BIOCYCLE WORLD

SCOniSH GOVERNMENT FUNDS COMPOSTING INITIATIVES

Six local authorities in Scotland received 500,000 (730,000 USD) in December 2008 to begin residential food waste collection trials. The grants are part of the Scottish Government's 18 million (26.25 million USD) Zero Waste Fund, which seeks to improve the country's recycling and composting rates. Local authorities currently trialing food waste collection schemes include Inverclyde, Aberdeenshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, Perth and Kinross. "Food waste accounts for about a fifth of the waste we currently send to landfill," says Iain Gulland, Director for Scotland's division of WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme). "Once there it rots and produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is very damaging to the environment. Collecting food waste separately is a very effective way of reducing the amount that gets sent to landfill and the environmental damage this causes." waste stream," concludes the study. "After maximizing diversion, it is appropriate for MADEP to continue to monitor developments regarding alternative waste management technologies that produce energy gasification, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion." Of the three energy recovery options evaluated, anaerobic digestion "may be most suitable for source separated organic material as an alternative to conventional composting," explains the report. "Ultimately, the degree to which anaerobic digestion makes sense will depend largely on the economics of such facilities, including the energy they produce, versus directly composting such material in aerobic composting facilities." The authors suggest that MADEP "should recommit to maximizing diversion. In addition to strengthening existing programs to capture higher fractions of divertible material, MADEP should emphasize those high volume materials that are relatively easy to recycle/compost (and for which there are available markets): food waste (residential and commercial), mixed paper, some plastics, as well as wood, wallboard and roofing from the C&D waste stream." sified as other. The highest recovery rates were achieved for auto batteries (99.2 percent), steel cans (64.3 percent), yard trimmings (64.1 percent) and paper/paperboard (54.5 percent). The roughly 21 million tons of yard trimmings composted in 2007 represents a five-fold increase since 1990. EPA has collected and reported this data for more than 30 years, and uses the information to measure the success of waste reduction and recycling programs across the country. For more information, or to download the report, visit www.epa.gov/osw.

FARM ENERGY AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY

In early January, the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Chicago, along with a diverse collection of 33 other groups and companies, including the 25x25 Alliance and key farm groups, proposed a "robust and comprehensive suite" of clean energy programs for inclusion in the federal economic recovery program that will stimulate job creation. The proposed Farm Energy Economic Recovery Program has three primary elements: 1) Expand Funding for Farm Bill Energy Title Programs: Include at least $1.2 billion in additional funding for important Farm Bill Energy Title programs like the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), Biorefinery Assistance Program, Repowering Assistance and Biomass Crop Assistance Program; 2) Extend and Improve Clean Energy Tax Credits: Extend the federal Production Tax Credits (PTC) for wind and biomass power for five years. Change structure of PTC and investment tax credit to make them fully refundable. Stimulate 2009 investment by permitting tax credits from new investments in 2008 and 2009 to be carried back against tax liability from the past decade. Create a level playing field for producers of renewable electricity by modifying the PTC so all renewable sources of electricity will be eligible for tbe full credit; and 3) Expand Successful Clean Renewable Energy And Conservation Bond Programs: These bond programs provide PTC-like incentives for electric cooperatives, public power and municipalities to build new renewable energy facilities and invest in energy efficiency. The full proposal can be downloaded at http://www.farmenergy.org.

ENVIRONMENTAL, ENERGY BENEFITS ANALYSIS FAVORS DIVERSION

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) contracted with the Tellus Institute to do a literature review and modeling of environmental impacts of waste management focused on the life cycle impacts of various approaches. MADEP identified the following technologies to assess: recycling, composting, landfilling and waste-to-energy incineration, plus the emerging technologies of gasification, p3Tolysis and anaerobic digestion. The final report, "Assessment of Materials Management Options for the Massachusetts Solid Waste Master Plan Review," was released in December 2008. Tellus partnered with Cascadia Consulting Group and Sound Resource Management on the project. The environmental benefits calculator described in the October 2008 issue of BioCycle "Composting: Best Bang for MSW Management Buck" was used as an assessment tool. "From a life cycle environmental emissions and energy perspective, source reduction, recycling and composting are the most advantageous management options for all (recyclable/compostable) materials in the

U.S. EPA REPORTS 2 0 0 7 WASTE GENERATION, RECYCLING AND DISPOSAL FAaS AND FIGURES
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published, "Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures 2007." The report calculates that 254 million tons of MSW were generated in 2007, out of which 85 million tons were recycled or composted, resulting in an overall 33.4 percent recycling rate. As a comparison, in 2005 the EPA reported a 31.7 percent recycling rate, with a total of 79.4 million tons recycled or composted. The 85 million tons recycled and composted is equivalent to a reduction of 193 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, or the annual greenhouse gas emissions fi'om more than 35 million passenger vehicles. The report measures several materials in the MSW stream, and notes that organics continue to be the largest component. In 2007, MSW was made up of: 32.7 percent paper; 12.8 percent yard trimmings; 12.5 percent food scraps; 12.1 percent plastics; 8.2 percent metals; 7.6 percent rubber, leather and textiles; 5.6 percent wood; 5.3 percent glass; and 3.2 percent clas-

BIOCYCLE

JANUARY 2009