January 18, 2016 Newsletter Volume VI, Issue 3. 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.
April 18, 2016 Newsletter Volume VI, Issue 15. Let's start putting in local tools to convert local waste back into local raw materials. Our recycling bucket is full.
May 26, 2015 Newsletter Volume V, Issue 21. When nothing else can be recycled from a region's waste, at least recover heat and power. It's much better than sending it to the dump.
June 29, 2015 Newsletter Volume V, Issue 26. No, it's NOT OK to throw a fit and stop that resource recovery here, only to have that burden and its solution happen elsewhere.
November 16, 2015 Newsletter Volume V, Issue 45. The law does not say that Recycling means to just separate out the easily salable items and have somebody else sell them off in bulk.
July 7, 2014 Newsletter Volume IV, Issue 27. Proper recycling must recover the raw resources from the things we throw away, and cycle them back into the marketplace
July 28, 2014 Newsletter Volume IV, Issue 30. Some cities want to increase Recycling, in part by implementing advanced Waste Conversion for resource recovery.
September 29, 2014 Newsletter Volume IV, Issue 39. The State's "recycling" agency and the existing recycling industry need to stop congratulating each other on increased subsidization of the front end and build out the needed back end.
January 21, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 3. If recycling has to end with some kind of reprocessing, we need to rethink what we mean by "post-recycling residuals."
February 4, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 5. It always comes back to the Money. If you have to manage something that costs you dearly on an on-going basis and you can figure out a way to turn that liability into an asset, you get a double economic bump for the better.
February 11, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 6. If we know what is happening to the waste we collect, sort, separate and sell as recyclable goodies, we can figure out how to do the whole process better.
February 18, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 7. The approach to waste conversion must be feedstock driven, technology neutral. Otherwise, agencies and regulators are trying to herd cats.
February 25, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 8. The path to Recover raw materials for making more goods is convoluted and fraught with misinformation.
March 4, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 9. The Circular Economy concept bets that Molecular Recovery is a Higher and Better Use for waste than just heat and power.
April 22, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 16. Let's start the next phase of the Recycling Movement, and focus on building the recyclate reprocessing infrastructure right near where the wastes are generated. Call it: Earth Day 2013!
June 3, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 22. AB 1126 is yet another attempt to throw a body-block across our struggling effort to set up local waste conversion facilities in California..
July 8, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 27. Two decades ago, it was the lack of Technology that posed the most difficulty. Now we have clean energy systems that don't depend on the bubbling crude.
August 5, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 31. humans, and their stubborn determination to cling to entrenched precepts about what is and what isn't acceptable, based not on today's knowledge, but on what they knew a decade ago.
August 12, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 32. Recognizing that someone else's by-products are a problem for them and a feedstock for you provides the perfect Business Opportunity.
August 19, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 33. If you peer at something too close, you lose perspective. We've been doing exactly that with our waste management and resource recovery effort.
September 3, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 35. With everything at our "disposal", conversion of the stuff we throw away back into the stuff we need should rank high.
September 30, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 39. Let us clasp our hands and stand in awe of the mighty machine that makes this Legislative Sausage, year after year, after year …
December 9, 2013 Newsletter Volume III, Issue 49. When is a waste not a waste? It is all too easy to go from waste-sourced materials to resource and back to waste.
June 4, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 23
MRF First! A "MRF" is a Materials Recovery Facility, which is a fancy name for a garbage pick-apart station. Before we send trash elsewhere, before we decide what else to do with the stuff we toss, we try to send it through a MRF first.
June 11, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 24
When we "Recycle", we divert something headed for disposal and put that something back into the mainstream of useful goods. We think that is what happens, when we put recognizable thingies in the blue recycling bin instead of the black trash can. There! I've Recycled! Not so fast there, folks.
July 2, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 27. Recycling isn't about counting what gets pulled off the conveyor at the MRF. It's about the whole pathway: the hauler trucks, the MRF operations, and the tonnage that finally gets turned back into usable raw material. Or it isn’t Recycling.
July 9, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 28 If we have Local Recycled Goods Reprocessing, won’t that be cheaper? I mean, think of all the diesel saved, and just Think of the greenhouse gas emissions we could avoid! Won't it be just so much easier and better and cheaper to send those bales of plastic across the street, instead of across the Pacific?
July 16, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 29
It doesn't have to continue; California can become a self-supporting machine any time the political will and the public consciousness say it's time. Pull the Jobs back into the state, make sure the Materials remain here long enough to be "cleaned, treated and reconfigured" for re-entry into California's own marketplace.
July 23, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 30
What is "Post-Recycling Residual," what's left, and why, and aren't there clean ways to make use of THAT, instead of just dumping it?
July 30, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 31
Cap & Trade will kill our Business! Cap & Trade will save our Business! People are all over the map on California's proposed Cap & Trade program. What IS this thing, of which we speak? Well, it was set up to clear the air, not to save the economy, very "Californian" if you ask me.
September 17, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 38. What is it about "recycling" that enthralls everyone? Simple: it's the Right Thing to DO because it is just stupid to keep throwing resources into a hole in the ground, and then paying to keep them there.
September 24, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 39.
We've entered the Fall Conference period, and so much of the emphasis now is on conversion of waste to electricity, heat, fuels, and commodities that you'd think the battle was won, everyone was already convinced, and the Money was waiting to be picked up for all those new projects.
October 8, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 41. No disrespect intended to England, but there are certain similarities between London and Los Angeles County, and much that they can learn from each other about waste management and resource recovery.
October 29, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 44. The language used to talk about "waste" seems to be shifting globally. For too long, anybody that really wanted to talk about waste conversion was expected to step outside of Environmentally Friendly Conversations, banned from polite society - sorta like Smokers.
November 5, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 45. Last Wednesday, we realized to our horror (well, it was Halloween, after all) that even the major energy efficiency programs and associations don't think of on-site waste conversion to electricity, heat, and fuel in the same sense as they do for, say, energy efficient lighting.
November 12, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 46. I watched in fascination as my mother carefully placed a great variety of materials in that Big Blue Bin in the driveway by the back of the house. When I questioned whether all that stuff was indeed recyclable, she looked up in surprise and replied, "Well, it SHOULD be!"
December 10, 2012 Newsletter Volume II, Issue 50. Domestic anaerobic digesters aren't much more complex than a standard septic tank, except they make biogas.
"AB 32 and the Waste Management Sector" by Michael Theroux. California Recycling's Place in Greenhouse Gas Reduction. June 2013 Reference to commentary added 07/12/2013
Teru's Bookshelf: "CHAGALL: The Recycling Dragon" This book is about a young dragon, only 300-years old who lives in a canyon near a village. His home is threatened by piles of garbage being dumped into his home.
This site is intended to Incite Dialogue about all matters related to Waste Conversion for Resource Recovery. Please join me.
Michael Theroux
What People are Saying about Teru Talk:
"Teru Talk has become invaluable to me in keeping up with waste conversion issues. You are absolutely current and that is so important to explain and to understand this industry." David Roberti - President BioEnergy Producers Association
"I enjoy your e-newsletters – I read them religiously! Thank you for doing such a good job of helping spread the word about anaerobic digesters." Melissa VanOrnum - Marketing Manager DVO, Inc
"I have been having a look at your web page and I believe you are carrying out an incredible task in the field." Dr. Frédéric Ratel -Responsable de Propietat Industrial Institut Català d’Investigació Química (ICIQ)
"I've been impressed with the growth of Teru Talk as a resource for information regarding conversion technologies. It's a needed resource given the current pace of conversion technology development and interest." Coby Skye - Civil Engineer Los Angeles County DPW
"Thanks for all the good things you're doing at Teru Talk! Your blog presents a spot-on analysis, and is helping to shed a bright light on the folks who have crossed the line one too many times." Dr. Kay Martin - Vice President Bioenergy Producers Association
"I just wanted to take a minute to say how very much I appreciate the tenacity with which you keep us all updated and watching along the horizon with you." Tim o'Shea - CEO CleanFish, Inc
"I've looked through your site, Terutalk - What a great resource. Your action items and due dates are particularly helpful." Su Anne Huang - Market Manager, Landfills FlexEnergy, Inc
"Thanks for putting it in writing…. excellent blog and website my friend. Thanks for doing what you are doing." Chuck Collins - CEO Cascade Power Group LLC
"Teru Talk is really terrific. I read it assiduously, learning something every time." Paul Relis - Senior VP CR&R Waste & Recycling Services
Twitter
Facebook
