Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume V, Issue 21, May 26,
2015
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
The waste management authority
responsible for the seven
boroughs in the north end of
London has decided that after
recycling everything they can
think of, they will still have
enough crud at the bottom of
the bucket to fuel a new £500m
energy recovery facility. They
will incinerate (oh, my) the
stuff that is left over after
all the food waste, paper,
plastic bottles, and glass
containers have been picked out
of their trash. By 2050, the
new system will be converting
around 700,000 tonnes per year
of that non-recyclable garbage
to provide both electricity and
district heating. Let’s put
this decision in
context.
We think society can, or at
least
should
, recycle 100% of the stuff
that gets thrown away. In
resource management as in Life,
the goal is to always look for
the Highest and Best Use. Most
developed countries by now have
established a Waste Management
Hierarchy to indicate these
priorities. Arguably, it is
best to not make that trash in
the first place, so at the top
of that hierarchy, we must
Reduce how much we discard.
Don’t buy more than you need;
use what you can as long as
possible. But if you really are
done with that whats-it, maybe
you or somebody else can simply
clean it up some and find
something else to do with it.
If we think about
it,
we can
Re-Use a lot of things for a
secondary
purpose.
Below that re-use priority in
the hierarchy comes Recycle,
and this is where confusion
enters. Recycling is recovery
of the basic materials that
make up that discard. Recycling
accomplishes reclamation of the
molecules, or “molecular
recovery”. We collect. We sort,
clean and separate. Then we
take the discrete types of
stuff down to its basics, taken
apart even to the molecular
level, and get those foundation
parts ready to be used as the
raw material for
re-manufacturing.
The Highest and Best Use
hierarchy has a built-in
caveat: if you can’t accomplish
the top level, you drop
down to the next one. If the
tools are simply not
technically available and/or
economically accessible to take
a particular type of discarded
crud apart to foundation
chemicals, you do the next best
thing. If you can’t accomplish
recycling, then you Recover the
energy inherent in that
“feedstock”. Right now
incineration is the most common
method of last-gasp energy
recovery from trash, and
although maybe you can find
other methods to accomplish
this same energy recovery
alternative, you seldom do so
at less cost. Tightly
controlled combustion “renders
to ash”: it destroys the chance
to reclaim those precious
molecules. But the big burners,
the Energy from Waste plants,
are our current stop-gap, and
are in truth, the last best
available alternative to
Disposal in a big leaky,
stinking pit.
London
rolls the dice and plans a
massive Burner, hoping to stop
or at least drastically reduce
landfilling.
In case
you're worried about air
quality, the plant will
incorporate technology that can
achieve levels of 60% below the
current permissible limits for
nitrogen oxides. Meanwhile,
that huge metropolis is doing
everything imaginable to Reduce
the amount of trash generated,
and to Re-use as much good
stuff as possible. This is
really apparent in all the ways
slightly odd fruits and
off-color veggies are being
made into wholesome meals
instead of dumpster filler. 50%
Recycling is a constant goal,
with higher rates sought at all
levels. But when all is said
and done, when nothing more can
be reclaimed from the region’s
refuse given the tools at hand,
at the very least North London
will recover heat and power.
It's much better than sending
it to the
dump.
Hey Rube!
One of the best tools for
Reduce-Reuse-Recycle is the
integrated Eco Park, where your
trash becomes my feedstock. See
our newsy bit on The Foundry
Project; great
example.
This Week's Top Story
BioEnergy
Hawaii and Ulupono
Initiative Partner for Waste
Conversion
Facility
BioEnergy Hawaii, LLC (BEH) has
partnered with impact
investment firm Ulupono
Initiative to finance a
resource recovery facility
planned for the west side of
Hawaii Island.
05/22/2015
The Week's News
Ohio
'Foundry Project' to Use
Data Center Waste Heat for
Aquaculture
Environmental attorney J.
Duncan Shorey has announced
formation of The Foundry
Project, a collaborative
redevelopment of an 8-acre
brownfield site in Cleveland,
Ohio.
05/22/2015
Cirque
Energy and Cat Cay Yacht
Club to Jointly Develop DGU
Power
Plant
Michigan based Cirque Energy,
Inc has announced entering into
a Joint Development Agreement
(JDA) with Cat Cay Yacht Club
(Cat Cay), North Cat Cay
Island, Bahamas, for the
potential development and sale
by Cirque to Cat Cay of
renewable energy.
05/22/2015
UN
Sustainable Energy for All
Announces Global Bioenergy
Initiative
A new multi-stakeholder
coalition co-chaired by the
United Nations (UN) Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO)
and the Roundtable on
Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB)
has announced its intention to
speed up the development and
deployment of sustainable
bioenergy.
05/21/2015
Energy
Recovery Ships Pressure
Exchanger System for Oman
Power
Plant
California based Energy
Recovery Inc has shipped
pressure energy technology
components for a $1 million
desalination plant project in
Sur, Oman. For this project,
Energy Recovery is partnering
with Sidem, a Veolia
Environnement company
headquartered in France.
05/21/2015
Aventine
Installs Valicor Corn-Oil
Separation System at 110 MG
Ethanol
Plant
Illinois based Aventine
Renewable Energy Inc has
announced the successful
installation of its third
Valicor® corn-oil separation
system.
05/21/2015
Blue Sphere
Acquires Four Producing
Waste to Biogas Facilities
in
Italy
North Carolina company Blue
Sphere Corporation has
announced that its new
subsidiary Blue Sphere Italy
S.r.l has acquired four fully
operational biogas facilities
in Italy.
05/20/2015
North London
Eyes New Energy Recovery
Project to Hit 50% Recycling
Target
The North London Waste
Authority (NLWA) has unveiled
plans to develop a new £500m
energy recovery facility that
will generate electricity from
non-recyclable waste to power
local homes and businesses.
05/20/2015
Green Plains
Partners LP Files for $200M
IPO
Green Plains Partners LP has
filed to offer $200 million in
units in an initial offering
with the US Security Exchange
Commission (SEC).
05/20/2015
SEaB Wins
2nd Phase Cognicity
Challenge and Canary Wharf
Pilot
OK
London's Canary Wharf Group
(CWG) has announced winners in
its ongoing Cognicity Challenge
with this second round focused
on Integrated Resource
Management and Automated
Building Management.
05/18/2015
Texas
A&M Agriculture Faculty
Focuses on Stopping Global
Food
Waste
Agriculture faculty at Texas
A&M University are vowing
to team up and figure out how
to reduce global food waste by
5 percent over the next decade,
according to Dr. Steve Searcy,
the group’s facilitator and
head of the Texas A&M
biological and agricultural
engineering department.
05/18/2015
Gulfstream
and World Fuel Services Sign
Renewable Fuels
Agreement
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp and
its fuel supplier, World Fuel
Services Inc has finalized a
three-year agreement that
provides Gulfstream with a
consistent supply of renewable
fuels for its daily flight
operations in Savannah.
05/18/2015
The Week's Action
Items
Due
06/15/2015: Comments to ODEQ
on Reklaim Waste Conversion
Facility
The Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality (ODEQ)
has released a public notice
requesting written comment on
the proposed renewal of the
Conversion Technology Facility
Permit held by Reklaim, Inc for
its Boardman facility.
05/18/2015
Due
09/14/2015: Applications to
Elsevier Sustainable
Chemistry
Challenge
The Elsevier
Green and Sustainable Chemistry
Challenge is open to
individuals or organizations
operating in the not-for-profit
and for-profit sectors from all
countries.
05/20/2015
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