[GreenYes] $$$ for incinerators . . . . $$$ for Recycling ???

["Bill Sheehan" <zerowaste@grrn.org>]

Here's an interesting conversation from the GAIA listserv:
 
PAUL TOBIASON WROTE:
 
On Guam, a company wants to build a 300 ton per day 
municipal waste incinerator. They will also produce some 
electrical power. While our local government signed a 
contract with this company for such a plant, there was no 
such contract for the struggling recycling companies. My 
question is this: The incinerator proponents obviously have 
money behind them and are able to market this method to 
governments. They get a contract that will make them 
profitable with the community liable for most everything. 
Why can't a composting/recycling conglomerate do the 
same thing?  If the local recycling company got paid the 
same amount of money (about US$80 or more/ton)for each 
cubic meter or ton of waste shipped off-island to be 
recycled or to be composted on-island, these companies 
could be successful thus providing local jobs ? 
 
Regards, Paul Tobiason, 
Recycling Assoc. of Guam  
 
 
ERIC LOMBARDI RESPONDED:
 
Hi Paul, 
 
The main reason "the struggling recycling companies" find 
it tough to beat these kind of incinerator deals is because no 
one has put together a solid business proposition that offers 
a 100% recycling/composting/reuse package.  I believe that 
for a guaranteed cash flow of $80/ton, that a solid business 
plan could be offered that could handle 90% of the discard 
stream, but what about that last 10%.  I think a small 
landfill could handle it. 
 
You should keep your eye on the various efforts around the 
world to create "resource recovery parks" such as Del 
Norte County in Northern California is trying to do.  The 
term I like is "Zero Waste Facilities", and for a visual 
image imagine a 20-acre site that has a recycling MRF, a 
composting plant, a reuse business, a C&D business, and 
any other "landfill diversion business" that wants to lease a 
space.  All you local waste on Guam would go there, and 
out the back door a small bit (10%) would go to a surface 
pre-treatment facility to stabilize the organics, and then into 
a small landfill.  The key financial incentive for the 
community "to play along" with this new scheme it to make 
the back door landfill VERY expensive ($300/ton?) but the 
other discard facility would be much cheaper, or free, or 
even pay you, if the material comes in nicely source 
separated. 
 
I see the creation of this "Zero Waste Facility Business 
Plan" as essential to beating the large contract, take-it-all 
"solutions" that our landfill and incinerator competitors 
offer the world.  We should be able to take the same 
millions of dollars, but in exchange we have to handle the 
whole discard stream and not just a small portion of it. 
 
Eric Lombardi 
Executive Director 
EcoCycle 
Boulder, CO  

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