waste

You may have seen solar panels attached to parking meters or highway traffic signals. Now there dumpsters powered, at least a bit, by solar panels.

Waste Management last week said that it has developed a product called the SmartEnergy Compactor that uses a solar panel to operate the controls of a compacting dumpster.

The dumpster can also be remotely monitored to indicate how full it is, which can save fuel in unnecessary disposal truck runs.

The technology behind the electronic control system originated at Big Belly Solar, which makes public trash and recycling bins equipped with solar panels that power … Read more

Valuable metals contained in electronics and green-technology products are being recycled at "discouragingly" low rates, raising the prospect of material shortages, according to a United Nations-sponsored report.

The U.N. report, released last week, found a wide disparity in metal recycling rates and very low rates among even highly prized metals, such as gold, from electronics. The study recommends using product designs that make recycling easier and addressing the problem of obsolete electronics. About 18 percent of TVs and PCs are recycled and about 10 percent of cell phones, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Less than one third of about 60 metals had an end-of-life recycling rate over 50 percent and 34 elements had a recycling rate below 1 percent. In addition to creating a larger supply of metals, recycling is estimated to be two to 10 times more resource-efficient than smelting metals from ore, according to the study.

"In theory, metals can be used over and over again, minimizing the need to mine and process virgin materials and thus saving substantial amounts of energy and water while minimizing environmental degradation," said Achim Steiner, U.N. under-secretary general and executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, in a statement.

Lead, which is most commonly used in batteries, is the most recycled, with a rate around 80 percent. Iron and other components of stainless steel are recycled at over 50 percent, as are precious metals platinum, gold, and silver. Gold is recycled at a high rate from industrial use, but only 10 percent to 15 percent from electronics, such as cell phones.

Meanwhile, there are several metals considered vital to green-technology… Read more

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.-- Waste Management wants your waste for more reasons that you might think.

The company, which hauls garbage from 22 million customers, is in the midst of a strategy to invest in technology start-ups in an effort to get electricity, chemicals, or liquid fuels from municipal solid waste. Already, the company generates two to three times more energy than the entire solar industry.

"We took the venture capital route. We make lots of small investments because you don't know what technology will ultimately will win. We need to spread out bets," Waste Management CEO … Read more

RUTLAND, Mass.--The road up to Jordan Dairy Farm here offers a typical New England view of rolling hills, wood-frame houses, and shade trees. Then up on a hill, there appears a dome-capped silo, a structure that's bringing renewable energy to agriculture.

The silo-like building is an anaerobic digester, one of five that will be installed at small dairy farms here in western Massachusetts. If they perform as hoped, they will allow these farmers to reduce their wastes and make some money in the process. They will also recycle food residue that would normally be thrown away.

The digester, … Read more

Harvest Power, which converts organic waste into energy and soil fertilizer, today said it raised $51.7 million in a funding led by an investment company co-founded by Al Gore.

Generation Investment Management, started by Gore and David Blood as a firm focused on sustainability, will be the lead investor in Harvest Power's series B round. Also participating are existing investors Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Waste Management, Munich Venture Partners, and TriplePoint Capital.

Three-year-old Harvest Power specializes in extracting valuable products from organic waste, such as food scraps and yard clippings. It uses different techniques either to generate … Read more

Where most people see a pile of leftovers or yard waste, Paul Sellew sees a revenue stream, delivering energy and valuable nutrients.

Sellew is the CEO of 3-year-old Harvest Power, a company formed to take recycling to the next level. Paper, metals, and plastics account for about 60 percent of municipal solid waste. The next hill to climb is waste that originally came from the ground: wood, yard trimmings, and now food scraps, which altogether are more than 30 percent of that waste stream.

"We look at it as next-generation solar," said Sellew. "We're capturing sunlight … Read more

Waste Management seems to be on a quest to see what else it can do with all that trash and recycling it collects.

The garbage collection giant signed an agreement with biotech start-up Genomatica to develop technology that would turn syngas into commercial chemical products, both companies announced last week.

Syngas, consisting mostly of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is what gets produced when waste materials are broken down by exposure to high heat, pressure, and bacteria.

Though the particular chemicals in mind were not mentioned, it's easy to suss out what Genomatica might develop. The company already has developed … Read more

Tons of electronics will be transformed back into raw materials using a highly automated series of electronic machines in a new facility in Ontario, Canada.

Sims Recycling Solutions flipped the switch on an e-waste recycling and refurbishing operation yesterday in Mississauga outside Toronto, which converts all incoming material. The facility will be able to treat and resell 75,000 metric tons of e-waste annually, including CRT monitors, TVs, PCs, and other electronics gadgets, such as digital music players and mobile phones.

In the U.S., electronic waste is a fast-growing source of waste. In 2007, about 18 percent of TVs … Read more

WALTHAM, Mass.--In the quest for renewable sources of energy, the military is giving garbage a go.

The Edwards Air Force base in Southern California will test out a shipping container-sized trash-to-energy unit from IST Energy. The Air Force will be the first customer for IST Energy's Green Energy Machine (GEM), which is designed to convert waste into electricity and heat, according to the company.

Two years ago, IST Energy showed off the prototype of the GEM and earlier this month began showing the unit to potential customers. About 20 companies, which either have a sustainability initiative or pay … Read more