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Optimal Waste Intelligence · Archive

Older Articles - Page 2

Previously published OWI analysis. Use the navigation below to move between pages.

Do Dairy Digesters Actually Pencil, or Only the Ones Wired Into California's LCFS?
9 min read

Do Dairy Digesters Actually Pencil, or Only the Ones Wired Into California's LCFS?

A dairy digester earns most of its money from LCFS credits, not gas. Where manure-to-RNG economics actually pencil, and where the credit crash bites.

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Single-Stream Recycling Runs 27% Contamination, and That's Where the Economics Break
7 min read

Single-Stream Recycling Runs 27% Contamination, and That's Where the Economics Break

Single-stream recycling runs 20-27% contamination while dual-stream stays cleaner. See where the cost actually lands and which one fits your program.

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Most Sustainable Waste Disposal Claims Don't Survive the Weighbridge
6 min read

Most Sustainable Waste Disposal Claims Don't Survive the Weighbridge

Sustainable waste disposal gets claimed often and audited rarely. Grade landfill diversion, recycling and waste-to-energy by the tonne, not the brochure.

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You Can't Divert What You Never Measured: Industrial Waste Diversion Starts at the Roll-Off
9 min read

You Can't Divert What You Never Measured: Industrial Waste Diversion Starts at the Roll-Off

Most industrial waste diversion numbers fail audit because nobody characterized the roll-off. A process engineer on what to measure before buying a sorter.

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Should You Put Autonomous Landfill Equipment on Your Site After WM's Cat Command Rollout?
7 min read

Should You Put Autonomous Landfill Equipment on Your Site After WM's Cat Command Rollout?

WM's Cat Command bulldozer and its Caterpillar compactor test put autonomous landfill equipment in play. Here's when it pays for operators, and when to wait.

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Retire or Retrofit? Why WIN Waste Is Closing Hudson Falls Rather Than Meet the 2026 Combustor Rule
7 min read

Retire or Retrofit? Why WIN Waste Is Closing Hudson Falls Rather Than Meet the 2026 Combustor Rule

WIN Waste is retiring Hudson Falls, not retrofitting it for the 2026 EPA combustor rule. The retire-vs-retrofit math for an aging waste-to-energy fleet, from the floor.

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Commercial Waste Management Is a Contract Problem, Not a Hauling One
7 min read

Commercial Waste Management Is a Contract Problem, Not a Hauling One

Commercial waste management is a contract problem, not a hauling one. Why the disposal line you can't negotiate is the one to attack, and how to cut it.

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Reduce Landfill Waste by Fixing the Order: Buyer First, Sorter Second
8 min read

Reduce Landfill Waste by Fixing the Order: Buyer First, Sorter Second

Reduce landfill waste by finding each stream a buyer before you buy the sorter. A developer's step-by-step playbook, from waste audit to offtake to residual.

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Crushed Concrete Is Carrying Your C&D Waste Recovery Rate
9 min read

Crushed Concrete Is Carrying Your C&D Waste Recovery Rate

The 76% C&D waste recovery rate is mostly crushed concrete. The wood and gypsum that need a robot and a buyer are where diversion quietly falls apart.

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$140 a Ton Hides a Split Basket: What Rising Recycled Commodity Prices Do to MRF Economics
6 min read

$140 a Ton Hides a Split Basket: What Rising Recycled Commodity Prices Do to MRF Economics

Recycled commodity prices climbed in 2026, but the rebound is a divergence, and MRF economics now reward whoever owns the pellet, not the bale.

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Mattress, Carpet, and Paint Stewardship Laws Ran the EPR Experiment First. Packaging Is Copying the Wrong Parts.
7 min read

Mattress, Carpet, and Paint Stewardship Laws Ran the EPR Experiment First. Packaging Is Copying the Wrong Parts.

Product stewardship laws for mattress, carpet, and paint have a 15-year record. Who really pays, what gets recycled, and why packaging EPR copies it wrong.

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Why Is DOE Funding Community Waste-to-Energy Feasibility Studies Before Anyone Pours Concrete?
7 min read

Why Is DOE Funding Community Waste-to-Energy Feasibility Studies Before Anyone Pours Concrete?

DOE's $6.9M WASTE program funds community waste-to-energy feasibility studies, not reactors. Why the front-end analysis, not technology, decides bankability.

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