Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
18, May 5,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Ahem. I
say, "An Economy based on
Waste of its Resources is a
False Economy." Whew…
that's so easy to preach;
not so easy to understand,
and difficult to do
anything about. Indeed, we
are a wasteful society by
choice, and that's a hard
truth to
swallow.
When I
choose one apple off the
produce counter over
another because the first
has fewer spots, that's my
choice. When the Produce
Man makes that cut before I
get there and the bruised
and lop-sided fruits and
veggies never get to the
sales shelf, that's a
business decision. Then
there's the cull that takes
away all the packaged goods
that are past their "Sell
By'" date - not bad, not
dangerous, just pulled. It
is common practice for a
large market to send a half
ton of perfectly useable
foodstuff to the dumpster
each day, and that's a
conservative estimate. The
same selection for the best
of the best takes place
from Harvest forward.
Farmers won't spend the
time and money to collect
what they can't sell, and
buyers won't think twice
about rejecting a truck
full of off-specification
produce.
Hey,
that's OK, right? We can
just put all that
second-rate organic stuff
into Anaerobic Digesters,
and make energy out of what
we decide isn't up to par.
So, are we at risk of
justifying our food
wastefulness by patting our
communal selves on the back
for Waste Conversion?
There's got to be a proper
balance, yet it all comes
back to the idea and
practice of Highest and
Best Use, the opposite of
which is
"waste".
The
idea of resource
reuse and recovery is
dandy. To make the concept
a reality, the proper tools
have to be conveniently
available to put it into
practice. If your market
doesn't have any process
set up to send the day-old
bread to a homeless
shelter, and there isn't
any food waste collection
program that can get those
carbohydrates into a
digester, that bread's
destined for the
landfill.
To put
the choice of Highest and
Best Use into daily
practice, we have to
intercept resources before
they become waste. OK, so I
probably will continue to
pick unblemished apples,
and to check the "Use By"
date on the yogurt. I can
also ask my local bakery
what they do with their
day-old bread, and see if
maybe there is an excess
food redistribution program
in my community. Then I can
push my county Board of
Supervisors toward adding
food waste processing
infrastructure with an
expanded digester able to
take in organic goo at our
local wastewater treatment
plant. But mostly, I can
pay more
attention.
Hey
Rube!
The vast
internet-enabled flood of
information many of us wade in
on a daily basis provides a
cornucopia we can use, or one
that can bury us. There are
bright people everywhere
working on the problems
presented by the overwhelming
need to not waste resources,
but we need to be selective in
what we glean. Teru Talk works
at that "gleaning" process, but
we really like to hear back
from our dear readers about the
waste you recognize, the
resource recovery challenges
you face, and the solutions you
would promote. Stand Up for
Resource Recovery!
This Week's Top Story
Akermin to
Demo BioCatalyst to Upgrade
Biogas at Copenhagen
WWTP
Missouri
based Akermin has
announced entering into a
Cooperative Agreement for
a commercial-scale
demonstration project
that will incorporate its
biocatalyst technology.
05/03/2014
The
Week's News
Pecan Row
Landfill Gas to Energy
Facility in Georgia Is
Officially
Open
Energy
Systems Group (ESG) has
announced the official
opening of the Pecan Row
Landfill
Gas-to-Electricity
facility at the Pecan Row
Landfill in Valdosta,
Georgia.
05/04/2014
Registration
of Sustainable Biomass Fuel
Begins Under UK’s
RHI
The
United Kingdom's (UK)
Department of Energy
& Climate Change
(DECC) has announced that
wood fuel suppliers will
now be able to register
their fuels as
sustainable by applying
to the Biomass Suppliers
List (BSL).
05/04/2014
Proposed
Organic Waste Bill AB 1826
Opposed by LA County Task
Force
California
Assembly Bill (AB) 1826,
introduced by State
Assembly Member Wes
Chesbro this past
February, would
significantly increase
mandatory organic waste
separation by commercial
enterprises.
05/03/2014
ACORE
Releases 'Renewable Energy
in Latin America and the
Caribbean'
The
American Council on
Renewable Energy (ACORE)
has released a white
paper on issues and
opportunities in the
Latin American and the
Caribbean (LAC) region
renewable energy markets.
04/30/2014
NRCS
California Launches Air
Quality Chipping Initiative
to Assist
Growers
The USDA
Natural Resources
Conservation Service
(NRCS) in California has
announced an initiative
to assist farmers in
Fresno, Kings, Kern,
Madera, Merced, San
Joaquin, Stanislaus and
Tulare counties with
fallowed orchards and
vineyards impacted by
California's ongoing
drought.
04/30/2014
TEG Group's
Combined AD / Composting
Plant Officially Opens in
London
The UK
Green Investment Bank
(GIB) has announced that
its first investment
project has been
completed on time, within
budget and is generating
power.
04/30/2014
Global
Bioenergies Granted Key US
Patent for Bio-Butadiene
Process
France
based Global Bioenergies
has announced that a
patent protecting an
essential step in its
process to produce
bio-sourced butadiene has
been granted by the US
Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO).
04/29/2014
New Valmet
Boiler Will Convert 50 Year
Old Finnish Coal Plant to
Biomass
Finland
based Valmet Corporation
has announced that it has
been chosen by Turun
Seudun Energiantuotanto
Oy (TSE) as the boiler
supplier for their
upcoming power plant
upgrade in Naantali.
04/28/2014
Thames Water
Selects AECOM and Cambi for
Sludge Digestion Plant
Upgrade
Norway
based Cambi has announced
that Thames Water has
selected AECOM as prime
contractor with Cambi as
specialist sub-contractor
to build an upgrade to
the sludge digestion
plant at Long Reach STW,
in NW Kent, United
Kingdom.
04/28/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
06/10/2014: GHG Reduction
Organics Grant Applications
to
CalRecycle
The
California Department of
Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) has
issued the Notice of
Funding Availability for
Fiscal Year 2014/15 and
posted the online
application for the
Greenhouse Gas (GHG)
Reduction Organics Grant
Program.
Due
06/16/2014: Consolidated
Funding Applications to New
York
State
New
York's Empire State
Development (ESD) has
announced that the state
is now accepting
Consolidated Funding
Applications (CFA) from
businesses,
municipalities,
not-for-profits, and the
public for Round IV of
Governor Andrew M.
Cuomo’s Regional Economic
Development Council
(REDC) initiative. June
16, 2014.
05/03/2014
Due
07/01/2014: Proposals for
Commercialization of
Cellulosic
Nanomaterials
The U.S.
Endowment for Forestry
and Communities has
released a Request for
Proposals intended to
advance development of
cellulosic nanomaterials.
04/30/2014
|