[GreenYes] Re: Wisconsin requires plans to shorten time for organic stability at landfills

["Eric Lombardi" <eric@no.address>]

Just playing with you dude. didn't you see my little smiley face on the
email?  I know what you do, and greatly respect it.  Now, don't interpret my
comments below as anything negative on you, just me taking an opening to
respond to the ideas you presented. (email can be such a cold medium. so I'm
hugging you as I write.)

 

However, there are many roles to be played in defense of life on Earth, and
the evolution of technology is just one key activity.  In fact, I am a
techie and got my Masters from Washington University in Technology and Human
Affairs where we learned how to do such things as "technology assessment"
and "engineering economics" and "cost/benefit analysis".  But there is
another side to technology than just evolution and forward movement . there
is a dark side ("devolution"?) where where wrong turns were made somewhere
along the road and corrective action is needed.  And one of the roles I have
chosen to play in the world is to confront bad technologies and systems
(according to my scales of judgement, what else do I have?) and work to shut
em down, or at a minimum get them to morph into something better.  My work
is a very "activist" path now because after spending years reading and
researching and analyzing and discussing options I've decided that the world
KNOWS ENOUGH to start taking action against the destructive forces in play
all around us, and actions for the solutions in energy, waste, justice,
health, etc etc that have been clearly written about by many smart people
over the last 20 years.  Not all the answers have been revealed, but most of
the important ones have been and it is now time to stop the talking and
start the changing. or as David Korten just called it in his new book, "The
Great Turning" has begun.

 

So, through that lens, I'll say it again. the Wasting Economy just won
another one over the Zero Waste Economy, and a very large corporation named
Waste Management Inc. is happy with that development, which means a lot of
smaller corporations, like Eco-Cycle, are not.  There is work to be done in
the streets, and that's why we're there.

 

Eric

 

Eric Lombardi

Executive Director/CEO

Eco-Cycle Inc

Boulder, CO. USA

303-444-6634

www.ecocycle.org

 

-----Original Message-----
From: GreenYes@no.address [mailto:GreenYes@no.address] On Behalf
Of Reindl, John
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 7:03 AM
To: Eric Lombardi; GreenYes@no.address
Subject: [GreenYes] Re: Wisconsin requires plans to shorten time for organic
stability at landfills

 

Hi Eric ~

 

How could I "let this happen"? First, it was already being done. Second, I
don't have the power to stop the use of particular technologies, even if I
wanted to. 

 

But most important, the goal of my work is to reduce overall environmental
impact -- not to stop things from going to landfills or any particular
technology -- and I strongly believe in a comprehensive approach to the
evaluation and valuation of environmental impacts.

 

I don't believe that society is served by inhibiting the development of
alternatives. I think that new alternatives need to be developed, explored
and assessed.

 

John 

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Lombardi [mailto:eric@no.address]
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 3:07 PM
To: Reindl, John; GreenYes@no.address
Subject: RE: [GreenYes] Wisconsin requires plans to shorten time for organic
stability at landfills

Score a big win for Waste Management and the technology called
"bioreactors".   In my opinion, this development will result in a
nearly-official endorsement of bioreactors for all the material that isn't
"diverted".   The other option, "pretreatment", which I support using the
anaerobic digestion technology, won't stand a financial chance as long as
bioreactors-on-the-cheap are allowed to be built.  John, how could you let
this happen?   :-)

 

Eric

 

 

Eric Lombardi

Executive Director/CEO

Eco-Cycle Inc

Boulder, CO. USA

303-444-6634

www.ecocycle.org

 

-----Original Message-----
From: GreenYes@no.address [mailto:GreenYes@no.address] On Behalf
Of Reindl, John
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 1:08 PM
To: GreenYes@no.address
Subject: [GreenYes] Wisconsin requires plans to shorten time for organic
stability at landfills

 

For your information 

As of January 1st, Wisconsin now requires that landfill owners/operators
develop plans and implement systems to shorten the time for the degradation
of organics in landfills as a method to reduce long term environmental and
financial impacts. "Organics"  goes beyond food, and includes items such as
wood, yard materials, paper, textiles, and other materials. 

Under the new requirement, "The plan of operation for all new and expanded
municipal solid waste landfills submitted to the department after January 1,
2007 shall include a plan for significantly reducing the amount of
degradable organic material remaining after site closing in order to
materially reduce the amount of time the landfill will take to achieve
landfill organic stability."

While the state does not specify how organic stability is to be achieved,
three broad categories are: 

        1. Diversion 
        2. Pretreatment 
        3. Treatment within the landfill 

and a table of some alternatives and their status, pros and cons is
provided.  The following is the issue statement of the basis for this action
and a web page is provided at
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/wm/solid/landfill/stability/index.htm. 

Issue Statement 

Current landfill designs and practices do not provide for degradation of
landfilled organic wastes within a defined and reasonable timeframe.
Undegraded organic wastes can potentially cause future environmental or
economic impacts if the landfill gas and leachate collection and containment
systems (cap and/or liner) fail at some time in the future. Potential
economic burdens and environmental risks associated with these undegraded
wastes will be largely borne by future generations. Better landfill designs
and organic management practices should be identified and implemented to
provide for organic waste degradation within a reasonable timeframe.

"Reasonable timeframe" means within the lifetime of the people who generate
the waste. 

"Economic burdens" means costs to manage gas and leachate, to maintain the
slopes and cover, to perform environmental monitoring, and to control
access.

"Environmental risks" includes potential contamination of groundwater and
surface water, air quality degradation, greenhouse gas impacts, explosive
gas generation, and/or land instability.

 

The rule and the guidance package was developed with the input of a
workgroup consisting of representatives of the Wisconsin DNR, the solid
waste industry, local government, the University of Wisconsin, and
consultants. The minutes and other materials are included on the above web
page. To the best of my knowledge, Wisconsin is the only state to have
developed this requirement.

John Reindl, Recycling Manager 
Dane County, WI 






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