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Optimal Waste Intelligence · Archive

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

EPA's Biosolids PFAS Guidance Binds No One. It Will Still Shrink Land Application Faster Than a Rule.
10 min read

EPA's Biosolids PFAS Guidance Binds No One. It Will Still Shrink Land Application Faster Than a Rule.

EPA's biosolids PFAS guidance is non-binding, which is exactly why it will shrink land application acreage before any Part 503 rulemaking arrives.

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Landfill Gas to Energy Is the Cheapest Megawatt in Waste. So Why Are Operators Leaving?
7 min read

Landfill Gas to Energy Is the Cheapest Megawatt in Waste. So Why Are Operators Leaving?

Landfill gas to energy is the cheapest baseload megawatt in waste, yet top operators are leaving the engine. Why the RNG molecule now beats the kilowatt-hour.

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Waste-to-Energy REC Eligibility: Maryland Deleted 14% of Its Tier 1 With One Sentence
9 min read

Waste-to-Energy REC Eligibility: Maryland Deleted 14% of Its Tier 1 With One Sentence

Waste-to-energy REC eligibility died in Maryland's Tier 1 by statute, not economics. Why the REC was never an asset, and what to underwrite instead.

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Modular Waste Processing Sells a Schedule the Grid Won't Honor
8 min read

Modular Waste Processing Sells a Schedule the Grid Won't Honor

Modular waste processing erects in four months, then waits years on an interconnection queue. Why the second module never lands, and what to sell instead.

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99.99 Percent Destruction Is the Easy Part of Hazardous Waste Treatment
9 min read

99.99 Percent Destruction Is the Easy Part of Hazardous Waste Treatment

EPA's June 2026 rule adds hydrogen fluoride and cyanide limits to hazardous waste treatment permits. The kiln will hit its numbers. The monitoring plan won't.

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Is Pyrolysis an Incinerator? EPA Buried the Question in an Air Curtain Rule.
9 min read

Is Pyrolysis an Incinerator? EPA Buried the Question in an Air Curtain Rule.

EPA still hasn't settled the pyrolysis incinerator classification question, and the 10 TPD CEMS trigger decides your permit path before Section 129 ever does.

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PFAS Superfund Liability Is Landing: What the 400 to 800 Percent Leachate Cost Jump Means for Thermal Destruction
7 min read

PFAS Superfund Liability Is Landing: What the 400 to 800 Percent Leachate Cost Jump Means for Thermal Destruction

EPA's PFOA and PFOS Superfund listing is repricing landfill leachate by 400 to 800 percent. Who pays, who profits, and why thermal destruction wins.

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Generative AI Runs Your Waste Plant's Paperwork, Not Its Set Points
8 min read

Generative AI Runs Your Waste Plant's Paperwork, Not Its Set Points

Generative AI copilots help most in a waste plant's back office, not on the line. An engineer on where LLMs pay off, where they hallucinate, and why.

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The Fischer-Tropsch Reactor Isn't the Hard Part of Waste-to-SAF. The Cleanup Train Is.
8 min read

The Fischer-Tropsch Reactor Isn't the Hard Part of Waste-to-SAF. The Cleanup Train Is.

Waste to sustainable aviation fuel sounds simple: gasify trash, run Fischer-Tropsch, get jet fuel. The syngas cleanup train is where the plants keep dying.

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Where California's Textile EPR Sends the Clothes Nobody Can Recycle
7 min read

Where California's Textile EPR Sends the Clothes Nobody Can Recycle

California textile EPR hit its July 2026 registration deadline, but nothing's collected until 2031 and the blended, PFAS-laden residual has no recycler.

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11 to 179 Cents a Pound: Why 2026 Packaging EPR Fees Track Format, Not Weight
8 min read

11 to 179 Cents a Pound: Why 2026 Packaging EPR Fees Track Format, Not Weight

The 2026 packaging EPR fee schedule charges 11 to 179 cents a pound by format, not weight. How the invoice is computed, and why your reported data sets it.

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Do the 2026 Lithium Battery EPR Laws Land on You or the Producer?
7 min read

Do the 2026 Lithium Battery EPR Laws Land on You or the Producer?

NJ producer reporting opened Jan 8; California's SB 1215 fee started Jan 1. Which 2026 lithium battery EPR laws bind producers, and which hit waste handlers?

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