Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
26, June 25,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"TerĂº")
Teru's Trash Talk
California is struggling
mightily to find solid
economic ground, and about
the only Resource we have
in sufficient abundance to
make a difference is what
we, as a society, so
callously continue to throw
away. Since we're not going
to magically make people
stop tossing stuff away, we
should be doing everything
in our power to reclaim
that costly flow before it
goes over the cliff. Aren’t
we
smart enough
to
figure this
out?
OK, let's try: We talked
about a MRF last week - a
Materials Recovery
Facility, a pick-apart
complex where all the mixed
waste goes in to be
separated into stuff for
re-use, recyclable
materials, and whatever
"residual" is left over. A
MRF accomplishes, by law,
“recovery for reuse or
recycling”. But recycling
must include the entire
conversion process to get
back to Goods. What about
Performance Standards? As
the US EPA Solid Waste
Division knows from trying
to pry actual numbers out
of the states, this is the
sensitive economic heart of
the business of running a
MRF. Cardboard prices are
up! Pull more cardboard.
There’s no place to take
that sort of Plastic? Fine;
leave it on the line.
Anything we do to put
arbitrary pressure on that
operation shifts the
balance, granted, but not
always in favor of sanity
and business, much less the
environment. There is no
simple
answer.
MRF Performance Standards
might ensure we effectively
pull an agreed-upon list of
“recyclable materials” out
of the trash flow. But
there's a BIGGER question:
what happens to the Good
Stuff that is pulled? Where
is the data on what is or
is not disposed, not just
to the local landfill, but
also at the very end of the
process chain? Isn’t it
necessary to “convert”
those same materials into
something useful to go back
into the commodities
exchange? If we don’t let
Industry in California
develop diverse, market
driven waste conversion
processes that close the
Recycling loop, we end up
leaving processing and
disposal to far less
environmentally-sound means
than we ourselves could
accomplish here in
California. If we can't
prove the stuff pulled off
the lines as "recyclable
materials" gets all the way
back into the Commodities
Flow, then we are just
picking which group gets to
make money by shuffling
trash.
Assembly Bill 341 mandates
Commercial Waste Recycling
starting on or after July
1, but Nothing in this new
law requires that anyone
validate the entire
processing regime of what
we so loosely call
“recycling”. If all we do
is require Business to
"arrange for recycling
services" and don't attend
to what happens next,
perhaps we should call the
program, "Mandatory
Commercial
Separation."
Hey
Rube!
The
CalRecycle defines Recycling as
“Using waste as material to
manufacture a new product.
Recycling involves altering the
physical form of an object or
material and making a new
object from the altered
material." In our book, we’d
call that “Closed-Loop
Recycling”, different from just
dropping a bottle into the
right bin, or bundling
cardboard and plastic for
shipment overseas. The
department has asked for
Stakeholder Comments to the AB
341 draft implementation plan,
“California’s New Goal: 75
Percent Recycling”, see the
Action Item below. Read the
Plan, and file your Comments
this week; we’ve posted a
detailed review of AB 341
to help explain what
CalRecycle’s plan SHOULD be
doing, and to better inform
your position. Let’s hold the
agency to its own definition,
and make it very clear that
going forward, we’re all
focused on validating and
expanding the whole Closed-Loop
Recycling infrastructure. Who
SAYS it’s “recycling?” Where
DOES that segregated stuff go,
anyway? Inquiring minds want to
know!
The
Week's Extra Reading
California AB 341 Legislative
Analysis examines the
new diversion law that modifies
California's Integrated Waste
Management Act. It directly
impacts Commercial Waste
Generators, also known as
businesses and local agencies.
This is the background you'll
need when you comment on the
CalRecycle's draft report
"California's New Goal: 75
Percent Recycling" that is
being prepared in compliance
with AB
341.
The
Week's News
TAQA and CWM
Sign MOU for 1MM tonne MSW
to Energy Facility in Abu
Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
National Energy Company (TAQA)
has announced signing a
Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with the Centre for Waste
Management Abu Dhabi (CWM) to
collaborate in the development
of a 100 megawatt electric
(MWe) generation facility
fueled with up to one million
tonnes per year of the region's
municipal solid waste (MSW).
06/22/2012
Covanta and
City of Tulsa Extend
Agreement for Energy from
Waste
Waste
conversion and resource
recovery giant Covanta Energy
has announced an agreement with
the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma to
extend the prior waste
management contract for an
additional 10 years.
06/22/2012
ACORE
Launches "Myth-Busters"
Renewable Energy Fact Check
Service
The America
Council on Renewable Energy
(ACORE) has added a significant
resource that is available to
the public with the launch of
its Energy Fact Check website.
06/22/2012
WELTEC's
Spherical Biogas Storage
Improves Hungarian Plant
Efficiency
German
anaerobic digestion specialist
WELTEC Biopower has reported
the installation and
implementation of a key
efficiency and economic
solution using an ancillary 600
cubic meter storage capacity
spherical vessel for raw biogas
storage. 06/22/2012
2012
CleanTech Open Semifinalists
Include Biomass, Waste,
Energy
Start-ups
The Cleantech
Open has announced 47
semifinalists in the 2012
Western Regional CleanTech Open
competition, and will present
awards leading to the Finals at
today's National Conference in
San Jose, California.
06/21/2012
PTG's Wastewater Disinfection
& Energy System Passes
Ventura Water's
Tests
California
based Pasteurization Technology
Group (PTG) and the City of
Ventura Water Department have
both announced successful
completion of the initial
evaluation phase of a
non-chlorine wastewater
disinfection and energy system
pilot at the City of Ventura's
Water Reclamation Facility.
06/21/2012
BCN
Researcher Awarded $1.8MM
for Waste Oils to Fuel and
Chemical
Pilot
University of
Alberta, Canada's Biorefining
Conversions Network (BCN) has
announced that Dr. David
Bressler has been awarded two
grants totaling round $1.8
million to develop a pilot
scale thermal conversion
facility. 06/21/2012
CEC Releases
Final CHP Report with Market
Assessment for
2011-2030
The California
Energy Commission (CEC) has
released a revised report
developed for the agency by ICF
International, Inc. entitled
Combined Heat and Power: Policy
Analysis and 2011-2030 Market
Assessment.
06/21/2012
Myriant
Receives $25MM under USDA's
B&I Loan Guarantee
Program
Massachusetts
based green chemistry
specialist Myriant has
announced a $25 million private
bond placement for construction
of its 30 million pound per
year bio-succinic acid
production plant in Lake
Providence, Louisiana.
06/19/2012
GE Supplies
Waste Gas to Energy Turbine
System to Japanese Steel
Plant
GE
will supply its robust Frame 9E
gas turbine system to the JFE
Steel Company Ltd (JFE) for
installation in the company's
East Japan Iron Works, located
in Keiyo Industrial Park east
of Tokyo in Chiba City.
06/19/2012
MagneGas
Selected by LVI for Two
Large Demolition Projects -
Cleaner,
Faster
Plasma waste conversion company
MagneGas has announced that its
hydrogen-rich metal-cutting
fuel MagneGas has been selected
by LVI Services Inc. for the
accelerated demolition of two
large power plants in Florida.
06/18/2012
Hadfield to
Provide Waste Wood to
Tilbury Green Power's New
Biomass
Plant
Tilbury Green Power (TGP) has
announced entering into a
long-term biomass feedstock
supply agreement with Hadfield
Wood Recyclers of Manchester.
06/18/2012
The Week's Action
Items
Due
07/02/2012: Comments on
California's 75% Recycling
Initiative
The California Department of
Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) has
requested that public comments
on this version of the agency's
draft implementation plan
"California's New Goal: 75
Percent Recycling" be submitted
by July 2, 2012.
06/24/2012
Due
07/03/2012: Intent to Bid on
East Kentucky Power Coop All
Source
RFP
The East
Kentucky Power Cooperative
(EKPC) has issued a Request for
Proposals (RFP) to obtain up to
300 megawatts of power,
including but not limited to
renewables over 5 megawatts, to
be on-line before October 2015.
06/19/2012
Due
07/09/2012: Abstracts for
DOE's Renewable Energy
Markets 2012
Conference The
US Department of Energy
(DOE) issued a Call for
Abstracts, seeking short
presentations for the
September 23-25 Renewable
Energy Markets 2012
conference in Washington,
D.C. 06/21/2012
Due
07/16/2012: Concept Paper to
DOE for Advanced Biofuels
Biorefineries
The US
Department of Energy's (DOE)
Funding Opportunity Exchange
has posted notice of a Funding
Opportunity Announcement (FOA)
for "Innovative Pilot and
Demonstration Scale Production
of Advanced Biofuels."
06/19/2012
Due
07/31/2012: Abstracts for
SWANA's March 2013 Landfill
Gas
Symposium
The Solid
Waste Association of North
America (SWANA) has released a
Call for Papers for its 36th
Annual Landfill Gas Symposium,
scheduled for March 18-21, 2013
in Las Vegas, Nevada.
06/22/2012
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