Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume V, Issue 25, June
22,
2015
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
We act like it is a natural
right to have somebody come
along and pick up after us. To
collect our detritus, trundle
it off to Somewhere Else
where
we
,
certainly, don’t have to
think about it. At least,
not until the next time
that big noisy trash
truck happens to be
late.
Society has in general, been
willing to fork over a few
shekels to make sure the
garbage goes away. Where
there’s not much money, there
is understandably not as much
community infrastructure to get
that nasty job done. In less
developed areas, everyone’s
waste tends to get dumped, uh,
over there somewhere, and
probably burnt periodically. In
more civilized communities we
still want it to go away, but
then we make fussy, costly, and
often technical impossible laws
so we need not worry about
bothersome inconveniences. Get
real, people.
It takes work to get these
necessary jobs done, and if you
aren’t the one handling the
shovel, you get to pay the
folks who are. There is no free
… garbage. And now instead of
just making it go away, we’re
arguing for the great idea of
Zero Waste. Not that we’ll ever
stop using things and then
throwing them aside; the idea
instead is that once we are
communally done with
things,
someone
should not only
collect our trash but
also separate all the
goodies from the
goo.
Somehow,
we
need to figure out how to
return the myriad raw
materials back into the
circular flow toward
becoming new
goods,
and
we
need to find new ways to
pay for the needed
work.
Here’s a shocker: just like
trash collection, now we know
that recycling and resource
recovery aren’t free either.
And once again, if you aren’t
the bloke sorting all that
trash into useful smaller
piles, you get to
pay
that
brave soul to muck about in
your leavings. Maybe if you do
more to manage the front end,
the back end of that processing
won’t be as expensive.
So-called source-segregation is
where we separate our own
garbage into “recyclable”
components. Yeah, that helps a
little, but according to my
mother,
everything
should be
recyclable, so what goes
into which
bin?
100% recycling means we
turn
all
of
our discards back into
the basic building-block
materials needed for
remanufacturing. Track
all the stuff and attend
to the balance sheets.
The folks making the mess
are the ones paying for
the clean-up and
recovery, and the Jobs
and Goods get returned to
the same folks who
started the process. The
long-standing concept of
a “waste shed” says that
managing waste can and
should occur where the
crud has been generated,
extending local
management to its logical
conclusion.
The cycle
of material goods from use to
waste and back to goods again
is an economic cycle; our money
is what primes that pump and
keeps it circulating. Resource
recovery is (you guessed it)
the engine that turns the
wheel, and closes the gap in
the Circular
Economy.
Hey Rube!
Corporate Responsibility, or
CR, is the New Green. Large
corporations are cities unto
themselves. Just as our cities
that better manage their “waste
shed” tend to become more
attractive (and lucrative)
places to live, these corporate
cities are learning that they
can actually improve their
economic balance sheets,
bettering the bottom line, by
investing in being better
Citizens of the Planet. Three
Circular Economy keys to CR are
emerging that “incorporate”
less abuse, and more efficient
use and reuse of Water, Waste,
and Energy. A bit of a tedious
read, perhaps, but take note:
resource sanity is good for the
planet – and is also good
business.
This Week's Extra
Reading
TERU's newest
Focus Report on Competitive
Waste Markets and the
Circular Economy
presents another EU Op Ed
discussing the importance of
free and fair
competition.
You might
also check out the new book by
Paul Relis,
Out of the Wasteland: Stories
from the Environmental
Frontier
.
This Week's Top Story
Bio-on
Technology Makes
Bio-Plastics from Biodiesel
Production
By-Products
Italian company Bio-on S.p.A.
has announced completion of
another phase in the
development of the technology
for making
polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs)
from glycerol and is ready to
grant licenses for this new
technology.
06/17/2015
The Week's News
EPA Releases
2013 Sustainable Materials
Facts and Figures
Report
The US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has announced
publication of the "Advancing
Sustainable Materials
Management: Facts and Figures
2013" Report, which is released
every two years.
06/18/2015
CARB
Schedules Public Symposium
on 50% Petroleum Use
Reduction
Goal
The California Air Resources
Board (CARB) has scheduled a
public symposium for July 8,
2015 from 9:00am to 1:30pm to
discuss reduction of
petroleum-sourced
transportation fuels by 50%, by
2030.
06/18/2015
Genomatica
Advances the Commercial
Readiness of Biomass for
Chemicals
California based Genomatica,
Inc has announced significant
progress in harnessing
cellulosic biomass for
commercial production of
high-quality chemicals rather
than just fuels.
06/17/2015
Veolia Is
Appointed Operator Of
Ireland's Largest Biomass
Power
Plant
Veolia has announced that its
subsidiary in Ireland, Veolia
Energy Services, has been
awarded a EUR 450
million-contract over 15 years
by Mayo Renewable Power to
operate a biomass power plant
in Killala, Co. Mayo, in
Ireland.
06/16/2015
Smurfit
Kappa Sustainability Report
Highlights Zero Waste to
Landfill
Progress
Multinational paper milling
company Smurfit Kappa has
released its Corporate
Sustainability Report for 2014,
highlighting that last year, 12
of its 38 global paper mills
reached zero waste to landfill.
06/16/2015
Andritz to
Supply Drying Equipment for
California Biosolids
Recovery Plant
Headquartered in Austria, the
Andritz technology group has
announced selection of its
advanced paddle dryer
technology for installation at
the KORE Infrastructure
biosolids-to-biofuels
development in the City of
Rialto, Riverside County,
California.
06/16/2015
Shanks
Launches New CR Targets
Focused on Waste-to-Product
Vision
Shanks Group plc has launched
an ambitious set of five year
Corporate Responsibility (CR)
targets for 2015-2010 that
support the Group’s clear plans
to deliver its waste-to-product
vision.
06/15/2015
The Week's Action
Items
Due
09/04/2015: Comments to EC
on Functioning of EU Waste
Markets
The European Commission (EC)
has opened a consultation to
obtain a better understanding
of the nature and the extent of
regulatory failures causing
undue distortions to European
Union (EU) waste markets for
recycling and recovery.
06/15/2015
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