Sponsored by the Teton Conservation District and BioCycle magazine, this three-day conference:

ORGANIC WASTE DIVERSION IN THE ROCKIES
will focus on

Economics, Operations and Marketing

The Conference is being held at the
Snow King Resort in Jackson, Wyoming
July 19-22, 2009

Here is your opportunity to network and learn from the experienced, knowledgeable faculty of speakers who will discuss how to successfully implement diversion programs when markets are distant; integrating new programs with existing infrastructure; and developing markets for woody biomass.

Speakers like:
Randy Williams, Teton Conservation District; Mark Barron, Mayor,Town of Jackson, Wyoming;
Kathy O’Hern, Gallatin County (Montana)/West Yellowstone Composting Facility; Chuck Wilson and Bob Yost, A1 Organics; Phil Hayes, Pinetop/Lake (Arizona) Sanitary District; Nora Goldstein, BioCycle; Jerry Wright, Rapid City, South Dakota Public Works Department; Kate Blevins, Verde Earth Works; Roy Petermean, Brigham Young University; Jonathan Schechter, One Percent for the Tetons; Dane Buk, Terra Firma Organics; Steve Michael, Jackson Whole Grocer; Laura Cuddy, Four Seasons Resort; Bruce Fullford, City Soil and Greenhouse;
Dave Atkins, Fuels for Schools, US Forest Service Northern and Intermountain Regions;
Al Christophersen, Director of Habitat Stewardship Services, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation … and many more.

Where else can you talk face to face with experts like these to help you find ways to turn organic materials into valuable resources?

Conference sessions will be held on Monday and Tuesday, July 20 and 21 at the Snow King Resort. Monday’s program opens at 8:30 am with sessions on MSW and biosolids composting and collection, processing and marketing of recyclable materials. On Monday Afternoon , from 1 – 5:00 pm, participants will tour Jackson Community Recycling Center and the Teton Country Transfer Station and Compost Facility, returning to the hotel for a Reception in the Exhibit area.

On Tuesday, July 21, sessions will cover composting, woody biomass, food waste composting, anaerobic digestion of animal waste, food waste recycling in resorts and parks, and much more.

An optional tour of Yellowstone National Park recycling and composting facilities will be held on Wednesday, July 22, from 7:30 am – 5:30 pm.

And on Sunday, July 19, there is an optional Workshop, “Foundations of Composting Training,” from 8:00 am – 4:30 pm. Instructors Robert Rynk of State University of New York Cobleskill, and Matt Cotton of Integrated Waste Management Consulting, will provide a foundation for novice compost operators, managers and regulators, and will refresh veteran composters on the underlying scientific principles, helping prepare for expanded job responsibilities, managerial duties and certification requirements.

REGISTER BY JUNE 5 TO GET EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT HERE.

The organisers of the top Waste and resource management conference are once again seeking papers from experts in their fields. To write a good quality paper and present it at the conference is the very best self publicity for yourself and your company. Now is your chance to start by submitting your abstract for consideration.

Get started now – there is not much time!

SYMPOSIUM THEMES

The Symposium will last five days and will deal with municipal and commercial solid waste, hazardous waste and special waste including the following topics:

A. Waste policy and legislation National and regional guidelines; regulation and planning
requirements; role of scientific and technical bodies as well as associations.
B. Waste management strategies Integrated waste management; national and local strategies; zero waste management; future perspectives.
C. Public participation and education
Public involvement; NGO activities; mediation; education; communication; training in waste management and operation, public and occupational health impacts of waste management.
D. Waste management assessment and decision tools
Life cycle analysis; risk assessment; environmental impact assessment; EMAS; quality control procedures; cost benefit analysis; multi-criteria analysis; auditing.
E. Waste characterisation as a tool for waste management
strategies
Standardisation; analytical procedures.
F. New concepts for waste collection
Cost optimisation; on-demand collection; separate collection;subsurface systems; case studies.
G. Waste minimisation and recycling
Waste avoidance; waste logistics and recycling; new recycling technologies; material quality after recycling; packaging material; electronic waste; construction and demolition waste; batteries; end of life vehicles; market waste.
H. Biological treatment
New developments in composting and anaerobic digestion; emissions from processing facilities; product quality.
I. Thermal treatment and advanced conversion technologies
Technology and experiences; new technologies; production and use of RD F; emission control; reatment of residues; beneficial use of combustion ash.
L. Mechanical biological treatment prior to landfilling
Mechanical pretreatment (separation, shredding, RD F-production, etc.); technology and experience; new technology, testing and landfill acceptance; off gas treatment; emission control.
M. Sanitary landfilling
Sustainable landfill concepts for municipal and special waste; processes and emissions; leachate and gas management; landfill design and construction; barrier design and long-term performance; waste mechanics; landfill operation; administrative and financial aspects;
landfilling under specific conditions (tropical, islands, mountains, etc.); aftercare and reuse; landfill remediation; cost studies; cases.
N. Integrated wastewater and solid waste management
Decentralized systems; closed substance cycles; future perspectives; cases.
O. Waste management and climate change
Minimisation of greenhouse gases from waste management activities and landfills, waste – CDM projects, minimisation of energy consumption, landfills as geological sinks for carbon and other elements.
P. Waste management in developing and low income countries
Appropriate technologies, experiences, international cooperation, financing, education.
Q. Special sessions
BAT – Best Available Technologies; IPPC regulations.

Due to their relevance, all these subjects will be presented in general sessions, specialised sessions, workshops and poster sessions. Offers of papers for workshops are also welcome.

An extended abstract (at least one but no more than two full pages) should reach the Organization no later than January 30th 2009.

Continuously updated information is available on the web page http://www.sardiniasymposium.it

Nevertheless, this is exactly why public money is being well spent when put into these projects.

Defra Demonstrator Projects are full scale operational demonstration projects for innovative waste technologies, with UK government funding.

The following comes as published in the Defra Demonstrator News, Edition 2:-

Recent allegations regarding the use of compost like output (CLO) produced by one aerobic digestion plant operator have been investigated by the Environment Agency (EA) and Defra Animal Health.

The outcome of the investigation was that the CLO that was to be used as restoration material at the demonstrator operator’s owned landfill sites will now be required to be disposed of to landfill.

The operator responded quickly and proactively to these findings, immediately commencing a series of improvement works to the site:

• Installation of a new temperature monitoring system.
• Installation of a heater phase in the bottom compartment of each tower which will ensure absolute achievement of Animal by Products Regulations temperature requirements.
• Application of insulation to the outer skin of the non-Demonstrator metal towers to improve heat retention.
• Installation of a new trommel screen to improve the CLO segregation stage and reduce physical contaminants.

Once these works are completed, the demonstrator operator will recalibrate and re-commission the plant. The operator also plans to install a further stage of CLO product refinement equipment later in the summer.

These changes are intended to address EA guidance on animal by-products processing requirements and the level of plastic contamination in the CLO.

These alterations at the site demonstrate some key learning outcomes with regard to new technologies for biological treatment which will add to the many invaluable outcomes of this Programme to date.

NTDP Website
For more detailed information on the Demonstrator Programme, plants and technologies go to the Defra Wip web site. For more abckground about the various Waste Technologies visit here. 

Officials in Norwich, England, have tagged a man as a repeat recycling offender for placing cabbage stalks in his waste bin, the 73-year-old says.

Barry Freezer said after he placed the stalks of his homegrown cabbage into his garden waste bin, trash officials refused to empty the refuse container and he was cited as a problematic recycler under current regulations, The Daily Mail said Sunday.

Current recycling regulations state that any garden waste cannot be mixed with any kitchen waste which could have come into contact with meat.

Freezer maintains the fact his cabbage his homegrown should be proof enough that the stalks never made it into the kitchen.

“When did you last buy a cabbage with a stalk at a supermarket? It should be obvious that this was garden waste that never came into contact with the kitchen,” he said.

Freezer told the Mail that local authorities had not responded to his letter regarding the situation, which he says has become commonplace.

“The system is ridiculously complicated. People like me will be making ‘mistakes’ all the time. I could burn my garden waste but it’s not good for the environment,” Freezer said.

A Welsh company claims that it has developed a process to turn mixed solid waste into a new encapsulated, inert, recycled material with a huge variety of potential applications.

It is clear that what’s needed is an energy efficient process that can be implemented at existing landfill sites to take out what is already in the ground and use it to produce a new product, thereby reducing the volume of what is in the ground and effectively decontaminating the land.

Too good to be true?

You might think so, but Swansea-based Globally Greener Solutions say that they have invented a low-energy cold process that, using existing, readily available machinery, turns waste into a non-leaching inert material called Glowasol, which can be moulded into a huge variety of products without the need for injection moulding.

An article in the ‘Advances Wales Journal’, sponsored by the Welsh Assembly, explains that all types and combinations of waste can be input to the process, including plastics, wood, glass, papers, cardboard, printed circuit boards, metal, tarmac, solvents, paints and even banknotes!

What’s more, the resultant product can be waterproof, fire resistant, bulletproof and acid resistant, as well as having high mechanical strength (stronger than concrete), high insulation properties, high soundproofing properties and being environmentally friendly. The product is currently undergoing independent testing in collaboration with the GeoEnvironmental Research Project Phase 2 by Cardiff University.

In addition, Globally Greener Solutions say that their total waste recycling solution creates no waste products from any of the processes as any waste is simply incorporated back into the mixed waste input stream. In comparison, they cite tyre recyclers as generating around 6000 tonnes of waste fibre per annum and a typical incinerator as generating around 3500 tonnes of waste product each year, all of which requires separate disposal.

Glowasol can apparently be made into a huge variety of objects, for example building blocks, patio slabs, pallets, gravestones and fence panels. Better still, the products can be recycled again and again. What could be greener than that?

Advances Wales is available online at Wales Relay Pages. Issue 54, pages 22 & 23. The company is Globally Greener Solutions.

Will it catch on? The Waster will let you decide. Take a look yourselves.

The introduction of the EC landfill directive means that the European Commission has set targets to reduce the levels of biodegradable materials going to landfill.

The most significant challenge facing the management of Municipal Solid Waste is how to divert the biodegradable component of MSW away from landfills. Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) is the fraction that will break down naturally in the environment, and it is the content within the rubbish that goes into landfills which causes the nuisance smalls and attracts birds etc.

This organic waste includes: kitchen wastes, green or garden wastes, paper, cork and non man-made textiles (eg cotton and wool). The need to reduce the levels of biodegradable materials going to landfill is based on concerns over greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

The decomposition of biodegradable materials within landfill sites results in the production of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. One of the best options for dealing with the biodegradable fraction of municipal solid waste is Anaerobic Digestion.

It is a natural process. It is simply rotting or composting in the absence of air. The magic is though that it produces methane, and methane is a raw product which can be sued to make biofuels including bio-diesel, and many others.

It costs a bit more than composting or disposal to landfill but the benefits are tremendous. Visit our anaerobic digestion web site and view our VIDEO which in just over 5 minutes explains how the process works.

If you don’t believe us about this then listen to the BBC Radio 4′s long-running soap, the “Archers” in which there is, at present, a storyline about AD.

25th October 2007 • The Source, Sheffield

There are two great challenges facing land use management over next decade: i) the control of diffuse pollution in order to meet the requirements of both the Water Framework Directive and the water industry; and, ii) the need to address the fall in soil organic levels that has occurred over the last 60years due to grassland being ploughed and used for arable cropping. This latter requirement may, in the future, form part of the Soil Framework Directive.

Society also has the massive challenge of moving from the present system that exploits landfilling for the disposal of all our wastes regardless of whether they are organic or non organic, to a system that values waste as a resource. We currently landfill approximately 10 to 15 million tonnes of organic waste each year and this cannot continue as landfill capacity diminishes; it is also a huge waste of what could be turned into a valuable resource.

During this event we will be considering some of the solutions to these issues. Although they may not fit all  circumstances and on their own they will not solve all of the problems outlined above, SORP believes that on-farm composting and the use of compost in a sustainable way will make a significant contribution towards reducing diffuse pollution by reducing the need for artificial fertilizers. In turn, by reducing the need for carbon based fertilizer, this may help towards mankind’s greatest challenge, combating climate change, whilst still feeding a growing world population. It will also stop the decline in soil organic levels and over time may even help to improve these.

AquaEnviro Conference – More here.

The Bio Group, which formed this May as a joint venture between in-vessel specialists Cambridge Recycling Services (CRS), composting machinery providers Global Recycling Solutions as well as green waste and wood processors Material Change; has begun construction for a 30,000 tonne per annum facility in the village of Helmdon in the south of the county. (see letsrecycle.com story)

The “hybrid” system: Steve Sharratt, chief executive of the Bio Group, explained that having both technologies in one facility will allow the company to simultaneously treat source segregated food waste in the IVC and food waste in paper, cardboard or plastic packaging in the AD.

The building to be converted to the Waste Reception Building AD Process Building with the area for the IVC tunnels on the left.

The system will also mean that the solid digestate – one of the end products of the AD process which needs treating before it can be safely spread onto land- can be treated onsite in the IVC, then composted in windrows.

The Bio Group revealed it has “agreements in place to ensure the compost produced by both processes will be used to improve local farmland” and that it is looking at how the site can achieve the quality standard, PAS100 for the compost.

As for the energy produced by the AD process, Bio Group has confirmed that it will be used to power the site and that the surplus will be fed into the national grid. See more at Let’s Recycle.

It is possible that explosive gases had built up in the green box/compost container. The flame caught fire on the man’s clothes, which then burned him.

"Next to the vegetables, fruit and garden waste, there were Pampers in the container. Maybe this had a reaction?" asks the daughter of the deceased Monday. "We cannot understand how it is possible. The green box/compost container was standing in the sun, but is that forbidden?" Telegraph Buitenland

Wasters Comment: Jan Gronow voiced concerns last Autumn in her paper to Waste 2006 (Stratford Upon Avon, UK) about the potential for anaerobic conditions in garden composters if used incorrectly, which now seems sadly prophetic.

There is a big opportunity for the UK to learn from Europe and optimize collection schemes and perhaps for urban authorities as AD solutions are something that could be used,

she said. Ms Hollingworth was discussing a report commissioned by WRAP and published this March, entitled “Dealing with food waste in the UK”. The year-long study by Dominic Hogg of the consultancy Eunomia focused on the European picture for Anaerobic Digestion – a biological treatment conducted in the absence of air, which produces both a compost product and bio-gas that can generate renewable energy. The study discussed the 124 operational AD plants throughout Europe and the “clear benefits” of the technology. Ms Hollingworth also said that in the UK many local authorities are “concerned about the robustness of AD” and consider it an “unproven technology” however she said: “The European experience flies in the face of this.” Anaerbic digestion “has a stronger, overall environmental performance” than other technologies, she added. AD could be seen to be an appropriate technology for urban local authorities as households in urban areas tend to collect a lower proportion of green waste. Costs WRAP’s research also compared the cost of technologies processing biodegradable municipal waste and although AD technology came out as the most expensive, at £45-55 per tonne, in comparison to in-vessel composting at £35-45 per tonne, Ms. Hollingworth said that the possibility of selling the energy extracted from the process had not been included in the predicted costs. More at LetsRecycle here…