Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume V, Issue 38,
September 21,
2015
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
We see the garbage going out of
the kitchen, debris leaving the
construction site, bins of
trash behind the supermarket.
There’s an infrastructure that
manages the dry solid waste and
another that manages wet waste
or sewage. But that is just a
part of the total waste we
generate in a region. What
kinds of resources really get
wasted, contaminated, used once
and discarded, left to rot?
Burned or buried or both, just
to make room for more garbage?
You can bet it isn’t just the
stuff that goes in the can,
gets trucked to the pick-apart
station, sold off, or dumped.
And if we’re really
going to think about
implementing an effective Net
Zero Waste policy, shouldn’t we
figure out what other regional
resources we are really
wasting?
Say you have six towns in two
valleys, a couple of decent
industrial centers, and the
inevitable sprawl of a Shopping
Mall (also known as a
large-volume pre-trash
production center). There’s a
scattering of residences and
businesses around the city
centers, long stretches of
agriculture outside of those
community clusters, coastal
links to marine industries, and
maybe forests nearby. Trash
trucks and sewer lines only go
so far. We need look further.
For now, let’s just consider
the complexities of the
region’s less-managed Wasted
Organic
Resources.
Efficient
resource use is a big part of
this puzzle. Food comes from
wise water use and well-farmed
dirt, so we make the drip and
the fertilizer application more
precise. Then to ensure produce
marketability, we discard the
ugly produce we’ve grown before
it ever reaches the markets,
veggies that are about 60%
water. We also toss out
the food scraps, out-of-date
dairy and over-ripe melons;
wasting more water along with
the ready-to-rot
organics.
Food
waste is messy and not easily
handled by the existing wet/dry
infrastructure. Mixed into the
dry municipal solid waste, it’s
almost impossible to separate
and recover. Sending it down
the sewer can build big
"fat-burg" clogs. Once again:
application of more thought is
needed to retrofit, expand, and
optimize regional wet and dry
waste management infrastructure
if we expect to recover
resource value and accomplish
Net Zero
Waste.
Hey Rube!
The
California Energy Commission
(CEC) continues to expand the
boundaries of recovering
resource value, and is again
seeking public input. Really,
CEC gets it: Recovering
Regional Resources equals
Saving State Energy. This
Friday is due-date for comments
to the CEC regarding gaps in
the state’s research in the
Industrial, Agricultural, Water
and Wastewater, and
Disadvantaged Communities
sectors. We’ve just pointed out
some of those
more-thought-needed topics.
Look around your own region,
and see where more Applied
Thought is needed. What still
goes to waste despite all our
careful management? Then
lovingly send the agency this
Trash Talk, and add your own
thoughts about what could and
should be accomplished. Worth a
shot,
eh?
This Week's Top Story
Bio-On and
Moore Capital Plan First
Bio-Plastic Facility in
Brazil
Italian company Bio-on S.p.A.
and Moore Capital have signed a
license agreement to build the
first Brazil-based facility to
produce PHAs bio-plastic from
sugar cane co-products.
09/17/2015
The Week's News
CEC
Publishes CR&R Anaerobic
Digestion Merit Review
Presentation
In preparation for its first
Technology Merit Review
Workshop, the California Energy
Commission (CEC) has published
a presentation by CR&R, Inc
detailing their work to develop
their Anaerobic Digestion (AD)
facility in Perris, California.
09/17/2015
ZeaChem
Signs MOU with Pure Cultures
for Biotech
Pilot
Colorado based ZeaChem, Inc has
announced entering a Product
Development and Supply
Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with Pure Cultures, a
producer of high-quality
probiotic products.
09/17/2015
Eneco's
Biomass Plant in Delfzijl
Will Also Produce
Sustainable
Steam
Netherlands energy company
Eneco has announced that it
will retrofit its Bio Golden
Raand biomass electricity plant
in Delfzijl for the production
of steam as well as
electricity, enabling the plant
to generate double the amount
of sustainable energy using the
same amount of biomass.
09/17/2015
New Forest
Waste Conversion Technology
Debuts in Placer
County
Placer County, California, has
announced the demonstration in
Auburn of a new technology for
converting forest waste into
renewable natural gas.
09/16/2015
Xylem
Partners with Rentricity for
Hydroelectric Energy
Generation
New York headquartered
Rentricity and international
water service technology
company Xylem have announced an
exclusive partnership to
advance recovery of waste
energy from in-pipe water
pressure reduction.
09/15/2015
Water Sector
Groups Provide Guidance for
Direct Potable
Reuse
Three key national water
focused associations have
announced release of a seminal
waste water recovery and reuse
whitepaper, entitled Framework
for Direct Potable Reuse (DPR).
09/15/2015
Algenol
Begins Commercial
Distribution of Algae-Based
Ethanol
Algenol Biotech LLC has
announced a teaming agreement
with Protec Fuel Management to
market and distribute ethanol
from Algenol’s Fort Meyers,
Florida, commercial
demonstration plant.
09/14/2015
Global
Bioenergies Successfully
Adds Renewable Isobutene to
Bottled
Butane
The Comité Français du Butane
et du Propane (CFBP) and Global
Bioenergies have announced a
partnership to incorporate
renewable isobutene in
commercial butane.
09/14/2015
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