Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
39, September 29,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Oh, truer
words were never spoken:
CalRecycle's spokesperson
was quoted in the local
Sacramento rag recently as
saying that it is important
to make the distinction
between collected
and recycled, and
that whether something that
has been tossed actually
gets "recycled" is
determined by whether there
is the appropriate local
processing capability. You
got that right.
California's
Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery,
humorously referred to as
CalRecycle, is making
another run at imposing
lopsided control. The
Golden State pays very
little attention to their
own legal definition of
what constitutes Recycling,
"… the process of
collecting, sorting,
cleansing, treating, and
reconstituting materials
that would otherwise become
solid waste, and returning
them to the economic
mainstream in the form of
raw material for new,
reused, or reconstituted
products …" The People's
Money is instead used to
"incentivize" a small
cluster of entrenched
"recyclers" to sell off the
goods with the highest
value, usually to be
shipped out of the country
to who-knows-where. Hey,
State Agency, check your
own code: if you can't tell
where the stuff went or
what happened to it, you
sure can't count it as
"recycled".
We would
contend that Everything
can be Recycled with the
Right Tools. To make
this work, communities need
that "appropriate local
processing capability".
Unfortunately, this doesn't
fit the current Recycler's
concept of how to make
money, or the state
agency's idea of how to
achieve that 75% diversion.
Someone has to make
the decision to invest and
develop the needed
processing infrastructure,
and many of our Materials
Recovery Facility
owner/operators know that
their plants are a great
location for that to occur.
But wait: with another
round of hefty incentives,
the good people running the
MRFs can continue
high-grading easily
recyclable goodies from the
trash instead of pushing
further into Recovery.
After all, the rest just
gets sent on to the
Dump.
Earlier
this year the State
scheduled a workshop to
start honest discussions
about some of the more
controversial
thermal waste
conversion technologies and
their place in the
infrastructure of
appropriate local
processing capabilities.
Yeah; that never happened.
Instead, now we see
CalRecycle will host a
series of workshops to
discuss the Horrors of Bad
Packaging. With the
existing strength of
control over Cans, Bottles
and Newspaper Recycling,
perhaps anything that can't
be poured into a glass
bottle should be canned …
or maybe just wrapped up in
a roll of old
newsprint.
The
State's "recycling" agency
and the existing recycling
industry need to stop
congratulating each other
on increased subsidization
of the front
end of the recycling
process, and wherever
possible take that risk to
build out the needed
back end, the local
processing capacity. Step
up where you can, but if
that doesn't work for you,
then don't impede others
who are ready, willing and
able to take a swing at
clean and economical waste
conversion for resource
recovery. If you can't lend
a hand, at least get out of
the way.
Hey
Rube!
Despite the roadblocks, some
forward-thinking municipalities
continue to slog ahead. The
City of San Jose and Los
Angeles City and County can be
counted among those stalwart
bodies of
leadership.
This Week's Top Story
GranBio
Begins Producing
Second-Generation Cellulosic
Ethanol in
Brazil
Brazilian
biotech company GranBio
Investimentos S.A. has
initiated production at
the first
commercial-scale plant
for second-generation
(2G) ethanol in the
Southern Hemisphere.
09/28/2014
The
Week's News
DOE BETO
Schedules Waste-to-Energy
Roadmapping
Workshop
The US
Department of Energy
(DOE) Bioenergy
Technologies Office
(BETO) wants to identify
and address key technical
barriers to the
commercial deployment of
liquid transportation
fuels from waste
feedstocks.
09/28/2014
Southwest
Airlines Will Purchase Jet
Biofuel from Red Rock
Biofuels
Texas
based Southwest Airlines®
Co. has signed an
agreement with Colorado
company Red Rock Biofuels
LLC (RRB) to purchase low
carbon renewable jet
fuel, made using forest
residues.
09/28/2014
Proterro
Will Conduct Waste CO2 to
Sucrose Pilot at Bunge's
Brazil
Facility
New
Jersey based Proterro,
Inc and Bunge Global
Innovation, LLC, a wholly
owned subsidiary of Bunge
Limited (Bunge), will
conduct a pilot study of
Proterro’s
sucrose-production
technology in Brazil
under a joint development
agreement.
09/27/2014
USDA Awards
Vega Biofuels' JV Pilot
Plant a $200,000 Producer
Grant
Georgia
based Vega Biofuels, Inc
has announced that its
Allendale, South Carolina
Joint Venture (JV)
project with Agri-Tech
Producers, LLC (ATP) has
been awarded a
Value-Added Producer
Grant from the United
States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) in the
amount of $200,000.
09/27/2014
Cambi System
Will Treat 50 Dry Tonnes/Day
of Sludge at Greek
WWTP
The
Greek construction
company Aktor has awarded
Cambi a contract for the
installation of Cambi’s
Thermal Hydrolysis THP B6
system at Psyttalia
Island Wastewater
Treatment Works in
Athens.
09/25/2014
CEC
Schedules Workshops on
ARFVTP Grant Solicitation
Process
The
California Energy
Commission (CEC) has
scheduled five staff
workshops to share
information and answer
questions about the
Alternative and Renewable
Fuels and Vehicle
Technology Program
(ARFVTP) grant funding
process.
09/25/2014
UK Partners
with Metro Vancouver for
'Love Food Hate Waste'
Campaign
In her
blog, Dr. Liz Goodman,
CEO of the United
Kingdom's (UK) Waste
& Resources Action
Programme (WRAP)
announced that their
organization has secured
a partnership with Metro
Vancouver, Canada to
bring the UK's Love Food
Hate Waste campaign to
British Columbia.
09/25/2014
Iona Capital
Invests in Second MT-Energie
Biogas Plant in
Scotland
Iona
Capital Ltd has completed
an investment in a second
anaerobic digestion (AD)
plant in Scotland. Iona
has once again teamed up
with MT Energie, the
German AD specialist and
Scotia Gas Networks (SGN)
who will source the
network entry equipment
and oversee the projects
connection to the gas
grid.
09/25/2014
New York
Initiative Calls for BCA for
Distributed Energy
Resources
In its
proceeding on Reforming
the Energy Vision, the
New York State Public
Service Commission has
undertaken an initiative
to improve the efficiency
of the New York
electricity system
through the promotion of
distributed energy
resources (DER).
09/25/2014
MagneGas
Enters Final Test Phase with
New York City's Fire
Department
Florida
based MagneGas
Corporation (MagneGas)
has announced that it has
received formal
confirmation from the
Fire Department of the
City of New York (FDNY)
that it has commenced
final testing of
MagneGas® for use as a
replacement to acetylene.
09/24/2014
Gaelectric
Group Acquires Imperative
Energy to Enter Biomass
Market
Ireland
based Gaelectric Group
has announced that it has
acquired Imperative
Energy Ltd., a leading
provider of biomass
energy solutions in
Ireland and the United
Kingdom.
09/24/2014
Biogen
Becomes First Producer of
Certified Biofertilizer in
Wales
Biogen’s
GwyriAD food waste
anaerobic digestion (AD)
plant near Caernarfon has
become the first in Wales
to achieve the Publicly
Available Specification
PAS 110 status for its
biofertilizer.
09/24/2014
CARB Hosts
2nd 2014 Low Carbon Fuel
Standard Advisory Panel
Meeting
The
California Air Resources
Board (CARB) has
scheduled the second 2014
meeting of the Low Carbon
Fuel Standard (LCFS)
Advisory Panel for
October 6, 2014 from 9:00
am to 4:00 pm at the
Cal/EPA Building in
Sacramento.
09/23/2014
The Biochar
School Announces Its
Inaugural Session in
California
The
Biochar School has
announced that
registration is open for
its first session on
"Appropriate Technology
for Small Farms." The
session will be held at
Swallow Valley Farm in
Valley Ford, California
on November 7-11, 2014.
09/23/2014
Bion Files
Patent for Next-Gen
Livestock Waste Treatment
Technologies
New York
based Bion Environmental
Technologies, Inc has
announced that it has
filed a new patent
application for its
next-generation livestock
waste treatment
technologies.
09/22/2014
IEA
Bioenergy Task 42 Releases
Global Biorefinery Status
Review
The
International Energy
Agency (IEA) Bioenergy
Task 42 on Biorefining
team has released a
review of the global
status of biorefinery
development completed
earlier this month.
09/22/2014
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