Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
25, June 18,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Here's one for you to
consider:
"The disposal of recyclable
materials in the commercial
solid waste stream prevents
materials from circulating
in the state economy to
produce jobs and new
products."
Stripped of its baggage it
reads, "Disposal Prevents
Recovery". This is absurd
in so many ways it is hard
to know where to start. The
act of making waste
generators segregate
recyclable goods does not
constitute recycling. Yet
this statement is presented
as a key Finding in
Assembly Bill (AB) 341,
signed into law by Governor
Brown last October. And
starting July 1st of this
year, all those big bad
Commercial Solid Waste
Generators
must
"arrange
for recycling services."
Whatever
those
are.
We do so much magic and so
much harm with words. We've
been taught that "disposal"
is the act of tossing
things away, and that
certainly is the case if we
toss that something along
the roadside, or into a
hole or burn-barrel in our
back yard. But when that
discarded stuff is handled
by so many along the way to
the landfill Hole in the
Ground, "disposal" is a
long and drawn out process
that must rely on an entire
infrastructure.
In the same way, we think
of "recycling" as
separating something into a
different pile, a bin
designated for the bottles
and cans and plastics and
papers and cardboard. We
picked at this idea in last
week's Trash Talk. You
don't accomplish Recycling
by flipping something into
the Blue Bin, any more than
you do the dirty deed of
actual Disposal by dropping
something else into the
Black Bin. It’s the
process, the whole banana,
and Commercial Generators
are just the very Front End
of that pipeline, like the
rest of us. As the direct
result of AB 341, they are
also the
scapegoat.
Here's a Visual Image (in
words) for you: Image if
you will that there is no
bottom on that Blue Bin.
The guys who do the
Recycling dug a hole just
like in those old cartoons,
straight through to China!
That certainly isn't going
to create jobs and new
products in the state
economy, but California
calls it Recycling!
Now
imagine that
a hole
has been dug under the
bottomless Black Bin, too.
Except - it doesn't lead
to
anywhere
but
Down.
That, for sure, is
Disposal.
Hey
Rube!
Start boning
up, so you can help guide this
ship of state. AB 341 requires
CalRecycle and its many
stakeholders to identify
"problematic waste streams and
sources" and to recommend
better ways for handling those
waste streams." We're
finalizing an extremely
detailed Focus Report that
we'll publish this week, a
Legislative Review of AB 341.
You'll need that to work
through the bill's language,
and we'll post it on Teru Talk
for future reference. And
between now and the time you
need to answer those questions
about how to implement a Higher
Goal for California's resource
recovery, read our news for
real-world, global examples of
how others address this
difficult yet very common
situation. That should
help.
The
Week's News
Ford
Includes Waste Conversion
Programs in 2012
Sustainability
Report
Ford Motor
Company today announced release
of its 13th annual
Sustainability 2011/2012
report, called "Blueprint for
Sustainability: Accelerating
Ahead" and with enough detail
to warrant its own website.
06/15/2012
CEC Awards
$1.8MM to Biodiesel
Industries of Ventura for
Waste to
Energy
During
yesterday's Business Meeting,
the California Energy
Commission (CEC) approved an
award of $ 1,829,544 to
Biodiesel Industries of
Ventura, LLC, a subsidiary of
Biodico Sustainable
Biorefineries, to demonstrate
integrated renewable energy
technologies for biorefineries.
06/15/2012
Metso
Supplies Efficiency Controls
for Waste to Energy Plants
in Europe
Finland based
Metso Corporation has announced
recent orders from CNIM Group
for its automated process
controls for waste to energy
plants in the United Kingdom
(UK), Estonia, and Italy.
06/15/2012
Incitor
Secures $1.5MM for Biofuels,
Biochemicals Demonstration
Plant
New Mexico
based Incitor Incorporated has
announced closing of a $1.5
million funding round led by
investor Cottonwood Technology
Fund. 06/15/2012
Forest
Stewardship Council
Certifies Sustainability for
Small to Large
Forests
The Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC)
provides certification for
sustainable biomass utilization
at both ends of the forest
lands management scale
according to two announcements
released this week.
06/14/2012
Waste to
Alternative Fuels Projects
Receive Lion's Share of CEC
Awards
The California
Energy Commission (CEC) has
announced over $23 million in
awards for green fuels
development and of this amount,
over $12 million directly
addresses conversion of waste
to alternative fuels.
06/13/2012
Ballina
Biochar and WtE Project
Receives $4.25MM from
Australia
Fund
The Regional
Development Australia Fund
(RDAF) has announced Round Two
awards in support of priority
capital infrastructure projects
identified by local communities
for the Queensland, New South
Wales and Victoria areas of the
country. 06/13/2012
UL
Environment Launches
Validation Service for
Landfill Diversion
Claims
Expanding upon
its Environmental Claim
Validation service, UL
Environment has announced that
it is now offering third party
auditing and validation for
three levels of diversion from
landfill of a company's waste.
06/13/2012
Gazasia
Secures $150MM Equity for
Waste to Biofuels in the
Philippines
United Kingdom
based biogas upgrading
specialists Gazasia has
announced an equity investment
of $150 million from Aboitiz
Equity Ventures Inc (AEV) to
develop landfill biogas to
liquid transport fuels in the
Philippines.
06/12/2012
Montauk, NY
Joins Fishing for Energy
Partnership for Recycling
and
Recovery
Covanta Energy
announced that in honor of
World Oceans Day, the Long
Island port of Montauk, New
York has joined the novel
public-private collaboration,
Fishing for Energy.
06/12/2012
DARPA Awards $8MM to Amyris
under "Living Foundries"
Program
California's
integrated renewable fuels and
chemicals company Amyris has
announced that it has been
awarded a contract from the US
Department of Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency
(DARPA) to advance its
industrial synthetic biology
platform under the federal
agency's "Living Foundries"
initiative.
06/12/2012
EPA Region 9 Launches Online
Waste to Biogas Mapping
Tool
The US
Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) Region 9
(Pacific Southwest) has
announced the launch of an
online "waste to biogas"
mapping tool in support of the
conversion of organic wastes
and residuals into renewable
energy. 06/11/2012
Scotland's Outer Hebrides Gets
Community Funding for Renewable
Energy
The European
economic development agency
Highlands and Islands
Enterprise (HIE) has launched a
new funding mechanism to
support projects in Scotland's
Outer Hebrides.
06/11/2012
NIB Funds Haldor Topsøe's
Catalysis Research for
Efficient Biofuels
Production
The Nordic
Investment Bank (NIB) has
announced a commitment of DKK
250 million (EUR 33 million) to
support Danish company Haldor
Topsøe A/S research and
development (R&D) of
catalysts and catalytic
technologies, aimed primarily
at efficient production of
clean fuels and power
generation.
06/11/2012
Topell Energy Secures €13
million for Torrefaction
Commercialization
The
Netherlands leading
torrefaction systems developer
Topell Energy has announced a
successful funding round led by
its existing primary investor
Innogy Capital, securing €13
million to advance
commercialization of biomass
torrefaction.
06/11/2012
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