Waste Conversion

Marketing and Implementing Emerging Waste Conversion Technologies: The Local Effect

The search for clean, affordable alternatives for waste disposal has presented an opportunity for emerging waste conversion technologies to make a breakthrough in the U.S. market. Partnerships between private companies and local governments may very well hold the key to success.

Teno A. West, Esq.

Solid waste management in the U.S. has always been a uniquely local endeavor. Typically, landfilling has provided the most efficient and least expensive option for solid waste management by local governments. Recently, there has been an increasing demand for clean, affordable alternatives to landfilling and other traditional forms of waste disposal. Throughout the world, mainly in Europe and Japan, emerging waste conversion technologies have found success marketing and implementing their technologies. In the U.S., unique challenges have led to a relatively slow growth in the successful development of emerging waste conversion technology projects. These unique challenges include navigating the nuanced permitting and environmental review processes, garnering local project acceptance, combating environmental opposition, solving waste aggregation problems and other considerations.

One factor bearing heavily on the success of a project is the acceptance of the project by the affected local community and government. Just as solid waste management is a local responsibility, so too, is the task of handling—in all aspects practical, political, economic, etc.—the issues presented by the various solid waste management tools available, including waste conversion technology. Garnering support from, and partnering with, a local government provides invaluable, if not necessary, aid to a company as it attempts to navigate the permitting and procurement requirements at the local and state levels, deliver the proper message necessary for the development of local acceptance, and aggregate the appropriate and sufficient feedstock of waste necessary to the success of the project. This article will address some of the issues facing companies attempting to implement waste conversion technologies throughout the U.S. with a special emphasis on the positive impact of a local government partnership.

Zoning, Permitting, and Environmental Review

Once the proper locality is chosen as a fit for a particular conversion technology, the need to develop local backing and support for the project is necessary. The zoning and planning processes, including permitting and licensing, is intimately local. Regulations governing these processes vary greatly from municipality to municipality and decision-making rests almost exclusively with the state and/or local government. While it is true that a private company has the right and the ability to seek permits, licenses and zoning approvals without local support for the project, as a practical matter, if the local government is generally unsupportive, the project faces almost certain death.

Waste conversion projects, even when backed by local community leaders and government, can take a long time to wind through the legal maze of zoning, permitting, procurement and environmental review. If the local community leaders and government, for whatever reason, do not support the project, then regardless of the scientific and/or empirical reasons supporting the implementation of the proposed technology in that municipality, the process may simply stall during the permitting, zoning, etc. processes. On the other hand, with local community and governmental support for the project, the approval process likely will not stall (and may even be “fast-tracked”) and the project will stand a much stronger chance of implementation and success. Partnership with the local government within the zoning and permitting area therefore is key to project success.

Environmental Opposition And Developing Local Acceptance

Environmental group opposition to waste conversion technology is extremely potent in the U.S. Given the general distrust of waste-to-energy (and, by extension, waste conversion) technologies prevalent throughout the U.S., the NIMBY (“not in my back yard”) phenomenon is ever-present in municipalities, and local residents are easily persuaded to join the cause of environmental groups against waste conversion once it is proposed in their community. Combating this phenomenon is difficult and total local acceptance is almost always impossible. However, partnership with a local government maximizes the potential for local acceptance of a proposed project in a number of ways, despite the NIMBY phenomenon.

Before a partnership is pursued, a concerted effort must be undertaken to determine the appropriate size of the project to be constructed. Recycling and zero-waste policies are, at least ostensibly, the dominant solid waste goals in most municipalities. Waste conversion is viewed by many as an enemy to these policies because it is thought that once such a facility is built, waste production becomes incentivized (and recycling dis-incentivized) in an effort to “feed the beast.” This view can be minimized, by making a concerted effort to appropriately size the proposed project to the community’s waste needs. Smaller facilities cost less, produce less emissions and process less waste, thus helping to undercut the common environmentalist argument that such waste conversion technology will incentivize waste production and dis-incentivize recycling. While economic feasibility will play a large role in determining the appropriate size of a proposed project, it behooves the private company to assess the waste needs of the community and, in terms of size, narrowly tailor its proposed facility to those needs. Despite the “zero-waste” moniker, it is undisputed that not all waste can be recycled and some amount of waste will always need to be disposed. Thus, if the proposed project is thoughtfully sized according to the subject community’s waste disposal needs, taking into account their recycling goals as well, it can be marketed as a friend—not a foe—to recycling and zero-waste. Indeed, some studies suggest that waste conversion technology actually fosters increased recycling—that phenomenon must be emphasized and supported. For example, conversion technologies operate more efficiently with homogenous feedstocks, and thus require pre-sorting of feedstock material, which increases recycling.

Once proper sizing is accounted for, the company must establish a local presence and must educate the local community and its leaders with respect to the benefits of the proposed project. To this end, partnership with a local government sends a unified and consistent message about the benefits of waste conversion technologies to the local community. While a private company might attempt to get its message out regarding the environmental benefits of a proposed waste conversion project and the significant cost savings that such technology might provide, the message of community benefit becomes much more credible when it resounds though a partnership formed with the local community leaders and the peoples’ local representatives.

Availability Of Appropriate Feedstock

Undoubtedly, one consideration that companies must address is the availability of appropriate and sufficient feedstock for their proposed technology. The feedstock, which may include municipal solid waste, food waste and biomass, among others, is the material that fuels the waste conversion process and will vary depending on the material being disposed of and the particular type of technology that is utilized. Without this, the technology will be unable to fulfill its purpose—turning trash into energy in an environmentally sound manner. Partnership with the local government can provide the necessary means to ensure such feedstock.

Construction of waste conversion facilities is expensive and the project developer will be expecting that the money saved by not landfilling waste, and the money earned by selling electricity, will not only pay for the facility but also bear a profit at some point. Without an appropriate feedstock, this goal is unattainable. Complicating the matter, however, is that many private waste management companies that are contracted to haul municipal waste also own landfills and are able to landfill the waste at inexpensive costs. Therefore, these companies often have little incentive to bring the waste to a waste conversion facility. If there is no mechanism—be it legal, contractual or economic—for diverting that waste to its waste conversion facility, the project will fail.

The concept of MSW diversion to certain designated areas by law or contract is known informally as “flow control” and is an extremely useful tool for aggregating waste as a feedstock for waste conversion facilities. If the municipality can dictate where its trash goes, it can appropriately feed its waste conversion facility, create inexpensive energy, and cleanly dispose of its non-recyclable trash without threatening recycling and “zero-waste” efforts. Thus, partnership with local government can have a significant impact regarding waste aggregation. If the local community leaders believe in and support the waste conversion technology project, there is more incentive to implement some form of flow control to help achieve project success. And, through a partnership with local government, the company will have potential access to a guaranteed tonnage of waste, which will position the project for success and, ultimately, benefit both the company and the local community.

An Emerging Opportunity

The search for clean, affordable alternatives to landfilling and other traditional forms of waste disposal has presented an opportunity for emerging waste conversion technologies to make a breakthrough in the U.S. market. Partnerships between private companies and local governments may very well hold the key to success.

Teno A. West is a nationally recognized municipal infrastructure attorney and a frequent lecturer on the matter. He is a Partner with Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West LLC, and leads the firm’s Municipal Infrastructure Team. Attorney West is a highly experienced lawyer in the areas of public-private partnerships, water and wastewater law, solid waste management, alternative energy projects, procurement law and design-build-operate projects. He routinely represents government agencies in many parts of the U.S. dealing with the challenges associated with, and implementation of, municipal infrastructure projects including alternative procurements and design-build and design-build-operate projects. Attorney West can be reached at (914) 898-2497 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Sponsor