Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
26, July 1,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Our
industry is in process
of rebranding itself.
Nobody even wants to
say the nasty word
"waste" any more … it's
"resource", or it's
residuals or byproducts or
anything but waste. It's
"biomass", even when it
isn't, even when most of
that pile is
anything but
dead plant and animal
stuff. Somehow Bio-Mass
just doesn't seem so …
dirty.
That
naturally goes for "waste
conversion" as well. OK, so
if you don't like that
phrase, let's call all
these processes for
converting waste to usable
stuff "reconstituting" or
reprocessing. And Teru Talk
is as guilty as the rest.
You don't wanna hear
about the W-word? We're
down with that; we get the
"yuck" factor. We just want
our dear readers to get the
right idea, no matter what
words are used: a duck by
any other name still hasta
cwaaak.
This is
Big Stuff we're talking
about now, figuring out
what the proper buzz words
are to use today. And we
should have seen it coming,
when almost overnight,
trash collectors became
Sanitation Engineers,
pick-apart stations became
Materials Recovery
Facilities, and
California's Waste
Management Board became …
CalRecycle. Just as a side
note however, the DOE still
calls it waste, as you can
see from our Action
Item below.
So it is
good to remember our roots
even while we rebrand
ourselves as a cleaner,
more genteel society. Just
brokering MRF "recyclables"
doesn't get the job done.
Someone still has to get
dirty handing it, and if we
can't call that final
reprocessing "waste
conversion", we
still have to tear
those "recyclates" apart to
make them into something
new. The thing is, while
we've been busy make up new
terms for our ahhh,
"resources", we've also
been quite effective making
sure those dirty
"reconstituting" industries
aren't in the golden state.
Well great; we got just
what we asked for: we don't
have the local tools
necessary to take care of
our own mess. Besides that,
we get stuck with the
emissions from shipping
those same "resources"
half-way around the globe
to somebody else's
dirty home for
reprocessing.
So cuss
that devil Industry, and
make up all the Happy Words
so you feel better about
the crud in the barrel out
back. Just remember that to
Own Our Own Waste like
CalRecycle says we must, we
are going to have to build
our reprocessing and
remanufacturing industrial
infrastructure right here,
among our
communities.
Pay attention to the New
Words for Old Things; they
change every day. But when
those who would lead
us use them so freely, take
the time to check for the
underlying Truth. The new
buzz words are often a
smoke screen to distract
us, to convince us that
some lop-sided excuse for
mismanagement is actually
"the right thing to do."
And the next time you are
asked to consider allowing
one of those (gasp!)
waste
conversion companies
to build a recyclate
reconstituting plant or
resource reprocessing
facility, brace yourself
and give 'em a
thumbs-up.
Hey
Rube!
If you want a Real lesson in
Word Play, dig into the rash of
proposed bills being rushed
through to beat the mid-July
legislative clock. Once these
clever word-smiths bury the
Truth among the buzz words well
enough for a bill to get the
Governor's Okie Dokie, we're
the ones who get to live with
the results. Funny thing is,
all our legislators have phone
numbers and email addresses and
every one of 'em is
overly sensitive to being
jumped on by their Constituents
(that's you and me, dear
reader).
The
Week's Extra Reading
See Teru's
new article on
AB 32 AND THE WASTE MANAGEMENT
SECTOR
addressing
California Recycling's
Place in Greenhouse Gas
Reduction. Also see
Teru's
comments
to
CalRecycle on the
agency's draft
plans.
The
Week's News
NOTE:
If you are using
IE10 and our website isn't
loading as smoothly as you
would like or the page jumps
when you click on a link to go
to a certain news item, just
change to "compatibility view"
and all will be
fine.
Progressive
Waste Solutions Opens
C&D Advanced MRF in
Vaughn,
Ontario
Canada based Progressive Waste
Solutions Ltd. (PWS) has
announced that it has opened
its advanced waste reduction
and resource recovery facility
in Vaughn, Ontario.
06/29/2013
Xebec
Commissions Second Biogas to
CNG Plant in South
Korea
Based in Quebec, Canada, Xebec
Adsorption Inc. has announced
commissioning of its second
small-scale BXG biogas to
compressed natural gas (CNG)
fuel facility in South Korea.
06/29/2013
VTT Finland
Collaborates with AU
Government on Bioeconomy
Study
The VTT Technical Research
Centre of Finland (VTT) has
announced an agreement with the
South Australian State
Government to study potential
routes for increasing the
competitiveness of Australian
forestry industry through
enhancing and diversifying the
country's bioeconomy.
06/26/2013
CalRecycle
Hosts Workshops on
Development of MRF Standards
and BMPs
The California Department of
Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) has
released a Public Notice for
the third in a series of public
workshops to address aspects of
the development of best
management practices (BMPs) and
performance standards for
materials recovery facilities
(MRFs).
06/25/2013
CleanWorld
Expands Capacity of
Sacramento High-Solids AD
Plant by
300%
Following successful
demonstration and validation at
10,000 tons per year,
California based CleanWorld has
announced breaking ground for a
300% capacity expansion to
40,000 tons per year.
06/25/2013
OriginOil's
Technology Selected for Fish
Farm Wastewater to Algae
Integration
Los Angeles based OriginOil has
announced that its Electro
Water Separation (EWS)
technology has been selected by
the Wyoming firm New Global
Energy (NGE) as a key
processing element in NGE's
drive to acquire and restart
idle fish farming operations in
the Coachella Valley region of
Southern California.
06/25/2013
USAID
Provides $100MM Investment
Guarantee for Clean Energy
in India
The US Agency for International
Development (USAID) announced
that it will partner with US
based institutional investor
Northern Lights Capital Group
to facilitate a $100 million
investment in India’s clean
energy sector via Nereus
Capital.
06/25/2013
WELTEC
BIOPOWER Altmark AD Plant
Selling Biogas to Regional
Grid
Germany based WELTEC
Biopower has
announced that its 70,000 tonne
per year anaerobic digestion
(AD) combined heat and power
(CHP) plant is now through all
testing and has begun injecting
upgraded biomethane into the
regional natural gas grid
infrastructure.
06/25/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
07/15/2013: Comments to US
DOE on State of Sustainable
Waste to
Energy
The US Department of Energy
(DOE), Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy (EERE)
Exchange Program has released a
Request for Information (RFI)
seeking public and private
stakeholder input regarding the
state of technology development
and commercial readiness of
emerging waste to energy (WTE)
technologies.
06/29/2013
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