BioCycle serendipity at National Conference

WE'VE spoken (and experienced the impact of) the word serendipity for decades, but only today looked up its meaning in our trusty Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. What we've learned was what we would have guessed -- using our serendipitous intuition: "An aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident." The latest example is illustrated by the agenda for the 28th Annual BioCycle National Conference which will be held in Kansas City, Missouri May 4 - 6, 1998. (The full program appears on pages 15-17 of this issue.)

The first speaker in the opening plenary session, "Organics Recycling Comes of Age," is a director of the National Resource Conservation Service. This USDA agency is directly concerned with both soil and water quality, and is increasingly focusing on organics utilization. About 10 years ago, the infamous Garbage Barge became a symbol for the need to divert municipal solid waste from landfills by recycling, reduction and reuse. Today, animal wastes have achieved similar notoriety because of contaminated waterways and problems like Pfiesteria. Throughout the Conference, many of the experts in organics recycling will discuss feedstocks, processing methods, microbial dynamics and value-added strategies to improve markets. The final day will offer a training workshop on Compost Process And Quality Control. Now for the serendipity.

While the Bio Cycle National Conference focuses on coast-to-coast concerns, it also has the special "flavor" of the region where it is held. This time the region is America's "show me" state, and Missouri is in the midst of placing a new emphasis on diverting food residuals from landfills. Just at this issue was going to press, we received the results of a two year study done by the Midwest Assistance Program (MAP) on municipal solid waste composition in Missouri.

A notable change from findings in a waste composition study done in 1987 is in the increase in food residuals. In 1987, only 8.3 percent of the waste stream was food residuals. By 1996, the total had increased to 18.7 percent. The most significant change since 1987 is the reduction in "other organics." This category consists of carbon-based materials that did not fall into any of the other organic categories. In 1987, more than 21 percent of the MSW stream fell into this category. In 1997, that percentage dropped to 3.2 percent. This reduction is mostly due to the yard trimmings ban enacted by Senate Bill 530 in 1990. "If all other materials in this category have remained relatively constant, the yard trimmings ban has reduced waste almost 18 percent," concludes the MAP staff.

The results of waste characterization for organics as well as wood will be presented at a Conference session on Organic Residuals Inventory; researchers from Kansas State University will provide data on the volume of food industry residuals and other organics in the Midwest as well as the feasibility of wood to gasification and composting facilities.

Composting is a well-defined process for the organic component of the solid waste stream that - in the words of senior editor Clarence Golueke -- provides for biological decomposition under controlled conditions for utilization on land without adversely affecting the environment. The process itself has its own set of limitations, but the process of linking generators, site managers, facility owners, regulators and end product users has always had a quality of serendipity about it. Join us in Kansas City for the BioCycle National Conference to see how organics recycling is preparing for the year 2000 and beyond. -J.G.