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Teru Talk Newsletter

Volume IV, Issue 42, October 20, 2014 
Teru Talk by Michael Theroux (pronounced "Terú")  

Teru's Trash Talk

The warm and fuzzy feeling a civilized society gets from separating out the cans and bottles from trash is all well and good, and certainly is better than the callous disregard of earlier eras. Yet let's face it: this economy has itself "been in the dumps" for the past seven years, and satisfying recycling mandates does as little to put beans on the table as does transatlantic recyclate shipment. We need to build out the local processing infrastructures that can convert Garbage to Goods, Waste to Wealth. Communities need the local jobs and the ready access to materials that the clean conversion of our discards can provide.

Roadmaps to Compliance are dandy, as long as that shining light in the distance was put there for the good of whole, rather than to benefit the few. The premise that anyone doing business should be responsible for reducing their own waste generation and increasing resource recovery is sound. But you have to ask yourself, where is all that recycled stuff going to go, and who pays, really, to get it there?

Years ago, the California Water Board was on the verge of regulation demanding that dairymen no longer let cow manure contaminate the land and groundwater. The Good Idea was that this would clean up the environment while driving use of dairy digesters. Problem #1: not enough digesters were being built to accommodate the need even if the money was there to build them, and #2: all those cows continued to poop. The legislative effort was tabled in preference for State help to build out the digester knowledge, systems availability, and supportive programs.

We're not talking about massive plants that must be fed everything in sight to stay alive. We need Business to Business (B2B) synergy, networks of local, community scale tools that put people to work, cut transport emissions, and return resources to that same region. Visualize interconnected modules in community-centric hub-and-spoke configurations that gather up and process separated types of crud, shipping the pre-treated gases, liquids and solids off to final stage remanufacturing centers.

If indeed we accept that the Government Knows Everything about all of us, then it is reasonable to assume that Leadership can also figure out what is discarded from where, in what quantities, and where it should go next. Then the task before us becomes a process of identifying and encouraging the development of B2B synergy and conversion infrastructure that we need to locally intercept the waste flow and close the loop. We know how to find out what is missing: it's just a new version of that old-school truancy test: "Raise your hand, everybody who's not here."

Hey Rube!

LA County's proposed Roadmap posted in this week's news (see below) goes a long way exploring the paths to resource recovery from the garbage we generate. Read, and appreciate: then ask yourself what is missing, who pays for this Plan, and who actually benefits.

This Week's Top Story

Xergi Biogas Plant Will Convert London Food Waste into Energy and Fertilizer

Denmark based Xergi A/S has announced that it has been selected by Willen Biogas Ltd to build and operate its new 27,000 tpa waste to energy plant in Enfield, North London. 10/15/2014

The Week's News

Los Angeles County Proposes Sustainable Waste Management Roadmap

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works has developed a Roadmap to a Sustainable Waste Management Future that will be considered for adoption by the Board of Supervisors at their regularly scheduled meeting on October 21, 2014. 10/19/2014

Global Clean Energy Secures Waste Tire Supply Contract with Liberty Tire

Texas based Global Clean Energy, Inc (GCE) has announced securing a long term supply agreement with Liberty Tire Recycling to provide tire chips as feedstock to GCE for its planned tires to fuels project. 10/19/2014

ILG to Host Webinar on Financing Recycling Programs in California

The Institute for Local Government (ILG) has scheduled a webinar on Financing Recycling Programs: Applying Existing California Law for November 4, 2014 from 10:00am to 11:00am PST. 10/17/2014

ADBA Lauds Opening of Bio-Thermal Research Plant at Cranfield University

Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) Chief Executive, Charlotte Morton, officially opened Cranfield University’s new anaerobic digestion (AD) research plant yesterday (October 16). 10/17/2014

Minneapolis Mayor Pushes for Expanded Food Waste Recycling Program

Minneapolis, Minnesota Mayor Betsy Hodges joined city leaders at the home of a local resident last Wednesday to talk about the success of recent drop-off organics recycling programs throughout the city. 10/17/2014

Waste and Biomass Conversion Rank High in Green Chemistry Challenge

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the 2014 Presidential Green Chemistry winners, and as companies making chemical products from waste and biomass sources appear prominently in almost every category. 10/17/2014

ANDRITZ to Supply Waste-To-Energy Plant to Finish Power Company

Austria based ANDRITZ AG has been selected by the local utility company Riikinvoima Oy to supply a waste-to-energy power plant to be sited in Leppävirta, Finland. 10/16/2014

Green Biologics Named to This Year's Global Cleantech 100 List

England based Green Biologics Ltd has announced that it was named in the 2014 Global Cleantech 100,   a comprehensive list of private companies with the highest potential to make the most significant market impact. 10/16/2014

Lockheed Martin Will Manufacture Concord Blue Gasification Reformer

Maryland headquartered Lockheed Martin has signed a manufacturing agreement with Concord Blue to provide all manufacturing support for the Concord Blue Reformer® technology, which converts waste to energy using advanced conversion technology. 10/15/2014

Valmet to Supply Biomass Power Plant to Skövde Värmeverk AB in Sweden

Finland based Valmet Corporation will supply a complete biomass based power plant to Skövde Värmeverk AB in Skövde, Sweden. 10/13/2014

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Recommended Reading:

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Waste to energy conversion technology (Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy 2013)

 

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Teru Talk is an online publication of JDMT, Inc with the goal of opening the dialogue and providing current news and commentary on issues and successes associated with waste conversion to renewable energy, biofuels and other bio-based products for resource recovery.

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