Hey Garbage Folks,
You ever eat food? I do, sometimes.
Sometimes I even wonder how food is designed. So, Emily and I made a trip to Mattson during our West Coast Tour and visited their food lab. (Yes, we still have episodes recorded pre-COVID yet to come lol.) See below for behind-the-bins photos and more!
ALSO! Speaking of nutrients that literally give us life, a big welcome to our new Patreon supporter: Michelle!! 🥳🎉
You, too, Dear Reader, can put food on our table through Patreon WINK WINK WINK
Here’s Some Trash:
Denmark’s Orsted, Taiwan’s TSMC sign world's largest renewable corporate power deal (Reuters)
Under what Orsted called “the largest-ever contract of its kind within renewable energy”, TSMC will for 20 years buy 920 megawatts of power from the Greater Changhua 2b & 4, when the offshore wind farm project is scheduled to be finalised by 2025 or 2026.
Some explainers:
Orsted is a Danish multinational power company famous for operating wind farms around the world, including in the UK, US, and Canada.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world’s most valuable semiconductor manufacturing company.
A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is where a company (such as TSMC) agrees to purchase a set amount of electricity over a period of time (usually 20 years). This practice creates new sources of green energy production, rather than just buying up existing green energy sources. PPAs usually guarantee a price above market rate for the energy as well, to make sure that the green energy project is fully funded, and that a cleaner grid’s supply chain can be further built out.
How much is 920 megawatts anyway? Well, 1MW can supply roughly 650 American homes. So, time that by 920… that’s a lot of power. Sure makes you appreciate the energy that goes into making a semiconductor, huh?
THE N8 TAKE:
This is MEGA news for a list of reasons:
Four years ago, Taiwan had no offshore power, and only unclear plans for how to develop this now-booming industry. The Orsted deal is a MEGA endorsement of green power from the private sector, something rarely seen in Taiwan.
This shows that brands requiring their suppliers to buy green-energy actually works. Cuz guess who TSMC supplies? Apple, the only member of RE100 (see our interview with their head!) to require suppliers to use renewable electricity.
This is the biggest PPA in the world—a good reminder of where global energy usage is really taking place, a.k.a. where things are being made: Asia. Handy reference: Taiwan emits around 260 million tons of CO2 per year, and uses primarily coal energy. These types of manufacturing hubs and fossil fuel importers, like Japan, are where we need to target clean energy targets. ♻️
New Episode (on your favorite Podcast app)
For this episode, we spoke with Maddie Gurrola, a food up-cycling expert. 🚮😋
Maddie takes us through Mattson’s food lab and explains how we can turn food waste into food paste, but like a good kind of paste we can eat. 🧀
(We’ve blurred out all the brand names of the products they’ve worked on in the photo below, because Mattson is an ODM company. Listen to the episode to find out what that means!)
Behind the Bin (censored):
…And Environs
Finally, Good News!
Taiwan to ban MEGAmouth shark fishing (Focus Taiwan)
The Fisheries Agency has decided to impose a ban on fishing three large-size shark species, the megamouth shark, great white shark and basking shark, in an effort to preserve biological diversity in waters off Taiwan.
This is great news! Megamouth sharks are the 2nd largest shark in the world: they are endangered, special, and kind of cute. They really have no good commercial value, and after Taiwan caught 6 in 4 days, people got super PO’d. Thanks to the activists who lobbied the Fisheries Agency, actions are finally taking place.
(Note, however, that fishermen will still “accidentally” catch these beauties. Although this is a step in the right direction, Taiwan’s fisheries still need a proper reform if they are to stop devastating their national marine life.)
Pizza boxes can go in the recycling (Recycling Today)
“The addition of small amounts of cheese will not impact the fiber bonding in a negative way,” the study concludes. “It is expected that the larger chunks of cheese will be screened out of the process. Therefore, there is no significant technical reason to prohibit postconsumer pizza boxes from the recycle stream.”
I have advised against recycling pizza boxes in the past, but apparently it’s chill now—go ahead and recycle those pizza boxes!
Meme Space!
That’s it for this issue, y’all. See you next week with our 30th episode!
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