Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
30, July 29,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Rot is
Good, Grubs are Great!
That's the mantra for
Teru's own on-going organic
residual management. Now,
to actually "compost", you
keep the moisture up around
40% and let Them Microbes
eat and heat, eat and heat
until around 140 degrees.
In reality, "backyard
composting" in our
three-tier, black plastic
compost bin thing never
really gets hot enough,
long enough to bake out all
those seeds and bugs. What
you get instead is a
moldering mass of buggy,
seed-filled mulch in
varying degrees of
muckiness (technical
term).
Yet
wanna-be composting is not
necessarily a bad thing,
and is still better than
exporting our organics to
the local Pay-to-Bury
facility, and then buying
bags of mulch made from
who-knows-what. Our
household generates about
four pounds of veggie
scraps per day. A year goes
by, and over the winter the
oldest part of that
degraded black weedy buggy
stuff gets spaded into one
of the garden areas. The
birds go nuts getting the
bugs and worms. In the
spring, seeds sprout. It is
a real good idea to put
only food-seedy things into
the bin if you don't want
non-food seeds sprouting
later. Turn the sprouts
under, and they too join
the Rot in the Box. It
takes another year for all
that action to settle down
into a rich gardening soil
(you weren't in a hurry,
were you?).
Those of
you that have
followed my rants
know that I have
a standing agreement with
the well-established local
population of Black Soldier
Flies. About May of each
year, these 3/4" non-biting
sleek black flies take over
the compost bin, laying
eggs that hatch into what I
like to call "Ma Wee
Beasties." We quickly have
a seething mass of 1/2"
hyper-active soldier fly
grubs. Before my Beasties
are in place, I have to
cover each veggie scrap
addition with a layer of
mulch, and still
regularly end up with a
Plague of Gnats and the
occasional Ant Attack. But
once the grub colony is up
and running, there are no
gnats, no ants, or even any
real odor coming from the
"compost" bin - just this
amazing grub-machine
consuming up to 5 pounds a
day of organics and
converting this to new
grubs and
grub-poo.
Wee
Beasties mature in a few
weeks. The older grubs
crawl up and out, seeking
dry dirt. Some
people use a ramp to
let them scamper up and
into a small bucket,
creating a self-harvesting
system. I just cut a 1"
slot diagonally in the
front of the composter, and
the grubs find their own
way out. But the Cantaloupe
(their favorite snack) is
connected to the Soldier
Fly Grub, and the Grub's
connected to the next few
levels of the local food
chain. I had to build a
stout cage around the
composter last year to
discourage the local skunks
from rummaging in the lower
levels; I figured out they
were actually after the
grubs, not the rotting
veggies.
This
year, we've noticed an
increase in Phoebes,
beautiful swallow-relatives
that can catch bugs on the
fly. But then why should
those birds go to all that
trouble? The neatly dressed
Phoebe Families now sit
along a ledge near the
composter, chittering to
each other and getting all
excited when another of Wee
Beastie finds its way
through the Escape Slot.
I've created a Wee Beastie
Vending Machine and the
birds love it.
Hey
Rube!
Remember: AB
341's "Mandatory Commercial
Recycling" roll-out plans are
under development, and
CalRecycle is asking for
another round of comments by
August 1st comparing
do-it-yourself recycling versus
automated recovery via Mixed
Waste Processing Facilities.
Pluses and minuses in both
cases; study up, and submit
your own
ideas.
The
Week's Extra Reading
Teru has
submitted his own comments
to CalRecycle on the
comparison of Source
Separation (3 bins) to
sending it all to Mixed
Waste Processing
Facilities (1 bin). We
know that comments can be
kind of dry, so these have
full colored graphics to
liven them up. Take a
look.
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.
Gevo Ships
Biobutanol to US Coast Guard
for Marine Engine
Testing
Based in Colorado, Gevo has
announced that it has begun
supplying initial quantities of
16.1% renewable isobutanol
blended gasoline to the US
Coast Guard (USCG).
07/26/2013
Energos
Receives Planning OK for
Northern Ireland Waste
Gasification
Plant
United Kingdom (UK) based
Energos has announced receipt
of planning approval for an
80,000 tonne per year waste
gasification facility to be
developed in Lisburn, Northern
Ireland at the site of the
former Burn House Rendering
plant.
07/25/2013
RWE Begins
Commissioning of Markinch
Biomass CHP Plant in
Scotland
The Fife Council in Scotland
has announced a key milestone
in bringing the Markinch
Biomass CHP plant on-line with
RWE npower renewables feeding
seven hundred tonnes of wood
chip into the plant's feed
handling system.
07/25/2013
DOE Awards
$11MM to Small Businesses
for Clean Energy
Technologies
The Department of Energy (DOE)
Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy (EERE) has
announced awards of almost $11
million for projects focused on
clean energy technologies with
a strong potential for
commercialization and job
creation; a list of the awards
is provided.
07/25/2013
Appalachian
State Researchers Receive
Biofuel / Biochar Research
Grant
Appalachian State University
(App State) has announced
receipt of a $45,000 grant from
the non-profit North Carolina
Agricultural Foundation for a
project to economically convert
biomass to biofuel and biochar.
07/24/2013
Biffa
Partners with Jewson for
Green Energy and Zero Waste
to
Landfill
The United Kingdom (UK) based
Biffa has announced entering
into a partnership agreement
with Jewson Ltd., the
construction materials supply
and distribution subsidiary of
Saint-Gobain.
07/24/2013
Solarvest
Bioenergy Secures Key
Canadian Support for Algal
Research
Canadian algal specialists
Solarvest Bioenergy have
announced receipt of approval
for two research support
programs through the Natural
Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada
(NSERC).
07/23/2013
Construction
Starts in Alabama on
Advanced MRF with BHS
Recycling
System
Oregon based Bulk Handling
Systems (BHS) has announced the
ground-breaking ceremony for a
highly-automated and integrated
materials recovery facility
(MRF) and zero waste conversion
complex in Montgomery, Alabama
for recycling the region's
municipal solid waste (MSW).
07/22/2013
UK's ORG
Releases Guidance for Land
Application of Organics from
MSW
The United Kingdom (UK) based
Organics Recycling Group (ORG)
has announced release of a
guidance document addressing
standards for land restoration
with the separated organic
materials (SOMs) fraction of
municipal solid waste (MSW).
07/22/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
08/19/2013: Proposals to NSF
on Advanced Dry Cooling for
Power
Plants
The Directorate of Engineering
at the National Science
Foundation (NSF) in
collaboration with the Electric
Power research Institute (EPRI)
has announced release of a
solicitation seeking solutions
to address the critical problem
of water usage and consumption
at power plants for cooling.
07/23/2013
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