Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
27, July 2,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
It's already in the law.
"Recycling" isn't the just
separation of good stuff
from bad. It isn't the just
collection, the transport
to the MRF, or the bales of
plastics and cardboard
destined for
who-knows-where. According
to California's Public
Resources
Code:
Recycling = Collect >
Sort > Clean > Treat
> Reconstitute > Raw
Material
Like everything else,
Recycling can be done well
or it can be done poorly.
You have to think about
what it is you are actually
trying to accomplish. If
the only facility that can
turn your recyclable
materials back into fresh
raw material is half-way
around the world, whatever
enviro-perks we gain by
Recycling go away when we
count value by the gallon
of diesel. If the final
work doesn't get done in
California, we're also
giving the Jobs. But here's
the rub: What we don't
count, doesn't count,
right? If we don't bother
to ask how much bunker fuel
that tanker used to get to
Singapore, we never add
that into the enviromental
cost of Recycling that bale
of plastic. Recycling isn't
about counting what gets
pulled off the conveyor at
the MRF. It's about the
whole pathway: the hauler
trucks, the MRF operations,
and the tonnage that
finally gets turned back
into usable raw material.
Or it isn’t
Recycling.
Donald Rumsfeld,
twice-Secretary of Defense,
called it right in his
recent memoir, "Known and
Unknown." He said
that in the Military,
you learn that what you
measure, improves. Put
differently, he said, "You
get what you inspect, not
what you
expect."
AB 341 now mandates
Commercial Recycling,
expecting far better
Recycling numbers by 2020
than we're getting right
now. The recycling numbers
we show these days are
based on how much is
separated, not how much
makes it back as a useful
raw material. If we can't
tell where the separated
stuff goes, or how clean or
dirty that job is, we can't
start to find the weak
spots and make the whole
mess better. Unless we know
very clearly what is
occurring now, we
can't tell what to
fix
Hey
Rube!
We've now
filed our formal comments on
CalRecycle's first draft AB 341
roll-out plan and also posted
them to our site. Dig around in
the state's on-line program
page, read other's
comments, see what Recycling
means to us Stakeholders.
Comments on this draft are
due today. CalRecycle's next
draft is scheduled to
be out in September,
and we'll all want to Speak
Up.
The
Week's Extra Reading
See Teru's
comments to CalRecycle's
first draft of "California's
New Goal: 75% Recycling."
This report is CalRecycle's
draft plan for
implementation of AB
341.
The
Week's News
Hawaii
Biochar Products Partners
with Pennsylvania's The
Biochar Company
Pennsylvania
based The Biochar Company has
announced its partnership with
the commercial biochar
production company Hawaii
Biochar Products, LLC. (HBP) to
strengthen both firms and
diversify their biochar
products.
06/30/2012
EdeniQ
Launches Pilot Biorefinery
Demonstrating Corn to
Cellulosic
Migration
Located in
Visalia in the heart of
California's Central Valley,
EdeniQ biomaterials and
biofuels firm has announced
launch of its pilot cellulosic
biorefinery.
06/30/2012
Gevo and
Butamax Both Advance in
Isobutanol Commercial
Production
Race
Continuing a
neck-and-neck race toward full
commercialization, bio-sourced
isobutanol production companies
Gevo and Butamax have both
released announcements of
significant advances this past
week.
06/30/2012
International
Biochar Initiative Calls for
Expert Panel
Nominations
The
International Biochar
Initiative (IBI) has announced
a call for nominations to an
expert panel for the
development of standardized
biochar stability test
methodologies needed to
establish a carbon market
protocol. 06/27/2012
University
of Minnesota Will Demo APL's
100 kWe Biomass
Gasifier-in-a-Box
The University
of Minnesota, Morris (UMN) has
announced a demonstration of
its newly installed
containerized biopower
generation system this Thursday
June 28, 2012.
06/27/2012
Pepco and
Delmarva Power Will Offer
Combined Heat and Power
Incentives
Pepco and
Delmarva Power, wholly-owned
subsidiaries of Pepco Holdings
Inc, have announced approval to
conduct a Combined Heat and
Power (CHP) Incentive Program
for development of projects
within their Maryland
territories.
06/27/2012
Texas
AgriLife Estimates Cost of
Delivered Mesquite Biomass
for
Bioenergy
The Texas
A&M University AgriLife
Research and Extension Service
has provided an update on the
economics of biomass
acquisition, reporting on the
on-going research efforts to
utilize honey mesquite as
feedstock for bioenergy.
06/26/2012
Tembec
Replaces Oil Boilers with
Biomass Boiler for CHP at
Béarn
Sawmill
The Canadian
diversified lumber company
Tembec inaugurated a new $6
million biomass-fueled 7
megawatt (MW) combined heat and
power (CHP) generator system at
its Béarn sawmill in the
Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of
Quebec. 06/26/2012
Piedmont
Biofuels Celebrates
Ribbon-cutting for Enzymatic
Biodiesel
Plant
North Carolina
based advanced biodiesel
producer Piedmont Biofuels
celebrated the official opening
of its new production
facilities on Lorax Lane in
Pittsboro last week.
06/26/2012
BiogenGreenfinch
Gets Planning Approval for
Food Waste AD Plant In
Wales
Bedfordshire,
United Kingdom (UK) based
BiogenGreenfinch has announced
it has received planning
approval from the Gwynedd
Council in Wales to build and
operate the Caernarfon green
energy plant, for anaerobic
digestion of 11,000 tonne per
annum (tpa) of food.
06/26/2012
USDA Awards
Support 450 Renewable Energy
and Energy Efficiency
Projects
US
Department of Agriculture
Secretary (USDA) Thomas Vilsack
announced the agency has
selected 450 projects to fund
across the nation, focused on
agriculture and small rural
business to reduce energy
consumption and implement
renewable energy projects.
06/26/2012
W2 Energy
Plans Manufacture of $5MM
Waste and Coal to Diesel
Prototype
Ontario,
Canada waste conversion
specialist W2 Energy, Inc. has
announced receipt of a $5
million commitment for
development of a 10-ton per day
waste-plus-coal to diesel
conversion prototype in
Botswana. 06/25/2012
UK's New
Beverage Carton Reprocessing
Plant Will Boost Recycling
Rates
The Alliance
for Beverage Cartons and the
Environment (ACE) UK has
announced an agreement with
Sonoco Alcore® to construct the
United Kingdom's (UK) only
beverage container reprocessing
facility co-located with its
production plant near Halifax,
West Yorkshire.
06/25/2012
The Week's Action
Items
Due 07/02/2012: Comments DOE's
Guide for Large-Scale Renewable
Projects
Last week, the
US Department of Energy (DOE)
announced the publication of
the draft Federal Renewable
Energy Guide: Developing
Large-Scale Renewable Energy
Projects at Federal Facilities
Using Private Capital.
06/25/2012
Due
07/05/2012: Intent to Offer
on SCE All-Source Power
RFO
Southern
California Edison (SCE) has
issued a competitive Energy and
Supply Management (ES&M)
All Source Request for Offers
(RFO) for new power contracts
up to 4 years in duration, and
is seeking (a) dispatchable
unit contingent energy only
tolling agreements, (b)
non-dispatchable qualifying
facilities resources and (c)
resource adequacy capacity
products. 06/25/2012
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