Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume VI, Issue
4, January 25,
2016
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Here’s a concept for us to
contemplate: a product has an
inherent ‘social impact’.
Whatever that shiny widget or
bucket of useful goo might be,
a product can be characterized
by its ‘footprint’ on not only
its surrounding environment,
but on society as a whole.
Everything impacts something
else, either positively or
negatively, and that resource
connectivity occurs and repeats
along a circular
path.
In the case of the products we
make and use, raw material
extraction is connected to its
transport to a processing
plant, processing is connected
to manufacturing, which
connects to distribution,
purchase, use, and eventually
to that product's ultimate
disposal. We have been harping
on the need to NOT just dump
the discards, but to put them
back into the flow of
materials. The initial raw
resource extraction, for
example, is almost always a
messy and impactful exercise.
And we can certainly point to
specific problems associated
with disposal: greenhouse gas
release, leachate contaminating
groundwater, for example. Those
are known damages; those are
environmental
impacts
of making and using
things.
Social impacts run along
parallel to environmental
impacts. The social impacts of
bringing a particular food
product to a specific market
for example, might include
changes in the health, jobs,
and wages of the workers and
users all along the ‘value
chain’ from tilling, planting,
and harvesting, through
processing and delivery, to
product use and finally its
end-of-use social
interactions.
Shipping recyclates away causes
loss of the resource, and loss
of the ability to manage its
reprocessing environmental
impacts. But there is a loss of
the jobs along with the lost
resource. Job displacement and
its impact on the local economy
is a measurable social impact,
and assigning and standardizing
the measurement of such social
impacts is quickly becoming a
crucial metric for
consideration of
Sustainability. Taking that
kind of sustainability
assessment right down to the
product
level is
relatively new. That aspect can
be a tough area to measure, and
is often an area of impact for
which society has had a blind
spot.
Concerning ourselves with the
sustainability of our
activities means we must
consider the entire pathway of
those activities. As we strive
to shift our materials usage
into a circular rather than
linear flow, we need to
consider both the environmental
and the social impacts of every
product made, used, un-made,
remade, and used
again.
Hey Rube!
California’s waste management
department CalRecycle is
preparing to launch the 2016
California Climate Investments,
Greenhouse Gas Reduction grant
and loan programs. The
Governor’s proposed budget for
Fiscal Year (FY) 2016-17 would
allocate $100 million in
greenhouse gas reduction funds
(GGRF) if passed. Sign up now
for the Greenhouse
Gas Reduction Programs
Listserv to receive timely
notifications.
This Week's Extra
Reading
New Report
Offers Blueprint for a
Circular Future for Plastic
Packaging
Applying circular economy
principles to global plastic
packaging flows could transform
the plastics economy and
drastically reduce negative
externalities such as leakage
into oceans, according to the
latest report by the World
Economic Forum and Ellen
MacArthur Foundation, with
analytical support from
McKinsey & Company.
01/20/2016
This Week's Top Story
Tesoro
Supports Development of
Renewable Biocrude for Its
Refineries
Texas based Tesoro Corporation
has announced its plan to
foster the development of
biocrude made from renewable
biomass, which can be
co-processed in its existing
refineries, along with
traditional crude oil.
01/22/2016
The Week's News
Clariant’s
Sunliquid® Technology
Receives 2015 German
Innovation
Prize
Switzerland based Clariant
International Ltd was awarded
first place in the Process
Innovations category of the
2015 German Innovation Prize
for Climate and Environment
(IKU) for its innovative
sunliquid technology.
01/23/2016
New York
State Launches 10 Year, $5
Billion Clean Energy
Fund
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has
announced the New York State
Public Service Commission's
approval of a 10-year, $5
billion Clean Energy Fund to
accelerate the growth of New
York's clean energy economy,
address climate change,
strengthen resiliency in the
face of extreme weather, and
lower energy bills for New
Yorkers starting this year.
01/23/2016
California
ARB Schedules 1st Workshop
on Carbon Capture and
Sequestration
The California Air Resources
Board (ARB) has scheduled a
public workshop to launch
development of ARB’s Carbon
Capture and Sequestration (CCS)
program.
01/22/2016
Oslo Airport
Is First in the World to
Offer Neste's Renewable
Aviation
Fuel
Oslo Airport Gardermoen is the
world's first airport to offer
renewable aviation fuel refined
by Neste for refueling
airplanes.
01/22/2016
Global
Bioenergies to Commercialize
Isobutene Process with €6.5M
Placement
Paris based Global Bioenergies
(Company) has announced
successful completion of a
private placement with
qualified French and
international investors.
01/21/2016
LanzaTech
Wins Circular Economy Award
at the World Economic
Forum
On January 20, 2016, the Young
Global Leaders of the World
Economic Forum, in
collaboration with Accenture,
hosted The Circulars 2016, the
first annual Circular Economy
Awards, at the World Economic
Forum Annual Meeting in Davos,
Switzerland.
01/21/2016
Secretaries
of US Navy, Agriculture
Launch Deployment of Great
Green
Fleet
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus
and Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Vilsack kicked off the
Great Green Fleet with the
deployment of the USS John C.
Stennis Carrier Strike Group
(JCS CSG) during a ceremony at
Naval Air Station North Island.
01/20/2016
New Energy
Plant Helping Peterborough
Towards Its Zero Waste
Ambitions
Viridor has announced the
startup of Peterborough’s
state-of-the-art Energy
Recovery Facility (ERF), now
operational on the city’s
Fengate industrial estate.
01/19/2016
Foresight
Invests £3.9M in 4th
Northern Ireland On-Farm AD
Plant
Foresight Group has announced
the investment of £3.9 million
from the Foresight AD EIS Fund
to construct an Anaerobic
Digestion (AD) plant in County
Down, Northern Ireland.
01/19/2016
ANDRITZ
Supplies Equipment for
Recycled Fiber System at
Finnish
Mill
ANDRITZ has received an order
from Sonoco-Alcore to supply
pulping and de-trashing
equipment for the OCC stock
preparation line at its Karhula
paper mill in Finland.
01/18/2016
RPSM
Releases Revised Handbook
for Product Social Impact
Assessment
The Netherlands-based
Roundtable for Product Social
Metrics (RPSM), a
multi-stakeholder organization
led by PRé Sustainability
consulting, has released
Version 3.0 of their Handbook
for Product Social Impact
Assessment.
01/18/2016
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