand-eye coordination
attempt to sort the mélange
into the recognizable,
recoverable, Recyclables. We
call what doesn't get pulled
off the conveyor, "Residual"
and right now about half of the
incoming trash remains after
sorting, and almost all of that
gritty, moist, confusing
conglomeration of left-overs
goes out the MRF Back Door and
straight to the dump. 50%
Diversion, or conversely, 50%
Lost. The big MRFs handle up to
4,000 tons of Incoming Trash
per day. At 50% diversion, that
means about 2,000 tons of
Residual gets dumped. The other
2,000 tons are pulled off the
line as Recyclable Goods and
kept from going to the
landfill. That's good, but of
that, an unknown quantity is
bundled up and shipped to
China. We don't know how much
because nobody's counting, but
it's substantial. Besides, if
nobody counts, it's still
Recycled, right? (sarcasm
intended) Oh well,
we've tried, we've done our
best. We've Recovered
Recyclables.
Sure, recycling is something
most of us attempt to do on a
daily basis, sorting out the
newspapers, taking the flat
cardboard boxes to those big
dumpsters behind the market,
trying to keep the yard
trimmings out of the "black
bin" and put into the "green".
But those MRFs in the middle of
our communities? They STILL
take in and attempt to process
literally thousands of tons of
mixed waste every single day.
It's hard to get your head
around how much that is.
There's only so much Machines
and Humans combined can do to
separate out that much
constantly arriving trash, and
the decisions of what to pull
and what to leave directly
reflect the Bottom Line for the
MRF owners. Cardboard prices
are up today; the Word goes out
to pull more cardboard off the
lines. All those soft and gooey
food waste scraps mixed in with
the ripped plastic bags and
fine shards of broken glass?
Off the end it
goes.
Globally, we Humans are now
trying to do Something Else
with that Residual. Just what,
exactly, is that stuff, and
what else can we safely do with
it to reclaim the resources it
contains? We need to Convert
that Waste back to useful
goods. Try to Compost it,
maybe, or ferment it for
alcohols. Cook it slow, pull
the molecules apart and make
them back into Fuel and
Chemicals. Even take it to the
Big Burners, if any are still
are operating, to turn to
Energy. ANYTHING but the
Landfill.
Hey
Rube!
Sometimes
what is done poorly can
actually be re-done properly.
Sometimes there really
is time to correct
misjudgments, right the wrong.
There are bright folks working
in our agencies, and well,
everybody gets to make a
mistake occasionally. So, keep
yer proverbials crossed that
CalRecycle can do the
self-head-slap, say, "What were
we Thinking!" and take care of
the mess made last week with
that misbegotten Plasco Salinas
Valley Project Rescission
Letter. Hey, come on. It could
happen.
The
Week's Extra Reading
We have recently added books to
Teru's Bookshelf that we heard
about from you, our readers.
"Biogas
Engineering and
Application" is highly
recommended by Paul Relis,
CR&R. Kay Martin,
Bioenergy Producers
Association, tells us that "
Abundance: The Future is Better
Than You Think" is a "good
read on the promise of
technological innovation." Take
a
look!
The
Week's News
Los Angeles
County Proposes New Waste
Hierarchy for AB 341
Roll-Out
The Los
Angeles County Integrated Waste
Management Task Force has
proposed an alternative to the
waste hierarchy presented in
the California
Department
of Resources Recycling
and Recovery (CalRecycle)
draft report
"California's
New Goal:
75
Percent Recycling.
"
06/03/2012
Culinary
Software Services Releases
Food Waste Tracking
Software
Colorado based
Culinary Software Services has
announced release of
ChefTec Waste Tracking
Module (WTM) to aid restaurants
in accurately analyzing and
tracking each element of food
in their establishments through
processing to
disposal.
06/03/2012
Recycled
Energy Development Announces
Two CHP Projects for Dean
Foods
Illinois based
Recycled Energy Development
(RED) has announced two new
combined heat and power (CHP)
projects for Dean Foods where
integrated utilization of waste
heat recovered from on-site
power generation will increase
efficiencies and reduce the
company's overall greenhouse
gas footprint.
06/03/2012
CEC AB 118
Awards Support Biodiesel,
E85, and Waste Conversion to
Biofuel
The California
Energy Commission (CEC) has
announced unanimous approval
this week for award of more
than $35 million in Assembly
Bill 118 Alternative and
Renewable Fuel and Vehicle
Technology Program funds
(PON-11-601) from the annual
program funding allotment of
about $100 million.
06/01/2012
Interagency
Committee Formed to Assess
Clean Tech for Federal
Facilities
The US
Department of Energy (DOE) has
announced formation of a new
interagency advisory committee
for accelerated deployment of
"innovative products and
technologies in the federal
sector." 06/01/2012
TOMRA
Acquires BEST to Improve
Optical Sorting for Waste
Processing
Norwegian
waste processing specialist
TOMRA Sorting Systems ASA
(TOMRA) has announced an
agreement for full acquisition
of the Belgian firm BEST
Kwadraat NV for EUR 138
million. 06/01/2012
Phoenix
Energy Australia, John
Holland Collaborate on
Kwinana W2E
Project
Melbourne-based
Phoenix Energy Australia Pty
Ltd has announced an agreement
to collaborate with the John
Holland engineering and
construction firm on a $400
million (AUD) waste to energy
(W2E) project in the Kwinana
Industrial Area near Perth in
Western Australia.
05/31/2012
GESI Enters
$45MM Funding Round for
Waste Railroad
Ties-to-Energy
Project
Houston, Texas
based Green Energy Solution
Industries Inc. (GESI), a
renewable energy developer for
Canadian projects, has
announced that in collaboration
with its strategic partner
InREFCo, a project funding
round of up to $45 million is
now being launched.
05/31/2012
adaptiveARC Is
Finalist for San Diego
Business Journal Innovation
Awards
California's
thermal waste conversion
company adaptiveARC has
announced its selection as a
Finalist in the San Diego
Business Journal's first round
Innovator's Award, developed to
honor those that "stretch the
boundaries."
05/31/2012
Novozymes
Opens $200MM Enzyme Plant
for Biofuels in
Nebraska
Danish enzyme
developer Novozymes announced
the grand opening of its Blair,
Nebraska biofuel-enzyme
production facility, leveraging
a $200 million investment with
48C manufacturing tax credits
that brought the plant on-line
quickly. 05/31/2012
National
Biodiesel Board &
Genscape Launch RIN
Integrity
Network
The National
Biodiesel Board (NBB) has
announced a new tool intended
to help stabilize the federal
renewable fuels marketplace in
collaboration with Genscape,
Inc., with the launch of RIN
Integrity Network on-line
dashboard.
05/30/2012
PyroGenesis
Receives Coup de Coeur Award
for Waste Management
Plan
Quebec-based
plasma waste conversion company
PyroGenesis Canada, Inc. has
received the prestigious Coup
de Coeur award for Partnership
and Innovation in recognition
of PyroGenesis' participation
in development of an integrated
waste management plan and
unique solution for the
Iles-de-la-Madeleine project.
05/30/2012
European
Parliament Calls for Waste
Recovery Instead of
Landfills
Following the
plenary session meetings last
week of the European Parliament
and the European Commission,
the Parliament has announced
passage of a resolution
Thursday calling for member
states to gradually phase out
landfilling and incineration of
any waste that can otherwise be
recovered as a resource.
05/29/2012
City of
Surrey BC Receives $165K
Energy & Climate Action
Grant
The City of
Surrey, second largest
municipality in British
Columbia, Canada, announced
receipt of a Green Municipal
Fund government grant of
$165,000 disbursed by the
Federation of Canadian
Municipalities (FMC) from $550
million in national funds
allocated for municipal
assistance in "going green."
05/29/2012
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