Teru Talk Newsletter

Teru's Trash Talk

Well executed municipal waste management is a beautiful thing to behold (trust me on this one). When state-of-the-art waste conversion has its rightful place within that waste management scenario, we just get ecstatic.

So it is with the City of Surry, Canada, where first one then another element of the region's overall advanced waste management program has been surfacing over time. As one of the twenty-some-odd municipalities within the Metro Vancouver partnership, Surry does not stand alone in their progressive waste conversion implementation - and quite regularly, they claim the Lead Dog position. The view's always so much better from the front of the line.

It has been only two years and six months since Surry partnered up with agencies and industry to develop an advanced organic waste to fuels conversion facility, and this week, Mayor Linda Hepner couldn't hold back that delightful broad smile, whilst turning over a spade-full of Project Site Dirt. Start to shovel, 30 months: how long has been since your area broke ground on a major municipal infrastructure project in under three years?

Credit where due: Mayor Hepner had help - the Port Kells anaerobic digestion to biofuels project planning began under her predecessor Mayor Dianne Watts. The Canadian government kicked in almost 25% of the costs, and the City's industrial partners Orgaworld and Shanks now round out the engineering and tech platform expertise.

Now we need to look further afield: Metro Vancouver took a big leap and joined the United Kingdom's Waste & Resource Action Programme (WRAP) in September of last year for help implementing WRAP's "Love Food - Hate Waste" highly developed food waste focused public education template. Metro is launching pilot food waste collection efforts this year, so Surry's groundbreaking is happening none too soon.

But then, WRAP had a great training ground for food waste management, starting in 2012-2013; they implemented the program for the western region of the City of London. This was part of an even broader and more ambitious "food rescue" effort spearheaded by yet another Lead Dog, the often contentious Mayor Boris Johnson. London's borough-by-borough "pilots" involved around 10,000 local waste generators. When you've cut your food waste management teeth (so to speak) on London, then Metro Vancouver probably doesn't seem such a daunting challenge.

Then again, London and WRAP took their cue from the Courtauld Commitment, a voluntary agreement entered into and funded jointly by England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. This super-national effort's intent is to improve resource efficiency and reduce waste within the United Kingdom's grocery sector.

No wonder Mayor Hepner and her colleagues are sporting such big smiles.

Hey Rube!

On the California front, be aware that CalRecycle has pushed their "State of Recycling and State of Disposal in California" workshop from Tuesday of this week, to Tuesday of next week on March 24th. Just in case you didn't get the memo ...

This Week's Top Story

City of Surrey Breaks Ground for 1st Close-Loop Biofuel Processing Facility

The City of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, held a groundbreaking ceremony last week for the City's new organic waste Biofuel Processing Facility. 03/05/2015

The Week's News

Altranex Corporation Receives First US Patent for Renewable Lubricants

Ontario, Canada based Altranex Corporation has received notification from the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) that its first Patent has been allowed. 03/05/2015/span>

PHG Energy to Construct Waste-To-Energy Gasification Facility in Tennessee

PHG Energy (PHG) has signed a contract with the City of Lebanon, Tennessee, to provide a downdraft gasification plant that will cleanly convert up to 64 tons per day of blended waste wood, scrap tires, and sewer sludge into a fuel gas that will generate up to 300Kw of electricity. 03/04/2015

California's Landfill Tipping Fees Lower Than Expected for MSW

The California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) has announced availability of the newly published report, Landfill Tipping Fees California. 03/03/2015

UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery wins Commercial Scale Plant of The Year

UPM Biofuels was awarded the Commercial Scale Plant of the year in the WBM Bio Business 2015 competition yesterday in Amsterdam. 03/03/2015

Global Bioenergies Produces First Isobutene from Waste Biomass

Global Bioenergies has announced that it has produced “second generation” isobutene, toward its goal to diversify accessible feedstock towards cheaper resources. 03/03/2015

GFBiochemicals Levulinic Acid Technology Ready For Commercialization 

Biobased chemicals company GFBiochemicals is starting commercialization of its levulinic acid using its proprietary technology. 03/02/2015 

Foresight and GIB Finance 10MWe Gasification WtE Plant in Hertfordshire  

Foresight Group (Foresight) and the United Kingdom (UK) Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) have announced a £30m investment in the construction of a new £60m advanced-technology Waste to Energy (WtE) gasification facility in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. 03/02/2015 

Canadian Government Invests in Biofuels Sector 

The Honourable Michelle Rempel, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification Canada, has announced an investment of $538,542 in technology to enable biofuel producers in Western Canada to purify and convert raw glycerol more cost-effectively. 03/02/2015