Mark Satter
Western New England University
Stacie Chappell
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The Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority (MIRA) is responsible for turning municipal solid waste into useful materials. MIRA was developed to take the original infrastructure of town dumps and create regional solid waste capacity while creating waste derived bio-energy. The MIRA is a service that creates energy and finds useful ways to re-use solid waste. They turn a profit by selling the energy they create as well as the materials they produce, all from the solid waste we create. The title of this story is "Change without Radical Change" as Roger Guzowski coined this phrase through his feeling that change is crucial, but in doses that people can accept, and the MIRA is a shining example of this theme.
The innovation is to create a waste-energy infrastructure that creates refuse-derived fuel that generates less CO2 emissions than a typical coal burning plant. This occurs in the "Resource Recovery Facility." The refuse-derived fuel is then combusted to generate steam, which feeds their two generators and creates power. The design of the innovation is to recover resources from waste, which can then be used in the materials they create or the energy they generate. There is a cost-effective method to recycling, but the MIRA found a way to recover value from the solid waste they deal with. In addition to their solid waste plant, they also invest in solar energy. The solar energy itself is not an innovation, but the way they use it is. Currently, the MIRA has a solar energy field atop the massive Hartford landfill and they hope to continue this practice on many other massive landfills. The overall innovations at the MIRA is that solid waste, which is otherwise incinerated or disposed of in a landfill, is recreated in the form of useful materials such as energy and materials used in production and manufacturing. The MIRA is partnered with many municipalities to ensure they receive as much trash as they can handle, and they are currently in the process of creating a new factory that will allow for a grander scale of their innovation generating more power and allowing for more refuse-derived fuel to be consumed.
The inspiration for this innovation was to manage waste in a more environmentally beneficial way and recover resources from what otherwise would have been put in a landfill. Roger has dedicated his career to this movement, beginning his career creating recycling and waste management policies for colleges. The title of this Aim2Flourish submission is "change without radical change," which was one of the first things Roger said to me. He felt that change in a radical form is frightening and people are unwilling to accept it as it uproots their way of life. He prides himself on creating change in ways that are almost identical to their way of life previously or even an improvement. The inspiration for the MIRA and Roger is to find ways to create change that are not radical and improve peoples current way of life. I specifically unchecked the "radical innovation" box in respect to Roger as he feels radical change is not the answer, just small improvements on a grand scale. In fact, when asked about a high point in his life, Roger said it was when he received awards for his achievements in this field as he felt things were finally starting to shift and even the smallest change can get attention. Apart from Roger's inspiration, the MIRA was an extension of an initiative formed in Connecticut to reduce the necessity of landfills. Now that the innovation is in place, it is an inspiring story that they are creating solar fields atop landfills they were designed to prevent.
The overall impact from the MIRA and their innovation is a better way of life. The average person creates over 4 pounds of trash per day, and what was inspiring to me and shows the overall impact of the MIRA is the idea that this trash was being reused and re-purposed. It is not a problem that must be dealt with, but a piece of a puzzle that puts us closer to the overall goal of self-sufficiency. Most of the energy we currently use is non-renewable and is gone the second we use it. The non-renewable energy we tend to use is not great for the environment when compared with the clean, renewable energy the MIRA pumps into the grid. The MIRA is currently operating in a way to provide energy through something that is infinite as long as humans are around, which is our garbage. Currently, the MIRA is in the process of creating a new plant with more up to date technology that will increase production and therefore, make more money and initiate more change. When taken into account with what a local business can do, if this model was scaled and replicated we would have an amazing process that takes our trash and creates something positive.
The business side of the MIRA is that they are producing power and selling materials recovered from solid waste. They are involved in the public sector as well through their partnership with the DEEP which is a necessary step to prevent the monopoly or misuse of their technology that can happen in waste management. In 2014, the MIRA shipped over 192 tons of aluminum to manufacturers as well as 11,200 tons of corrugated cardboard. Additionally, the MIRA currently provides enough electricity, transferred directly to the grid, to power over 35,000 homes generated from refuse-derived fuel and solar energy. An example of their solar energy power comes from a solar-energy field on top of the closed Hartford landfill. This energy field currently generates a megawatt of electricity at full capacity. Roger stated that he hopes to create a solar-energy field atop all of their closed landfills, but that is a step further down the road. An important note to the business benefit is the MIRA's connection to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The partnership between these two was created to allow for contacts between municipalities as well as provide a systems of checks and balances. At the end of the day, the MIRA is a business and the connection here not only helps the business model by expanding their grasp but also showing an important step as a government program is supportive and helpful in this conquest.
The societal and environmental benefits of the MIRA result from their product and what they are in turn preventing with their production. The 192 tons of aluminum mentioned in their business benefit saves the energy equivalent of 235,000 gallons of gasoline when compared to the mining of bauxite and production of the aluminum. In addition, the 11,200 tons of corrugated cardboard the MIRA created from solid waste is comparable to taking over 6,000 cars off the road for a year when compared to the greenhouse gases otherwise created from this production. Recycling is also an important touchstone of the organization. The MIRA takes in over 65,000 tons of recyclables each year which are processed into materials used to create new products. Another societal benefit Roger felt strongly about is the idea of preventing monopolies as they are a public organization that is very vocal about their current innovations, many of which have been copied which he felt was a good thing as these innovations should have a wider scope than Connecticut. There is a downside as they can be competitors with these other organizations, but the environmental and societal benefit is still the most important aspect.
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Roger Guzowski, Contract and Procurement Manager
