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ISSUE #19 | May 20, 2020
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THE ORGANICS RECYCLING AUTHORITY
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Incorporating Depackaging Into Composting Operation
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By Kevin Anderson and Stan Slaughter
Missouri Organic Recycling, Inc. (MOR) in Kansas City, Missouri, started out as a yard trimmings composting facility in 1992, processing grass and leaves from municipalities, residents and commercial sources. Founded by the Anderson family, the company decided to expand by collecting and composting food waste and construction and demolition (C&D) debris. Approval was received from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MODNR) to conduct a two-year pilot project with a local bagged salad preparation facility; the pilot began in December 2001.
The pilot was successful, and MOR was permitted to accept food production residuals as well as pre and postconsumer wastes in 2004. In 2005, we received a $50,000 grant from MODNR’s Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority (EIERA) to purchase a 2,800-gallon capacity tanker truck to collect wastewater from MOR’s food processing customers. The fleet of collection vehicles expanded, as did the types of food waste accepted and customers serviced — including commercial and institutional generators and more food manufacturers.
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 Biogas-To-RNG
Project Developer Is Ready
To Move The Needle |
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By Nora Goldstein
In August 2016, Bob Powell founded Brightmark Energy “to think about environmental problems that were not being addressed well,” he recalls. “I knew wind and solar were amazing, but there were other areas — waste and renewable natural gas (RNG) — that had opportunities to tap.”
In April 2020, Brightmark Energy, a San Francisco-based company, rebranded as Brightmark, “to better reflect the company’s mission and focus,” noted a press release. “The new name signifies the company’s global growth trajectory in support of its mission to build a world without waste, as well as the outputs Brightmark produces other than energy, including clean water, wax, and the materials used to produce new plastics. Advanced plastics recycling, or plastics renewal, and renewable natural gas via anaerobic digestion will remain at the core of Brightmark’s waste solutions.”
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Compostable Resins Company Celebrates 30th Year
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Novamont, based in Novara, Italy, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The bioplastics company, which creates biochemicals and bioproducts, focuses on the integration of chemistry, agriculture and the environment. Novamont was founded in 1990 as Fertec, part of the Montedison group that comprised the largest European agro-industrial group and a multinational chemical company.
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Policies To Put
Carbon Back In Soils
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Carbon 180, the Center for Carbon Renewal, spent the last 3 years working with producers, local organizations, and policymakers in the Rocky Mountain states to understand how policies and science can modernize to support practices that put carbon back into soils. The results were released recently in Leading with Soils, a report that aims to accelerate adoption of practices that store carbon by working with agricultural producers on the ground to identify and address key barriers.
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Biomethane Usage Grows In Europe
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The natural gas vehicle fleet in Europe is running with 17% biomethane on average, reports the Natural & bio Gas Vehicle Association (NGVA Europe). Out of 4,120 compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquid natural gas (LNG) stations in Europe, approximately one-quarter are distributing a blend containing a variable share of biomethane.
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Quantifying Diversion Impact Of Compostable Packaging
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By Charlotte Dreizen
Anecdotally, it has long been understood that not only can compostable packaging minimize contamination, it can also increase the quantity of food scraps diverted. Much like recycling, it is intuitively understood that rates of participation and correct separation are higher when there are less steps to take.
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Compost + Cannabis
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By Sally Brown
Growing cannabis is now a legal business in a majority of the U.S. and all of Canada. Sales in Washington State (one of 10 where recreational use is legal and one of 7 where sales are taxed) in 2018 totaled $534 million. By comparison, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, the turfgrass industry in the U.S. is a $40 billion industry.
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THE ORGANICS RECYCLING AUTHORITY
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Founding Publisher
Jerome Goldstein
Editor
Nora Goldstein
Publisher
Rill Ann Goldstein Miller
Associate Publisher
Ina Pincus
Senior Editor
Craig Coker
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Senior Adviser
Sally Brown, University Of Washington
Contributing Editors
Ana Carvalho, Peter Gorrie,
Michael H. Levin, Robert Spencer
Advertising Director
Teri Sorg-McManamon
Art Director
Doug Pinkerton
Administrative Assistant
Celeste Madtes
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THE JG PRESS, INC., PUBLISHER OF BIOCYCLE CONNECT & BIOCYCLE.NET | P.O. BOX 248 | EMMAUS, PA 18049 USA
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