Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
27, July 7,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
In the
grand scheme of proper
waste management, we are
first to reduce, then
re-use, followed by recycle
and ultimately disposal.
Some would wedge "recover"
between the blue-bin of
recycling and the black
hole of the dump. You say
tomato...
It's easy
enough to envision proper
Reduction; just don't let
any of those tomatoes get
soft and squishy. Use while
fresh and you won't have to
toss. It's a little more
difficult to give an
example of Tomato Reuse -
how about this: (1) Win a
medal at the fair and then
(2) take it home for salsa.
Ah, now we are on to
Recycle, an easy one: off
go the little green top
things into the compost
bucket. Yes,
tomatoes-to-compost should
also be considered
"recycling", as almost all
organics can be recycled to
recover all sort of useful
commodities.
Now let's
take a look at this gray
zone between Recycling and
Recovery, as in "waste
conversion for resource
recovery". Recycling is of
course where we toss those
plastic bottles in the blue
bin, but it's only
recycling if those empties
actually end up being
returned to the marketplace
as new bottles (or
something else), instead of
finding a foreign
incinerator. But - is there
really any difference
between the two terms,
"recycling" and "recovery"
when it comes to how we
return our discards back
into the
economy?
The
difference, it seems, is
one of politics and money
and has very little to do
with function. Words
divide as much as they
define, and when your
livelihood depends on
defining the social high
ground of Recycling as
reclaiming, sorting, and
selling newspapers,
bottles, and cans, you do
whatever you can to hold
the line on that
definition. Same goes for
the rulemakers: when you've
spent ages carefully
putting Recycling into the
code and built entire
governmental programs
around those requirements,
it isn't comfortable to
have to consider new ways
that don't really fit the
old code.
Those
up-start technology
companies that can turn
that waste plastic into
fuel obviously aren't
Recyclers, are they? Well,
maybe … But what about
those AD companies that
grab organics to make
biogas instead of compost?
Hmmm, sounds like examples
of both Recycling and
Recovery, to me. My
goodness, where do we draw
the line?
Recycling
isn't restricted to
separation and sale.
Proper recycling
means that we sort, clean,
pre-treat, and prepare
those recyclables so that
they can be used as raw
materials for
re-manufacturing into new
products. It's a "cycle",
get it? And what are we
accomplishing when we truly
Recycle? We are
"recovering" useful
resources, rather than
allowing destruction or
disposal.
Proper recycling
must recover the raw
resources from the things
we throw away, and cycle
them back into the
marketplace; its the
Circular
Economy.
Hey
Rube!
If you think
quibbling over terms is a silly
pursuit, read up on the
European Commission's recent
policy statement pushing for
zero waste. As society at large
continually moves away from
disposal and destruction, what
we count as Recycling and
Recovery can make all the
difference.
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This Week's Top Story
Neste Oil
Supplies NEXBTL Renewable
Diesel to Power Helsinki
Festival
Finland
based Neste Oil has
announced that it will be
supplying 100% NEXBTL
renewable diesel to
generate electricity for
this year's Flow Festival
in Helsinki.
07/06/2014
The
Week's News
US EPA
Finalizes New Renewable
Fuels Regulations and
Standards
The US
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is
finalizing two actions
intended to help make the
Renewable Fuel Standard
(RFS) program more
efficient and
effective.
07/06/2014
EBRD
Organizes Financing to
Construct Major Biogas
Project in
Ukraine
The
European Bank for
Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) is
organizing a financing
program of up to €7.1
million to construct and
bring into operation a
2.25 MW biogas plant
adjacent to Rokytne sugar
mill in the Kiev region
of Ukraine.
07/05/2014
CR&R's
Anaerobic Digestion Facility
in California Is Under
Construction
California
based CR&R
Environmental Services
has announced that the
first phase of its
anaerobic digestion
facility in Perris,
California is under
construction.
07/05/2014
Quad County
Corn Processors Produces 1st
Gallon of Cellulosic
Ethanol
The
Renewables Fuels
Association (RFA)
announced that Quad
County Corn Processors
has produced the first
gallon of cellulosic
ethanol in Iowa from its
new cellulosic “bolt-on”
ethanol plant in Galva.
07/05/2014
EC Adopts
Key Circular Economy
Position: More Recycling to
Zero
Waste
The
European Commission (EC)
has formally adopted the
Communication position
paper entitled, "Towards
a circular economy: a
zero waste programme for
Europe" and accompanying
appendices (annex) to
establish a common and
coherent EU framework to
promote the circular
economy.
07/02/2014
GE Water to
Acquire Monsal for Advanced
Anaerobic Digestion
Technology
GE has
announced that its water
business, GE Water &
Process Technologies, has
agreed to acquire Monsal,
a private United Kingdom
(UK) based water, waste,
advanced anaerobic
digestion and integrated
biogas-to-energy
business.
07/02/2014
Scientists
Convert Glycerol to
Chemicals with
Palladium/Gold
Nanoparticles
Texas
based Rice University has
announced that research
leader Michael Wong and
his team have
demonstrated and
published on the
cost-effective conversion
of the glycerol residual
from biodiesel
production, using a
just-right balance of
nanoparticles of gold and
palladium.
07/02/2014
California
Partner Places First Order
to Distribute
MagneGas®
Florida
based MagneGas®
Corporation has announced
that its partner Placer
Power LLC in California
has placed its first
order and expects the
delivery of 676 cylinders
the 2nd week in July.
07/01/2014
New Lower
Cost Process Converts
Cellulosic Biomass to Sugars
for
Biofuels
A new
report has just been
published in the
Biotechnology for
Biofuels journal entitled
a highly efficient dilute
alkali deacetylation and
mechanical (disc)
refining process for the
conversion of renewable
biomass to lower cost
sugars.
07/01/2014
Pacific Ag
Seeks Additional Cellulosic
Residual for Abengoa Ethanol
Plant
The
Hugoton, Kansas,
operation of Oregon based
Pacific Ag, LLC is
looking for more wheat
straw, which along with
other ingredients, can be
used to produce
cellulosic ethanol, a
biofuel produced from
wood, grasses, or the
inedible parts of plants.
06/30/2014
E.ON’s
Blackburn Meadows Biomass
Plant Starts Generating
Electricity
E.ON UK
has announced that its
Blackburn Meadows biomass
facility in Sheffield has
generated electricity and
synchronized with the
local distribution
network for the first
time.
06/30/2014
BioAmber
Secures CAD $20MM Loan for
Sarnia Plant
Construction
Minnesota-based
BioAmber, Inc has
announced that its
Canadian subsidiary
BioAmber Sarnia Inc has
secured a CAD$20 million
commercial loan for
construction of the
planned Sarnia
manufacturing plant in
Ontario, Canada.
06/30/2014
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