News

EVENTS

Recycling Market Development Workshop in Cali/Baja Corridor for California and the Southwest
February 11, 2020
San Diego, CA
https://nrcrecycles.org/recycling-market-development-workshop-in-cali-baja-corridor-for-california-and-the-southwest/?doing_wp_cron=1573663432.9131700992584228515625

Zero Waste Symposium
February 11, 2020
San Diego, CA
https://zerowastesandiego.org/zero-waste-symposium-2020/

Global Waste Management Symposium (GWMS)
February 23-26, 2020
Indian Wells, CA
https://www.wastesymposium.com/en/home.html

NRC Zero Waste Conference
March 18-19, 2020
Berkeley, CA
https://zwconference.org/

SWANAPalooza
March 23-26, 2020
Atlanta, GA
https://swanapalooza.org/

SoCal Waste Management Forum Spring Conference
March 24, 2020
Downey, CA
https://www.scwmf.org/spring-conference

POLICY AND LEGISLATION

How California is Bringing in Universal Organics Collection
Senate Bill 1383 regulations were finalized on January 21, 2020 by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). The regulations require jurisdictions in California to ensure residents and businesses have access to a organics collection service and actively use it in order to meet the states organic waste diversion goals. The organics collected could be composted or anaerobically digested. To read more, click here.

California Governor Proposes $12B Climate Change Mitigation Push
Governor Gavin Newsom is budgeting up to $12 billion over the next 5 years to support climate resiliency and energy transformation efforts. The governor is also proposing to launch the Climate Catalyst Revolving Loan Fund, a four-year $1 billion revolving loan program. The loan would offer low-interest lending to small businesses and organizations that have green ideas related to recycling, low-carbon transportation, and sustainable agriculture projects. To read more, click here.

Two Biogas Tax Credits to Drive Industry Growth
The biogas industry recently got extensions on two tax credits that had been expired since 2017.  The tax extenders package was signed into law on December 20, 2019 and is expected to drive further project development related to biogas projects that provide vehicle fuel and renewable electricity. The American Biogas Council believes the passage of this bill is an indication of Congress readiness to address remaining disparities in the tax code between fossil fuels and renewable technologies. To read more, click here.

NEWS

The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (the Districts) are transitioning their pilot food waste digestion and biogas generating system into a commercial-scale operation. A portion of the collected food waste will come from the Puente Hills Materials Recovery Facility and the rest will come from commercial haulers, delivering an engineered slurry that will be digested at the Districts Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP). JWPCP is currently receiving 180 tons/day of food waste and is producing about 5,000 standard cubic feet per minute of biogas which is used to meet the plants electrical needs.To read more, click here.

How Detroit Zoo is Converting Manure, Food Scraps to Energy
The Detroit Zoo has been diverting more than 500 tons a year of animal manure, along with pre-consumer food scraps and scraps left after preparing the animals food. This has allowed the facility to produce 500 tons of compost and generate its own electricity. The facility aims to generate enough gas to provide 100 percent of the energy requirements of the facility saving the zoo about $120,000 in electricity costs. To read more, click here.

How the City of Monterey is Converting Organics into Marketable Products
The Monterey Regional Waste Management District (MRWMD) in Marina, California, is tackling zero waste initiatives at its Monterey Regional Environmental Park, which includes a landfill and resource recovery facilities. The agency receives about 7,000 tons of food waste annually, which is received mostly from commercial businesses, and combines it with yard waste to produce a combination of 80% food waste and 20% yard waste. After being approached by Zero Waste Energy LLC (ZWE), the agency installed an anaerobic digester to process its food waste into electricity and a rich digestate byproduct. To read more, click here.

Carbios Technology Aims to Bio-recycle Plastic on an Industrial Scale
Carbios, is a France-based biotech startup that has developed a technology that uses enzymes to break down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste and polyester fibers feedstock to produce consumer-grade, 100% recycled plastic. This technology makes a circular economy for plastics possible. Companies such as L''''Oral, Nestl Waters, PepsiCo and Suntory Beverage & Food Europe have begun supporting the technology with the goal of increasing the availability of high-quality recycled plastics on an industrial scale for global markets. Carbios technology is also being recognized for its ability to recycle complex plastics that are generally not recycled using traditional recycling methods. Carbios plans to break ground on a demonstration facility in 2021. To read more, click here.

SynTechs Clean Syngas Technology Comes to Oahu, Hawaii
SynTech Bioenergy is partnering with a local hauler in Oahu to help reduce tipping fees and generate renewable energy from organic waste. SynTechs BioMax system will produce electricity from the islands yard, fruit, and agricultural waste, enabling a diversion of 1,300 tons of waste per year and cutting up to 8,000 tons of carbon. The system will also produce a byproduct known as biochar, which can be used as a soil amendment or to make graphite for pencils, lubricants, and electronics. To read more, click here.

Cielo Waste Solutions to build $50M renewable diesel refinery
In Canada, Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. has partnered with Renewable U Halifax to build a renewable diesel refinery in Nova Scotia and is expecting to convert over 300,000 tons of garbage into more than 160,000,000 liters of renewable fuels. The companies are also looking to build a 4,000 liter per hour joint venture refinery in Nova Scotia that will operate 24 hours a day. To read more, click here.

Pennsylvania WWTP Fills Food Waste Recycling Demand
In 2014, the Hermitage Municipal Authority implemented major upgrades at its wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) which included installing a thermophilic anaerobic digester and expanding its capacity to receive food waste. Over the last 5 years, revenue from tipping fees has allowed the facility to gain nearly $200,000/year and the electricity generated from the biogas has reduced the plants electric bill to from $30,000/month to $5,000/month. Producing Class A biosolids (10 tons/day) for land application also is saving the Hermitage WWTP money it had been paying about $8,000 to $10,000/month to dispose Class B solids. To read more, click here.

Anellotechs New Technology Recycles Plastic Waste into Chemicals
Clean technology firm, Anellotech, has developed Plas-TCat, a new cost-effective process technology that can recycle significant quantities of waste plastics into valuable commodity chemicals that could be used to make virgin plastics. Waste plastics include composite films, mixed plastics and plastics with biomass, such as paper labels. The firm is aiming to use Plas-TCat in areas where infrastructure for plastic waste collection streams are lacking and believe that the technology will provide economic incentives to tackle plastic pollution in developing countries. To read more, click here.