Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume VI, Issue
3, January 18,
2016
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
The new stuff we purchase
usually comes in layers and
layers of packaging material.
Once purchased, off comes that
packaging and into the trash it
goes, never to be thought of
again. Packaging is designed in
eye-catching colors and in
interesting shapes to make the
item stand out from its
competitors. The packaging is
constructed to protect the
goods during shipment and
handling and usually to provide
a degree of theft deterrent.
One thing that the design of
most product packaging does
not
help
is the after-purchase
recycling of that
material for resource
recovery. Considering
that around 25% of the
old stuff going into a
landfill is
packaging, that's
a big deal, and reducing
that amount is indeed a
challenging
task.
The global movement toward a
Circular Economy must be
concerned with the entire flow
of goods from new stuff to old
stuff and back again, and
stimulating a change that
redirects packaging away from
landfill disposal and back into
that materials flow helps close
the loop. There are three main
ways to cut that disposed
tonnage down: (a) convince
marketers to not wrap so much
packaging around everything in
the first place, (b) make sure
that whatever packaging is used
gets sorted out and recycled by
the community, and (c) convince
those same product
manufacturers and brand owners
that sold you the goods to take
back their
wrappers.
Maybe we all should gather up
all the packaging material
wastes and send them right back
to the manufacturer. But THEN
what? What are they going to do
with all that paper and
plastic? Scrunch all that
plastic into big bales, and
send it where?
If the
handling and transport
emissions are more than the
landfill pollution, what have
we gained? The shorter the haul
route along that circular
pathway, the lower the
emissions impact, so Keep It
Local is the rule. True
'recycling' includes tearing
stuff down to the foundation
chemicals, and making those
bits meet remanufacturing
specifications. Homeowners may
not be able to manage that, but
with a company like Proctor
& Gamble, on-site waste
conversion to remanufacturing
spec is a real possibility. One
manufacturer gathered up their
waste plastic and worked with a
company to turn it into shoe
soles. Now, that's walkin' the
walk.
Market Draw occurs when there
is more demand for something
than supply. Paper is that way
right now, with more global
demand for recovered fiber than
there is output from recovery
operations. One way to decrease
landfill disposal then is to
boost market draw for
to-specification raw materials
recovered from waste. That
works in reverse when policies
and regulations get in the way
of market-based waste
conversion, resource recovery,
and remanufacturing. We must
envision the ingredients of our
purchased goods making it all
the way back to become new
goods, and that circular
pathway has to include both the
product, and the
wrapper.
Hey Rube!
Our
readers are scattered all over
the globe, and each of you
lives within a community that
does something
with the
cast-off packaging from the
stuff you buy. Watch the amount
and kinds of packaging you put
in your trash this week. Read
up on what California is
thinking about reducing the
tonnage of paper and plastic
destined for the dump, and
compare it to what is happening
in your own area. Then take a
few minutes and send
CalRecycle your pithy
thoughts and profound
observations about how the
agency should stimulate
better packaging waste
management.
This Week's Extra
Reading
BGL Research
Article Addresses
'Rethinking Waste to Tackle
Diversion'
A periodic research publication
by Brown Gibbons Lang &
Company (BGL) addresses capital
markets and mergers and
acquisitions activity,
financial and operating
performance of certain
publicly-traded companies, and
trends within the environmental
services industry.
01/14/2016
This Week's Top Story
California
Safe Soil to Open 1st
Commercial Food Waste
Composting
Facility
California Safe Soil (CSS) is
moving its aerobic, enzymatic
digestion technology
development from pilot stage to
full scale commercialization
with the announcement of a
long-term lease at McClellan
Business Park in Sacramento
County, California.
01/12/2016
The Week's News
JBEI
Researchers Develop 1st
One-Pot Process to Produce
Cellulosic
Ethanol
The US Department of Energy's
(DOE) Joint BioEnergy Institute
(JBEI) researchers have
developed a "high-gravity"
one-pot process for producing
ethanol from cellulosic biomass
that gives unprecedented yields
while minimizing water use and
waste disposal.
01/15/2016
1st
Comprehensive Impact
Assessment of Trash on
Marine Wildlife
Published
A first-of-its-kind analysis of
the impact of 20 ocean trash
items on seabirds, marine
mammals, and sea turtles
conducted using expert
elicitation was published this
week in Marine Policy by Ocean
Conservancy and Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization (CSIRO).
01/14/2016
BioHiTech
and Partners Convert
Supermarket Food Waste to
Energy
BioHiTech Global, Inc has
announced that its subsidiary,
BioHiTech America, has
partnered with Natural Systems
Utilities, Ridgewood Green RME,
and the Village of Ridgewood,
New Jersey to test a process
that will allow BioHiTech's
Eco-Safe Digester to digest,
tank, and deliver the effluent
from its Eco-Safe Digesters to
Anaerobic Digestion (AD)
facilities at other locations.
01/14/2016
DOE BETO
Webinar: Presentation of 100
Award Winning Bioenergy
Projects
The US Department of Energy’s
Bioenergy Technologies Office
(DOE BETO), the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL), and the Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory
(PNNL) will present a live
webinar titled "Excellence in
Bioenergy Innovation—A
Presentation of 2015 R&D
100 Award Winning Projects" on
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, from 1
p.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
01/13/2016
Sierra
Energy Sponsors $10,000
Prize For Syngas Business
Challenge
A new $10,000 Syngas Challenge
Award will be available at the
Big Bang! Business Challenge
hosted by the University of
California at Davis.
01/13/2016
Anellotech
and Suntory Advance Toward
100% Bio-Based Beverage
Bottles
New York company Anellotech,
Inc has announced entering into
the next phase of its strategic
partnership with Suntory
Holdings Limited, one of the
world’s leading consumer
beverage companies.
01/13/2016
GLOBAL
BIOENERGIES and LANZATECH
Expand
Collaboration
French company Global
Bioenergies and US based
LanzaTech have announced
entering into a new
collaboration agreement to
broaden the feedstock
flexibility of Global
Bioenergies’ Isobutene process
and the product-portfolio of
LanzaTech’s carbon capture
technology.
01/12/2016
The Week's Action
Items
Due
02/12/2016: Comments to
CalRecycle on 2016
Manufacturer's
Challenge
The California Department of
Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) conducted
the 2016 Manufacturer's
Challenge workshop on January
5, 2016.
01/16/2016
Due
02/12/2016: Proposals for
Central Oregon Woody Biomass
Supply
Analysis
The Central Oregon
Intergovernmental Council
(COIC) has issued a Request for
Quotes (RFQ) seeking expertise
to develop a biomass supply
analysis in support of the
organization's Biomass Energy
Cluster Development Project.
01/15/2016
Due
03/10/2016: Comments on
Update to US Dairy
Sustainability
Indicators
The Innovation Center for U.S.
Dairy has scheduled an update
to dairy sustainability
indicators, and seeks
stakeholder input by March 10,
2016.
01/12/2016
Due
03/18/2016: Proposals for
High Diversion MRF in
Baltimore
Region
The Northeast Maryland Waste
Disposal Authority (NMWDA) is
requesting proposals from
qualified companies to provide
for the design, permitting,
construction, and long-term
operation of up to two High
Diversion Material Recycling
Facilities (HD MRF) in the
Baltimore, Maryland region.
01/13/2016
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