Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
23, June 9,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Is it
still "waste" if someone is
willing to pay you for it
and you don't have throw it
away? Well, as with
everything else, it's
really not that simple.
Remember, Waste is
regulated by the
government.
Let's say
it costs you a hundred
bucks a ton to get rid of
the left-over grit from
your business operations.
Your good buddy can put
that crud in concrete as
filler, but he can't risk
getting caught using an
unapproved material. He
tries it out in a small
batch or two, and hey! That
concrete still works just
fine, and he doesn't have
to buy as much gravel. He
pays you a few bucks a ton,
scoops it up and hauls it
to his batch plant. Did he
use a Waste or a by-product
of another industrial
process? It
depends.
Concrete
chemically binds many kinds
of otherwise-bothersome
materials, keeping them
from causing further
environmental degradation.
But if the product doesn't
stand up to testing,
there's this old federal
law that says the two of
you have just faked it with
a "use constituting
disposal." If there were no
hazardous elements in that
grit you sold him, fine -
but if it doesn't pass
muster, he's also
transported a hazardous
waste without proper
permits. Ah! Now we are
onto something: you have to
meet the specifications for
the intended use, and you
can't jeopardize others, at
least not without some
agency's
approval.
Waste, or
not waste: let's think
about what that means to
"waste conversion
technologies." Forget for
the moment the debate over
systems purported to
convert everything
back into heat and power,
and concentrate on systems
that can accomplish
molecular-level recovery of
resources. Consider biogas
from anaerobic digestion of
sorted food waste, and
synthetic fuel from
gasification of wood or
plastics.
If a
technology is designed to
convert a specified
fraction of waste for
resource recovery, it
should not matter if that
to-spec feedstock was
sourced from stuff others
discarded. The process of
segregation of fractions of
MSW to market specification
is recycling. Once
that stuff is "to-spec" it
should not be considered a
waste, and anything you do
with it from there on out
should no longer be
considered "waste
processing".
The real goal is to find
clean ways to convert
anything discarded, back
into new resources - to
Reduce, Re-use, Recycle and
Recover everything
that gets tossed aside - to
eliminate the very concept
of waste. The
convoluted and
self-contradictory language
that regulates recovery of
refuse derived resources
are supposedly intended as
a safety-net for the public
and the environment. Waste
conversion project
developers should be able
to abide by the Rules of
the Road without getting a
regulatory red
light.
Hey
Rube!
Many of the projects we are
watching have been under
development for over a decade.
It shouldn't take that long.
Beat regulatory language back
into common sense. Pay little
attention to the nay-sayers who
claim It Can't Be Done. They
are only right until they are
wrong, until the global
Circular Economy adopts at its
core premise the recovery of
resources from secondary
materials, and that there
really is no such thing as
waste.
This Week's Top Story
Enerkem
Launches 1st Commercial
MSW-To-Biofuels And
Chemicals
Facility
Canada
based Enerkem has
announced the
inauguration of its first
full-scale
waste-to-biofuels and
chemicals facility in
Edmonton, Alberta.
06/05/2014
The
Week's News
WBA Report
Says 14% of Global Energy
Comes from
Bioenergy
The
World Bioenergy
Association (WBA) has
released WBA Global
Bioenergy Statistics
2014, the first report on
this subject from the
organization, at the
World Bioenergy 2014
conference held on June
3-5, 2014 in Jönköping,
Sweden.
06/06/2014
SEER
Provides H2S Reduction
System for Pixley Biogas
Project
Colorado-based
Strategic Environmental
& Energy Resources,
Inc (SEER) has announced
that its subsidiary MV
Technologies will supply
its H2SPlus™ technology
for removal of hydrogen
sulfide (H2S) at the
Pixley Biogas anaerobic
digestion facility in
California.
06/06/2014
Déinove and
SUEZ Start Urban Organic
Waste to Fuel R&D
Program
France
based Déinove SA and SUEZ
ENVIRONNEMENT Group have
announced entering into
an agreement to start a
two year pilot waste to
fuel research and
development (R&D)
program.
06/05/2014
Renewable
Energy Group Completes
Syntroleum
Acquisition
Renewable
Energy Group, Inc has
announced that its
wholly-owned subsidiary,
REG Synthetic Fuels, LLC,
has completed its
acquisition of
substantially all of the
assets of Syntroleum
Corporation, which was
announced in December
2013.
06/03/2014
High-Octane
Gasoline Successfully
Produced from Woody
Biomass
The
Illinois-based non-profit
Gas Technology Institute
(GTI) has announced
successful completion of
another key stage in its
highly collaborative
biomass to liquid fuel
pilot research and
demonstration program
with Haldor Topsoe.
06/03/2014
Plevin's £5m
Waste Wood Recovery Plant
Set to Open in South
Yorkshire
United
Kingdom (UK) based R.
Plevin & Sons Ltd has
announced that it is in
the final stages of
commissioning its £5
million waste wood
recovery facility in
Hazelhead, South
Yorkshire, with full
operations at the site
expected to start in the
coming weeks.
06/02/2014
CEC
Schedules June 17th Workshop
on Grant Process for EPIC
Funds
The
California Energy
Commission (CEC) has
announced a workshop
scheduled for the
afternoon of June 17,
2014 to discuss the
up-coming grant
solicitation under the
Electric Program
Investment Charge (EPIC)
program, which was
adopted by the CEC in
April.
06/02/2014
Wood Waste
Biofuel Could Boost Shipping
Industry
Sustainability
Aston
University scientists are
involved in the ReShip
Project, which will use
low quality wood waste,
chippings, and
unmerchantable wood left
in forests after logging
has occurred to produce
new biofuels.
06/02/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
07/31/2014: Applications to
CalRecycle for GHG Reduction
Grants
The
Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery
(CalRecycle) has released
a Notice of Funds
Available (NOFA) for the
2014 / 2015 grant cycle
for the Recycled Fiber,
Plastic, and Glass (FPG)
Grant Program. $5,000,000
is available for this
funding cycle.
06/06/2014
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