In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

EDITORIAL

In Business, May-June, 2005, Vol. 27, No. 3, p. 2

ACCELERATING COMMERCIAL GROWTH IN RENEWABLE ENERGY

The business of recycling and the business of renewable energy have close connections, as more commercial projects reflect the vital need to change the status quo. In our world of sustainable enterprise, the vitality of the owners and their specific goals continue to be most impressive. Our sister publication, BioCycle, is in the midst of organizing its 5th Annual Conference on RENEWABLE ENERGY FROM ORGANICS RECYCLING, so we are deeply enmeshed in contacting the visionaries who are leading the charge to “make good things happen.” The Conference will be held September 12, 13 and 14, 2005 in Madison, Wisconsin. From achieving a significant bioenergy vision to the nitty gritty of improving electrical output to the grid, technical sessions provide the details.
In 2005 and coming years, biological processes that convert biomass into methane, alcohol fuels, biodiesel, compost and other value-added bioproducts will be more vital than ever - fulfilling the potential for creating clean power, preventing pollution problems with water and air, while improving soil quality and protecting our national security. This comprehensive three day conference provides needed facts about latest systems, technologies, polices and investments. There will be business developers and project managers who are establishing a major role in this critical segment of biomass utilization. (For Conference details, call 610-967-4135 ext. 21 or e-mail BioCycle@jgpress.com.
The generation of renewable energy is just one example of the changes now happening with bioproduct development. A recent book called Getting to Zero Waste by Paul Palmer stressed these basic rules for making certain that recycling means business: No article of commerce shall be placed on the market until recycling of that article is provided for, including complete funding after its use; Recycling will only succeed when no dump receives a subsidy in any form; Large-scale recycling cannot succeed until the garbage industry is excluded completely from the recycling industry; and The economics of recycling must be manipulated to insure that reuse is profitable. In the words of Neil Seldman, cofounder of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, who reviewed Getting to Zero Waste, today's recyclers are looking way beyond the waste stream to issues like “Extended Producer Responsibility, clean production, source reduction, maximum recovery and community economic development.
As the article on page 27 of this issue makes abundantly clear, What's Good for the Planet Is Good for Economic Development,” and that's particularly true of recycling. It possesses “resource and energy conservation benefits that were the impetus behind its early development, but it can also be an important economic development tool.” And that means business! It moves all the way from reduced oil dependence to better paying jobs and a healthier economy. - J.G.