Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume V, Issue 42, October
26,
2015
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Green-washing is an interesting
and rather recent term that is
used to describe some sales
pitch where a cloak of
environmental goodliness is
thrown over a less-than "green"
practice. People vote with
their pocket-books, and
marketers just
know
that
given two very similar
choices, there will
statistically be more
folks that will spend
their vote on an item
that at least appears
less damaging to this
poor old planet than its
competitor. Green-washing
sells.
There are more than a few of
these dubious marketing claims
that have become deeply
imbedded in the Waste
Management & Resource
Recovery lexicon. I'm not
disparaging healthy competition
or even catchy marketing hooks,
but c'mon people: "whatever the
market will bear" sometimes
gets way out of
hand.
Let's just pick on one of these
over-used green-washing sale
hooks right now. The Market has
been bearing up under an
onslaught of things labeled
"biodegradable". Logically,
this would mean that whatever
that thing is, left to the
vagaries of the environment, it
would return to nothing but
natural elements within some
reasonable amount of time. Not
just break up into smaller and
smaller pieces, but "return to
natural elements". Not just
degrade in a gazillion years
long after all of us aren't
around anymore, but you know,
within say 2 to five
years.
There's an Agency for
Everything and often agency
zeal results in our humble
opinion in serious control
over-kill. But which agency
watches this green-washing
game? Well, that would be the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
because, yes, these subtly
nefarious schemes compromise
international fair trade. The
FTC is not prone to snap
decisions, and their cautious
approach to governance can be
both a good and a bad thing: we
can live with some pretty nasty
stuff on the global market
until they figure out a way to
stop the practice. But this
month the righteous FTC hammer
came down hard on marketing
under the "biodegradable" green
banner.
This is Big Money International
Commerce we're talking about.
After literally
years
of
scrutiny and assuredly
many millions of
tax-payer dollars, the
FTC has issued a Final
Order barring a company
from selling the gullible
public (snicker, snicker)
"100% Biodegradable
Plastic". Don't get us
wrong: Plastic is Good.
But for us to manage
plastic right, we need to
know what it will and
will not do. In this
case, it's the deceptive
and misleading
practice
that was found
to be Bad Marketing. The
austere agency told ‘em
to put up the scientific
proof, or shut up. In
essence the FTC ruled
that you can't just add
Special Sauce to plastic
so it makes big pieces of
plastic break down into
little pieces of plastic,
and market the resulting
commodities as
"completely
biodegradable". Good try;
bad
move.
Hey Rube!
So it's like the old saw about
Questioning Authority.
Remember, if we all vote with
our pocketbook, Authority
becomes whoever has the best
sales pitch. Go ahead: question
every purpose of these
carefully planted New and
Improved terms we find in use.
Watch for use of the word
Organic, for instance, and ask
yourself if you know, really,
what that means. How about
Clean Energy …so Clean,
Compared to What? Clean,
according to whom? Not that we
can demand full proof on every
scrap, since after all, we are
also prone to Paralysis by
Analysis. But just exactly what
is required to provide
"competent and reliable
scientific evidence"? Maybe we
just have an exceptionally high
need to know … you
decide.
This Week's Extra
Reading
California
Journal Focuses on Woody
Biomass Utilization and
Forest
Mgt
The July-September 2015 Special
Issue of California
Agriculture
entitled
"
Woody Biomass: Energy,
ecosystems,
economics"
focuses
on the nexus of forest
management, climate change, and
renewable energy through the
lens of forest biomass
utilization in California.
10/22/2015
This Week's Top Story
International Team
Converts Woody Biomass to
EPA Registered
Gasoline
An international consortium of
five companies and
organizations came together in
a joint effort to transform
woody biomass, including trees
and wood waste, into a gasoline
product suitable for use in
today’s automobiles.
10/23/2015
The Week's News
FTC Issues
Ruling to Require Scientific
Proof of Biodegradable
Claims
Earlier this month, the US
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
ruled (Docket No. 9358) that
Ohio based EMC BioFilms Inc
(dba Enviroplastics
International) had not proven
that its plastic additives
ensured environmental
biodegradability, and barred
their use of the claims on
their products.
10/23/2015
FEAD
Petitions EU Commission for
Demand-Side Circular Economy
Targets
The European Federation of
Waste Management and
Environmental Services (FEAD)
has called upon the
Commissioners and the
Secretariat General of the
European Commission (EC) to
include resource recovery
targets at European Union (EU)
level and demand-side "pull"
measures as key elements of the
upcoming Circular Economy
Package.
10/22/2015
UPM
Initiates Field Tests of
Wood Based Diesel Fuel In
Helsinki Region
Buses
Finland based UPM Corporation
has announced that it will be
starting field tests of its
wood-based diesel fuel in urban
buses together with Helsinki
Region Transport (HSL) and the
VTT Technical Research Centre.
10/22/2015
ElectraTherm
Enters Biogas Market in
Romania with Sale of Power+
Generator
Nevada based ElectraTherm has
shipped a Power+ Generator to a
biogas plant in Sacueni,
Romania, the first installation
of the 4200 (ElectraTherm’s
35kW unit), and the first
biogas application in Romania.
10/21/2015
WELTEC Group
Acquires Two Biomethane
Refineries in
Germany
The WELTEC Group has acquired
two biomethane refineries in
Hesse and Saxony-Anhalt
(Germany).
10/20/2015
DuPont
Supplies Enzymes to QCCP for
Cellulosic Biofuel from Corn
Fiber
DuPont Industrial Biosciences
(DuPont) and Quad County Corn
Processors (QCCP) have
announced a new multi-year
contract to supply the enzymes
that enable QCCP’s Cellerate™
process in the production of
cellulosic biofuel from corn
kernel fiber.
10/19/2015
The Week's Action
Items
Due
11/13/2015: Proposals for
Commercial Waste
Characterization
Services
The City of San José,
California, Environmental
Services Department is seeking
proposals from consulting firms
(Consultant) interested in
providing commercial waste
material characterization
services for solid waste and
recycling programs on an
as-needed basis for various
projects.
10/20/2015
Due
11/23/2015: Comments to
Oregon DEQ on Draft Solid
Waste Regs,
Fees
The Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) is
proposing to revise rules
governing solid waste
permitting, grants, and tipping
fees to implement recently
adopted Senate Bill 245, and to
support implementation of the
state's program, "Materials
Management in Oregon: 2050
Vision and Framework for
Action".
10/19/2015
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