Articles About RWE OWI Platform

Optimal Waste Intelligence · Archive

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

A publication by Renewable Waste Energy - 30+ years transforming waste into resources.

TOMRA GAINnext Sorts PET Trays at 95% Purity. The Number You Should Ask About Is Recall.
8 min read

TOMRA GAINnext Sorts PET Trays at 95% Purity. The Number You Should Ask About Is Recall.

TOMRA GAINnext hit 95% PET tray purity and a 51% PolyPerception stake at IFAT 2026. An engineer's read on recall, conversational plant control, and copper meatballs.

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Viridor Pulls the Plug on Quantafuel: What 'Commercially Uninvestable' Means for Pyrolysis Project Finance
8 min read

Viridor Pulls the Plug on Quantafuel: What 'Commercially Uninvestable' Means for Pyrolysis Project Finance

The Viridor Quantafuel shutdown wasn't a tech failure - Skive hit 75% yield. Plastics-to-liquids pyrolysis economics broke on capital structure, not policy.

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Renewable Natural Gas From Anaerobic Digestion: Why Projects Stall at the Injection Meter
7 min read

Renewable Natural Gas From Anaerobic Digestion: Why Projects Stall at the Injection Meter

Renewable natural gas from anaerobic digestion clears the methane spec easily. The oxygen limit, interconnection queue, and RIN offtake are what stall projects.

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Why Is Only 22% of E-Waste Recycled When the Metal Is Worth $91 Billion?
9 min read

Why Is Only 22% of E-Waste Recycled When the Metal Is Worth $91 Billion?

E-waste recycling recovers barely a fifth of $91B in embedded metals. The bottleneck isn't the smelter, it's collection and sorting - here's where it pays.

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Carbon Capture on Waste-to-Energy Is a Biogenic-Credit Trade with a kWh Byproduct
8 min read

Carbon Capture on Waste-to-Energy Is a Biogenic-Credit Trade with a kWh Byproduct

Carbon capture waste to energy economics hinge on the biogenic share, not the kWh. Why most WTE+CCS pro formas overstate by year three.

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EPA Just Set Compliance Limits for 152 Waste-to-Energy Units. The State Plan Clock Is What Actually Matters.
8 min read

EPA Just Set Compliance Limits for 152 Waste-to-Energy Units. The State Plan Clock Is What Actually Matters.

EPA's March 2026 final rule on waste-to-energy regulations: 152 units, 57 facilities, 0M retrofits. The real compliance window is 18 to 24 months, not five years.

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The Plastic Export Ban Comes in Two Stages. Domestic Conversion Capacity Is Only Ready for One.
8 min read

The Plastic Export Ban Comes in Two Stages. Domestic Conversion Capacity Is Only Ready for One.

EU Waste Shipment Regulation 2024/1157 just kicked in. Here's what the 21 November plastic export ban actually does to domestic conversion economics.

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Why EPA's April 2026 PFAS Guidance Is Quietly Bad News for Most Waste-to-Energy Operators
9 min read

Why EPA's April 2026 PFAS Guidance Is Quietly Bad News for Most Waste-to-Energy Operators

EPA's April 2026 PFAS guidance recognizes thermal destruction above 1,100°C, a temperature most municipal waste combustors miss. What operators must verify.

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Southeast Asia's Waste-to-Energy Bet Comes Down to Who Pays the Tipping Fee
10 min read

Southeast Asia's Waste-to-Energy Bet Comes Down to Who Pays the Tipping Fee

Waste-to-energy in Southeast Asia lives or dies on contract structure - see how Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines each price the risk differently.

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Waste-to-Hydrogen Pencils at $5.30/kg. The Co-Product Decides Whether It Pencils at All.
8 min read

Waste-to-Hydrogen Pencils at $5.30/kg. The Co-Product Decides Whether It Pencils at All.

Waste to hydrogen via pyrolysis clears around $5.30/kg - far behind turquoise H2. Why the co-product and gate fee, not the hydrogen, decide if it finances.

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Food Waste to Energy: The Tip Fee Pays, the kWh Is Byproduct
7 min read

Food Waste to Energy: The Tip Fee Pays, the kWh Is Byproduct

Food waste to energy comes down to moisture and money: why anaerobic digestion beats pyrolysis on wet feedstock, and where the revenue actually sits.

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Why Plasma Gasification Hasn't Replaced Pyrolysis Anywhere It Should Have
9 min read

Why Plasma Gasification Hasn't Replaced Pyrolysis Anywhere It Should Have

Plasma gasification vs pyrolysis after Teesside's billion-dollar write-off: where each thermal technology actually fits, and where the capex never closes.

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