NEW ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT DIGEST | 新能源与环保参考

Some of the latest news from the wide world of waste: August 2012.

CHINA

• Guangzhou to Start Garbage Classification (China Daily)
• China Deluged by Toxic Sludge (China Dialogue)
• Chinese Company Setting up New Shipbreaking Yard (Recycling International)
• SIMS Looks for More Chinese Investment Opportunities (Scrap-Ex)
• Co-processing Cement with MSW Incineration Growing in China (China Daily)

US

• Cutting Food Waste Increases Corporate Profits and Consumer Savings, Says Report (Forbes)
• Waste Plastic to Oil Firm Permitted to Double Capacity in New York (Waste Management World)
• Pennsylvania Prepares for Tougher E-Waste Recycling Law (Examiner)
• MTA to Yank Trash Cans from 10 Stations in an Effort to Reduce Garbage (NY Daily News)
• Old W. Va Landfill Could Be New Solar Farm (Waste Recycling News)

INTERNATIONAL

• Eco-Communities: Cleaning up Bolivia’s Cities (Waste Management World)
• Egypt’s Garbage Crisis Bedevils Morsi (Washington Post)
• Pilot Recycling and Composting Projects in Pakistani Cities (Waste Management World)
• Recycling in Yemen a Double-Edged Sword (Yemen Times)
• How the World’s Trash Problem Presents Profit Opportunity (GreenBiz.com)

Some of the latest news from the wide world of waste: July 2012.

CHINA

• Guangzhou’s Rubbish Charge Struggle (China Dialogue)
• Waste Project is Abandoned Following Protests in China (NYTimes)
• Shenzhen Tests Waste Classification (China Daily)
• KLM to Fly on China Gutter Oil (International Business Times)
• Landfill in Xi’an Attracts Treasure Hunters (China Daily)
• China Cracks Down on Imports of Poor Quality Paper (Let’s Recycle)
• Company Puts Unwanted Clothes to Good Use (China Daily)

US

• New York City Breaks up Cardboard Recycling Theft Operation (Waste 360)
• Apple: Leaving EPEAT a Big Mistake, Products back on Green Registry (LA Times)
• Microbes that Treat Waste and Produce Power (Renewable Energy World)
• MTA Plan Would Add MetroCard “Green” Surcharge to Encourage Recycling (Wall Street Journal)
• NYC’s East River Transfer Station Receives Federal Permit (NY Times)
• Ekocycle: Will.i.am, Coca-Cola Take Recycling High End (Huffington Post)

INTERNATIONAL

• The UK’s Industrial-Scale Illegal Tyre Dumps (BBC)
• Waste-to-Energy: The Boom Continues, Led by Europe and China (Waste Management World)
• UK Boosts Gasification, Cuts Support for Biomass (Businessweek)
• Cities Will Convert 260 Million Tons of Waste to Energy (Smart Planet)
• Worldwatch Institute Report Predicts Huge Trash Increases in Years Ahead (Waste & Recycling News)
• Plastic Bag Use “Up for Second Year Running” in the UK (The Guardian)
• Welcome to the Age of Urban Mining (Forbes)
• How Green Will the London Olympics Really Be? Organizers Have Set Goal of Zero Landfill Waste (The Independent)
• Indian City Aims for “Zero Waste” Status by 2015 (Times of India)

Originally published at China Dialogue and featured in the Guardian Environmental Network.

China’s “clean” trash-burning plants have a dark underside. Stuffed with coal, many operate like fossil-fired power stations, only more laxly governed.

Xie Yong could be called a pioneer. He is one of very few to date to sue a Chinese government agency over its unlawful refusal of requested data. His crusade for change has little to do with civic altruism, however. Xie’s struggle is personal in nature, his actions forced by desperation. He has been battling his son’s paralysis-causing epileptic seizures and mounting health care costs since 2010. His son’s condition, Xie believes, is the result of toxic emissions from an incineration plant near his home.
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Originally published in China Dialogue.

中国“清洁”的垃圾焚烧发电厂有着黑暗的另一面，这里大量烧煤，许多工厂的运作方式和化石燃料的发电厂差不多，只不过管理更松懈。

谢勇堪称为一名先锋，因为他是中国为数不多的因为政府机构拒绝提供数据而将政府告上法庭的人。然而，他要求改变现状的行动却并非出于为了公众的利他主义， 而是出于个人原因，是一种由绝望而导致的抗争。自从2010年以来，谢勇一直在为儿子的脑瘫而奔走，这种病不仅让孩子的癫痫不断发作，随之而来的医疗费用 也在不断攀升 。谢勇坚信，儿子的病症是他家附近的一家垃圾焚烧发电厂的有毒排放造成的。
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Some of the latest news from the wide world of waste: June 2012.

CHINA

• Tibet to Build First Resource Recycling Market (China Daily)
• Residents in Guangdong Say No to Garbage Incineration Plant (Global Times)
• China to Improve Ship Recycling Standards (Waste Management World)
• China Says Its Plastic Bag Ban Has Saved 4.8 Million Tonnes of Oil (Business Insider)
• Beijing Turns Garbage into Power (CRI)
• China Set to Produce Twice as much Waste as US by 2030 (Waste Management World)
  

US

• Vermont First State to Pass A Law Mandating Composting (Bennington Banner)
• California’s Roadmap to a 75% Recycling Rate (Waste Management World)
• What are We Throwing in the Trash? Food. Lots of Food. (Washington Post)

INTERNATIONAL

• Chennai Delegation Visits China in Search of Garbage Management Solutions (The Hindu)
• Composting Facilities Set for Nigerian State (Waste Management World)

Following a presentation I gave at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars’ China Environment Forum on Energizing China’s Waste last week, I was quite pleased to see these two articles surface on the topic:

Forbes’ David Ferris writes “China’s ‘Waste to Power’ Plants Burn More Coal than Trash”

Editor of Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy Ethan Goffman writes “China Leads the World…in Garbage”

Perhaps the issue will start to get more deserved attention. In the meantime, I’ll keep on trucking….

Some of the latest news from the wide world of waste: 3 – 16 May 2012.

CHINA

• Trash Hill Casts Shadow on Village (China Daily)

• China to Build 15 Waste Incineration Power Plants in Iran (Bernama)

• China Everbright’s IPO — It’s Back, and Much Smaller (WSJ)

• Restaurant Food Scraps Not Recycled in Beijing, Despite Changes in Regulatory System (China Daily)

US

• Plasma Gasification Contract Extended by US Air Force (Waste Management World)

• Group Plans to Open ‘Zero Waste’ Grocery Store this Summer (Statesman)

• Oil from Waste Plastics and Tyres Approved by Oil Company (Waste Management World)

• GE Partners with EPA on Appliance Recycling (Waste Management World)

• 3 MW Solar Farm Landfill in New Jersey Dedicated (Yahoo Finance)

INTERNATIONAL

• EU Investing in Toxic Waste Projects in Developing World, GAIA Claims (Guardian)

• Waste Paper Markets See Fall in Prices (letsrecycle.com)

• A Rough Patch for Plastics (Recycling Today)

• Waste Projects Get Rates Boost in UK (MRW)

• Recycling Up in England but London Still Lags Behind (MRW)

Some of the latest news from the wide world of waste: 19 April – 2 May 2012.

CHINA

• Bo Xilai’s Brother Quits China Everbright International (BBC)

• $32 Million Waste to Biofuel Contract in Northeast China (Waste Management World)

• Unused E-Waste Discarded in China Raises Questions (BBC)

• Waste to Energy Facilities to Receive 10cents / kWh in China (Waste Management World)

US

• Waste-to-Energy Industry at Crossroads in Maine (Kennebec Journal)

• New York’s Largest On-Farm Biogas Power Project Begins Operations, Generates Electricity for Nearly 1,000 Homes (WSJ)

• Carbon Emissions from Waste Measured in EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory (Waste Management World)

• Johnson Controls South Carolina Battery Recycling Plant Nears Start-up (Automotive World)

• New York’s New Idea (Waste Management World)

INTERNATIONAL

• Following Garbage’s Long Journey Around the Earth (NPR’s Fresh Air)

• World Bank Arm Considers Funding Sri Lanka Waste-to-Energy Plant (Bloomberg)

• $3 billion Request for Hong Kong Waste Projects Rejected (eco-business.com)

• 1 MW Anaerobic Digestion Plant Awarded Contract in SW England (Waste Management World)

• EU Member States Still Landfilling Three-Quarters of Their Waste (Waste Management World)

Some of the latest news from the wide world of waste: 22 March — 4 April 2012

CHINA

• Where (And What) China Imports from U.S. (Forbes) — #3 is scrap metal!
• Over 100 Arrested for Making ‘Gutter Oil‘ (China Daily)
• Waste Plastic Factory Ablaze in East China (China Daily)
• Chinese Man to Sue Chinese Government Over Unreported Incinerator Emissions Data, Claims Pollution from the Plant Caused His Son’s Paralysis (China Daily)

US

• Waste Management Estimates Trash it Collects Worth $40 Billion (Bloomberg)
• LA Mulls 10-cent Fee for Each Paper Bag Taken at Checkout Line (LA Times)
• Minneapolis Turning Recycles Rooftops into Road Surfaces (Star Tribune)
• The Continuing Debate about Banning Plastic Bags (Triple Pundit)
• Oakland Unveils Industry-Leading Waste-to-Energy System (East Bay Express)

INTERNATIONAL

• UK Develops Prototype to Recycle Human Waste into Energy and Water (Waste Management World)
• EU Nonferrous Scrap Dealers Report Sharp Drops in Orders (Recycling Today)
• India’s E-Waste Output Jumps 8 Times in 7 Years (Times of India)
• A UK-Developed Fuel Cell that Runs on Food Scraps and Sewage (Forbes)

Some of the latest news from the wide world of waste: 8 – 21 March 2012

CHINA

• China Everbright Signs Wujiang Waste-to-Energy Project
• IBM Opens China’s First Factory to Refurbish Computers, Tapping a $2bn Market
• Chinese Sinoma Energy Signs Agreement to Build WtE Plant in the Philippines
• China Builds Home Made Nuclear Waste Processor

US

• Waste Heat Technology Developer Alphabet Energy Secures $2 million in Debt Financing
• Florida Legislature Passes Key Solid Waste Legislature
• New York Startup Converts Plastic to Oil
• In Santa Cruz, County Plastic Bag Ban Goes Into Effect
• NYC Considers Christmas Tree Disposal Fine

INTERNATIONAL

• Taiwan EPA Eyes Greener Use of Waste Disposal Facilities
• Tanzania: Turning Rubbish into Cooking Fuel
• Delhi Residents Fume over Trial Run of Incinerator
• UK Government to Boost Precious Metal Recycling
• Lagos to Generate Electricity from Landfills
• Seoul Recovers Energy from 730,000 Tonnes of Waste
  

Some of the latest news from the wide world of waste: 23 February – 7 March 2012

CHINA

• GE Gas Technology to Power China’s Largest Landfill Gas Project

• China to Recycle More Industrial Waste

• Garbage Crisis to Bring Higher Residential Collection Fees in Beijing

• Chinese Government Offices Embark on Ambitious Recycling Program

• Capital to Lead Nation in Trash Burning

US

• Plasma Arc Waste Gasification Plant May Come to Ohio

• California to Develop Single Stream Recycling, Biofuel and Energy Facility

• US Responsible Electronics Recycling Act Sparks More Debate

• New, Higher CalRecycle Redemption Rates Take Effect in California

• New York City Seeks Waste to Energy Proposals

INTERNATIONAL

• 51 Million Cans and Counting for UK Recycling Program

• UK-developed Microbial Fuel Cell Produces Biogas and Energy from Waste

• Video: Biogas Facilities to Co-Digest Hanoi’s Organic Waste

• UK Anaerobic Industry on a Role, Says WRAP Report

• Energy Recovery from EU Waste Rose 13.5% in 2010
  

CSR Asia and Southern Weekend (aka Nanfang Zhoumo) deserve ample praise for an insightful recent post addressing “Greenwashing in China,”  available here.

The post especially resonated with your’s truly, as it echoes much of what I attempted to convey in the “Dirty Side of China’s Clean Growth.” In particular the last point, referenced here:

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China’s leading waste-to-energy developer, China Everbright, has received more than US$200 million vis-a-vis Asian Development Bank’s commitment to funding companies with above average environmental goals. It’s a great idea on paper. However, flaccid environmental reporting standards in China and worrying trends in the incineration sector reveal a moral hazard in international institutions’ move to capitalize the private sector. Growing segments of China’s population are beginning to demand transparency and accountability from China’s cleantech sector. Will principled organizations like the Asian Development Bank follow their example?

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Some of the latest news from the wide world of waste: 9 – 22 February 2012

CHINA

• Insurance Auto Auctions Paves the Way for Recycling US Salvage Vehicles in China

• China Issues New Electronics Industry Environmental Guidelines

• Chinese Waste-to-Energy Investors to Enter Lagos Market

• Difficult but Necessary: China’s Experience Exploring Biofuel

• Reverse Vending Machines Turn Cans into Cash
  

US

• LA’s Trash Industry Gets Ready to Rumble

• New York City Makes It Easier to Reuse Old Rags

• Hudson Clean Energy Takes Minority Stake in GSE Investment Corporation
  

• Plastics Recycling Rates Rise Significantly in the US

• The Business of Garbage and Recycling

• Mardi Gras Beads Cause Environmental Hangover

INTERNATIONAL

• Bed of China to Encourage Oysters in Dubai

• Africa: Domestic Consumption is Main Contributor to Growing E-Waste

• Jakarta Port Officials Seize 113 Containers of Illegal Hazardous Waste

• Fungus that Eats Plastic

• Rapid Food Waste Fermentation Developed at German University

China’s leading waste-to-energy developer, China Everbright, has received more than US$200 million vis-a-vis Asian Development Bank’s commitment to funding companies with above average environmental goals. It’s a great idea on paper. However, flaccid environmental reporting standards in China and worrying trends in the incineration sector reveal a moral hazard in international institutions’ move to capitalize the private sector. Growing segments of China’s population are beginning to demand transparency and accountability from China’s cleantech sector. Will principled organizations like the Asian Development Bank follow their example?

Read the rest of this entry »