Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
8, February 25,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
The path
to Recover raw materials
for making more goods is
convoluted and fraught with
misinformation. Take Food
Waste: it sounds like
Society wastes almost more
food than it eats. Want to
save money and reduce food
waste in your kitchen or
your restaurant? Stand by
the trash can after the
meals, and see what gets
thrown away. If they don't
eat the creamed peas,
change the recipe, or don't
serve the peas. If half the
spuds go to the trash, cut
the spud portions in half.
But that doesn't always
work; I don't eat banana
peels, but they get counted
as food waste. Should I
start eating banana peels?
Should I eliminate bananas
from my grocery cart?
Nonsense. Let the folks
with the proper tools
handle those peels, and use
them for composting or for
anaerobic digestion. Your
part? Encourage your region
to have right
tools.
OK,
here's another bone to
pick: thin grocery store
plastic bags. It is Very
Popular right now to ban
those bags, and instead
encourage shoppers to bring
their own colorful,
Made-in-China bags made out
of what? Recycled Plastic.
I've finally got enough
odd-sized BYOBs (bring your
own bags) … and the
bag-person with a smile
drops that leaky package of
chicken right down into my
colorful BYOB. "Wait!" I
say, "Would ya mind putting
that mess in Plastic
first?" Who knows what's
growing in the bottom of my
BYOB. I'm beginning to
think it is not worth my
family's food-related
health to be so
socio-environmentally
correct.
I remember when we were
told paper bags were BAD
and if we cared about the
environment, we would use
plastic
ones.
Here's a
different take on plastic
grocery bags: Go right
ahead and use them, in
fact, bring your own
throw-away bags to the
store if your area bans
them. Just make sure your
local MRF has the tools to
convert them to beneficial
goods locally, instead of
sending them to China to
make them more colorful so
they can sell them back to
us. "But Wait!" I can hear
the screams, "Those baggies
get loose and fly all over
the place and make a
Horrible mess!" Well, I
personally adopted a very
effective anti-floater
trick I picked up from
reading Edward Humes'
"Garbology" … Tie a knot
in it.
Hey
Rube!
In a Circular
Economy, we need to keep track
of Materials and take personal
responsibility for ensuring
that as few goods as
possible get destroyed and as
much as possible gets put back
into use. Right now, the US and
Europe differ in the official
Waste Management Hierarchy, but
there's a movement afoot to
bring the two policies in line.
The difference: the European
Union places Recovery below
Recycling / Composting, and
above Waste to Energy and
ultimate Disposal. The US lumps
Materials Recovery right in
with incineration. That isn't
going to get us to a Circular
Economy. See what your own
state says about Recovery
versus Disposal, and Vote for
Recovery.
The
Week's Extra Reading
Guest author
Larry Buckle, PE has written
a
response
to the article submitted
by guest author Dominic Meo III
last week, "
Providing a
Road Map to Implementing AB
341
".
California's
AB 341 establishes a detailed
new Policy Goal "encouraging"
75% diversion from landfill by
2020.
We have added
a link in the left panel of the
website to the articles
and reports on Teru Talk in the
ongoing discussion of
California's AB 341. Now you
can find them all in one place.
Submit an article to us for
publication if you want to join
in the discussion.
The
Week's News
CEC
Community Scale Renewable
Energy Awards Include
RePower
Humboldt
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has announced
the grant award winners for the
"Community Scale Renewable
Energy Development, Deployment
and Integration (REDDI) grant
program.
02/24/2013
Thermogen
Proposes Torrefied Wood
Pellet Plant Near Port of
Eastport,
Maine
The torrefied wood production
company Thermogen Industries,
LLC, a forest products
subsidiary of Cate Street
Capital, has signed a Letter of
Intent (LOI) with the Eastport
Port Authority in Maine at its
regular board meeting to
develop a torrefied wood pellet
facility on February 19, 2013,
according to local news
coverage.
02/23/2013
Encina
Wastewater Authority
Completes Preliminary Design
for FOG
Addition
The Encina Wastewater Authority
(EWA) in Carlsbad, California
has reported completion of
preliminary design for the next
step in its progressive
biofuels project. Designs
include receipt and storage
systems necessary to add waste
fats, oils and grease (FOG) to
its anaerobic digesters (AD).
02/23/2013
Cereplast
Spins Off Algaeplast to
Commercialize Algal Biomass
to
Bioplastics
California based company
Cereplast has announced
creation of wholly-owned
subsidiary Algaeplast, Inc. to
further develop and
commercialize production of
bioplastic resins from algal
biomass.
02/23/2013
California
ARB Schedules LCFS
Regulatory Amendments
Workshop
The California Air Resources
Board (ARB) has released a
notice scheduling an all day
Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)
Workshop for March 5, 2013 with
two separate sessions.
02/22/2013
GDT Tek Will
Purchase Wisconsin Landfill
Gas-to-Energy Plant for
$9MM
Florida based renewable and
sustainable energy company GDK
Tek has announced it intends to
purchase a landfill gas (LFG)
to energy production plant
located in Wisconsin, and has
filed a Form 8K with the
Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) amending its
profile to reflect the
agreement with the owners.
02/22/2013
Diacarbon
Energy Awarded $1.05 million
From SDTC for Bio-Coal Demo
Facility
British Columbia based
Diacarbon Energy, Inc has
announced securing $1.05
million from Sustainable
Development Technology Canada
(SDTC).
02/20/2013
Florida
Governor Approves
BioNitrogen to Issue $175MM
in Tax Free
Bonds
Florida based BioNitrogen has
announced it has received
approval from the Florida
Governor's office allowing up
to $175 million allocation of
tax free bonds, which clears
the way to begin plant design
on their proposed facility.
02/20/2013
ElectraTherm
Green Machine Commissioned
at Biogas Plant in Czech
Republic
Nevada based ElectraTherm, Inc
has announced the commissioning
of its Green Machine organic
rankine cycle (OCR) waste heat
to power generator by plant
constructor EnviTec Biogas at a
biogas plant in Straznice,
Czech Republic.
02/20/2013
Harmonic
Energy Signs 10 Year Carbon
Black Supply Take-or-Pay
Agreement
London based Harmonic Energy,
Inc has announced the signing
of a 10 year waste-sourced
carbon black supply agreement
with the Texas firm Carbon
Black Sales (CBS) on a
take-or-pay basis.
02/19/2013
DOE Awards
$1MM to Strategic Analysis
to Advance Cost-Competitive
H2 Fuel
The US Department of Energy
(DOE) Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy
(EERE) has announced an
investment of $1 million to
advance the analysis and
evaluation of methods for
cost-competitive production and
transportation of hydrogen fuel
from renewable sources.
02/18/2013
US Forest
Service Releases Proposed
Directives for 2012 Planning
Rule
The United States Forest
Service (USFS) has announced
the release for public review
and comment of the 2012
Planning Rule Directives, the
key set of agency guidance
documents that will direct
implementation of the 2012
Planning Rule.
02/18/2013
Strategic
Bond Offering Will Package
GDT TEK and Green USA
Recycling
Florida based GDT Tek, Inc has
announced that it will expand
its strategic partnership with
Indiana based recycling and
waste to energy firm Green USA
Recycling Corp.
02/18/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
03/08/2013: Comments to
California's Cap-and-Trade
Investment
Plan
Update
: The ARB has now posted
workshop details and released a
Draft Concept Paper on the
Cap-and-Trade Auction Proceeds
Investment Plan.
02/22/2013
Due
04/22/2013: Proposals to DOE
for Advanced Gasification
Technologies
The United States Department of
Energy (DOE) National Energy
Technology Laboratory (NETL)
has released Funding
Opportunity Notice
DE-FOA-0000784 entitled
"Advanced Gasification
Technologies Development and
Gasification Scoping Studies
for Innovative Initiatives."
02/19/2013
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