Waste Treatment, Recycling Can Provide Energy

To the Editor,

Thank you for your continuing good work at Whatcom Watch to educate us about how we get our food and energy.

I am the president of Whole Energy and have been a practicing professional with renewable and clean energy for transportation since 1994. Whole Energy has been around for about 10 years. Before that I worked for both large and small companies to help improve how we get energy.

Folks in the community have asked me to provide a letter explaining the numerous pathways for conversion of municipal solid waste (MSW) to energy. First, it is important to know that MSW is a heterogeneous mixture of materials. No process efficiently converts these materials without first separating them. Ideally this separation is done as close as possible to the source of the waste stream to improve the quality of the materials.

Food waste is usually very wet and is best suited to anaerobic digestion as is done at dairy digesters and waste water treatment plants. We have three anaerobic digesters in Whatcom County but governmental regulations prevent them from receiving food waste. Wood and other burnable debris are best suited to gasification via a process called pyrolysis. Pyrolysis can be used to make a gas suitable for power generation as well as condensable liquids with limited current market potential. Metals can be recycled into other metal products. Rubber and plastics can be recycled into other products or broken down into a crude oil-like substance.

Decades ago this community used to do this kind of waste separation, recycling, and energy production off of Slater Road. However, our local government leaders chose to ship all of our local waste to a landfill on the East Side. It is important for citizens to be aware that renewable energy also has a cost and a local impact. Those who present a no impact renewable energy are a kind of snake oil that impedes progress.

This community needs to provide more leadership and vision with buy-in from both businesses and individuals to help guide our political leaders. Our energy supply is increasingly precarious and its by-products are a problem.

If anyone would like to discuss these issues further feel free to email me at adeshman@yahoo.com.

Atul Deshmane

Whole Energy