Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume V, Issue 32, August
10,
2015
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Today is my mother's
85th birthday and to
honor her, I'd like to follow
up on some sage advice she gave
me some time back about
Recycling. When I scolded that
what she was depositing into
her Big Blue Bin was not really
recyclable, she quickly
responded, "Well, It Should
Be!"
So what about all that stuff we
toss that the Powers That Be
say isn't recyclable. Why
not?
An open market provides a path
for private industry to make a
buck. If it costs me to manage
something and you can make it
cost me less, that’s Business.
If you can pay me a little
something, better yet: we move
my Liability into the Asset
column. But Communities band
together to get done what the
market can't provide. Roads are
like that, and making sure
everyone gets clean drinking
water fits into that scenario;
we all pay something. Until the
day when resource recovery pays
for itself, Recycling is one of
those Community Expenses for
which we pay. If we really
counted, the cost of sending
our resources, our jobs, and
our dirty laundry to someone
else is more than the expense
of doing the recovery work in
our own
Community.
Let’s pick on something
everyone thinks is Recyclable.
The market for recovered glass
is low right now, so less is
pulled from the sorting lines
and the crew’s attention is
directed toward other stuff
that right now has higher
value. It's not that glass
isn’t recyclable; it's
just that it isn’t recycled as
much. We depend on some distant
market to buy that glass, while
paying, paying, and paying
again for disposal of what's
left over. How about paying for
Recovery? What about
paying, to have that
unwanted glass melted down,
reformed and sold as something
new, locally? If the
remanufacturing cost is less
than the all-in disposal cost,
the Community comes out ahead
with less cash out of pocket,
less enviro-damage, more jobs -
more
commerce.
Some plastics are easy to
reclaim; many are not. What we
can't sell off, our community
pays for the costly Dump Thing.
But there are lots of ways to
take apart even the cruddiest
plastic. Once pulled apart into
the components, that Old
Plastic Stuff can be reformed
into fuels, lubricants, and all
sorts of polymers. It can all
be melted down and squished out
into the shape of parking lot
bumpers and fence slats. And
we’re not even talking about
waste plastic's energy value as
refuse derived fuel - do you
really think it is dirtier to
incinerate plastic waste than
coal?
Shrimp and crab shells soaked
in ionic liquids convert to the
high priced chemical Chitin.
Used carpet can be pulled apart
for its organic fiber or
vaporized, if it's a synthetic
blend. Wood can be dissolved
into sugar with the right
treatment, and sugar makes
fuels and chemicals. For that
matter, any sort of organic goo
can be turned back into
commodities. Aluminum can be
separated from the plastic in
those laminated drink packages
that are so popular. Even the
gray grit that falls off the
back end of an urban material
recovery facility's sorting
conveyor belt probably has
enough particles of rare and
precious metals in it to be
worth processing as ore. When
all else fails, instead of
paying to store garbage in a
hole in the ground, turn the
burnable crud into heat and
power. We can't get to Zero
Waste, waiting for someone else
to do the
work.
Hey Rube!
Around the globe, the buzz is
about closing the loop in the
Circular Economy by converting
our wastes back into usable
resources. Resources need to be
kept in the usage cycle as long
as possible. It's really only a
waste if we waste
it.
This Week's Top Story
Alliance
BioEnergy Plus Partners with
RRDA to Develop 56 CTS
Plants
Florida based Alliance
BioEnergy Plus, Inc (Alliance)
has entered into a
non-exclusive development
agreement with Delaware company
Renewable Resources Development
of America, LLC (RRDA) for the
construction and operation of
up to 56 cellulose conversion
plants both domestically and
abroad.
08/07/2015
The Week's News
Pacific Ag
Raises $7 Million from
Advantage Capital
Agribusiness
Partners
Oregon based Pacific Ag has
announced a $7 million
investment from Advantage
Capital Agribusiness Partners
LP to accelerate the expansion
of its crop residue supply
business across the country.
08/07/2015
CSU Fresno
to Host Summit on San
Joaquin Valley Clean Energy
Future
California State University,
Fresno (CSU Fresno) will host a
one-day summit to explore the
opportunities to build a clean
energy economy in the state's
San Joaquin Valley.
08/06/2015
SWANA and
CRRA Form Partnership for
Zero Waste Course and
Certification
The Solid
Waste Association of North
America (SWANA) and the
California Resource Recovery
Association (CRRA) have
announced the approval of a
strategic partnership to
develop and offer a Zero Waste
Principles and Practices course
and certification program
throughout the United States
and Canada.
08/06/2015
Mitsubishi
Contracts to Build 245 tpd
MSW Incineration Plant In
Japan
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Environmental & Chemical
Engineering Co., Ltd. (MHIEC),
has received an order from the
Kouza Clean Association, an
organization encompassing three
municipalities in central
Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, for
the construction and operation
of a municipal solid waste
(MSW) incineration plant.
08/06/2015
WEF Honors
Carbon Clean Solutions as
2015 Technology
Pioneer
Carbon Clean Solutions (CCS)
has been honored as one of the
World Economic Forum’s (WEF)
“technology pioneers”, a
selection of the world’s most
innovative companies.
08/05/2015
United
Nations Proposes Final
Post-2015 Sustainable
Development
Agenda
The United Nations (UN) is in
the process of defining a
sustainable development agenda
for post-2015.
08/05/2015
LWARB
Setting Up Private Equity
Fund to Grow London’s
Circular
Economy
The
London Waste and
Recycling Board (LWARB)
has announced its
strategy to invest up to
£3 million into a private
equity fund.
08/04/2015
UK's DECC
Issues Waste Heat to
Electricity Conversion
Equipment
Guidance
The United Kingdom's (UK)
Department of Energy &
Climate Change has released the
eligibility criteria for
products in the waste heat to
electricity conversion
equipment category to be
included on the Energy
Technology List.
08/04/2015
ENER-G CHP
Reduces Manchester Town Hall
and Library's Carbon
Footprint
United Kingdom (UK) based
ENER-G has announced the role
of its combined heat and power
(CHP) technology in the
multi-million pound
refurbishment of the Manchester
Town Hall Extension and Central
Library.
08/03/2015
BioLite
Raises $5M to Fuel Growth in
Off-Grid Energy
Products
New York based social
enterprise BioLite, Inc has
announced that it has raised $5
million in growth capital to
accelerate the expansion of its
off-grid energy products.
08/03/2015
BTEC to
Create 1st Thermal Test
Method for Commercial
Biomass
Boilers
The Biomass Thermal Energy
Council (BTEC) has announced
plans to release a draft of the
first thermal efficiency test
method designed specifically
for commercial-sized boilers
that utilize solid biomass as a
fuel stock (including pellets,
chips, briquettes, and
cordwood).
08/03/2015
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