WHAT do WE do with our WASTE?
“Waste is an idea that belongs to the throw away society, not to the reuse and recycling society”. [Addis]
First we must accept the notion that waste is not a bad thing, that is, if it is handled properly. In terms of recycling and reuse, waste is an opportunity rather than a problem. This opportunity is one that must be capitalized upon in an effort to change the current method of design, production, and practice. The first step in minimizing waste is the design of products and materials, the current method of recycling is an inefficient process simply because the products that are being recycled were never designed to be recycled . [McDonough and Braungart] By producing materials in a cradle-to-cradle mindset we can drastically minimize waste, and possibly eliminate it all together.
The life cycle of a material can travel along one of two paths, Figure below shows the linear life cycle, in which a raw material has a beginning and an end. By this means a product flows along the lifecycle from extraction to use to landfill, a final resting place where a material can no longer contribute as a resource. This cradle-to-grave process is short-sighted and inefficient by requiring a constant reproduction of new goods,hence requiring the mining of raw materials. Above figure shows the closed-loop cycle, this is the course a material takes when it is either reused or recycled. The reuse process shows that a material must undergo some refurbishment, however it avoids the manufacturing process that recycled elements revert back to before they can enter into the system again. It is evident that the closed-loop cycle is the more efficient course, now recycling and reuse will be investigated further to determine pros and cons of each.
Recycling has become the widespread solution to minimizing our waste and creating an efficient means of conserving resources. However, within the waste management hierarchy of reduce, reuse, recycle, it is by no means the most efficient. Recycling is in fact “downcycling”, meaning that the material quality is reduced over time. [McDonough and Braungart] Take the automobile, an abundant item that remains idle in salvage yards all throughout our landscape. Due to safety regulations the steel must be of a very high quality, high in carbon and tensile strength, yet when “recycled” it is mixed with other car parts such as copper, paint, and plastic coatings, thus diluting the quality of the recycled steel. This reduced quality product is compensated for by adding in new materials to bring the material back up to standard, therefore recycling is merely a less harmful solution. [McDonough and Braungart] Many products are not designed with recycling in mind, meaning that when recycled there is no way to separate the desired element from those that surround it. “Currently there is no technology to separate the polymer and paint coatings from automotive metal before it is processed; therefore, even if a car were designed for disassembly, it is not technically feasible to “close the loop” for its high quality steel.” [McDonough and Braungart] The diluting of the desired material during recycling is counter balanced by additives of chemicals and elements that bring the material back up to the desired quality of that initial item, however sometimes to achieve standards comparable to the primary element, a recycled material may have more additives than the “virgin” material, thus negating the desired effect of recycling. [McDonough and Braungart] Because recycling is not the best solution for these items, we must find a way to reuse them in a manner that lets us utilize the material in its strong suit.
In addition to the loss of value in materials, recycling also poses a potential harm on the environment through pollution. “Many paints and plastics that are melted along with recycled steel contain harmful chemicals, when recycled these chemicals are released making recycling centers large sources of dioxin emissions”. [McDonough and Braungart] The emission of harmful gas is compounded by the amount of energy required during the recycling process, where recyclables are picked-up and delivered to sorting facilities, then re-routed to the proper recycling center. All in all, the perception of recycling is more positive than the process itself. Contrary to recycling, reuse is taking a product that we already have, and finding another use for it. The process of reusing elements will reduce the strain we put on landfills by preventing items from entering the waste stream. Reclamation and reuse are not new ideas, in fact it was the norm until the early nineteenth century.With the industrial revolution came the ability to mass produce products, providing an endless resource of new materials, however it reduced our ingenuity of resourcefulness. The Egyptians, Greek, an Romans often reused stones from abandoned buildings and sites of earlier structures as foundations of new construction, realizing that reusing would drastically reduce the amount of work. Currently we implement reused items not only to save on energy required to create a product, but to preserve our resources. Much like recycling, reusing is responsible in the sense of resource conservation, yet it is more beneficial on the environment because it creates less air and water pollution, all the while resulting in less waste sent to the landfill. From a corporate standpoint, reusing will prove to be an economically sound practice by saving money in both purchasing and disposal costs. Furthermore, it is a practice that will promote a positive image to the public by displaying a concern for the environment. If the reuse industry can grow into a widely accepted service, businesses will generate opportunities for employment thus contributing to the economy on a different level.
Reusing is the embodiment of the cradle-tocradle philosophy of waste equals food. “The earth has been self sustaining for millions of years on a biological cradle-to-cradle system, until humans and industry began taking resources and altering them to the point where they can no longer be returned to the soil, thus throwing the natural equilibrium of materials out of balance. Now we must revert back to the natural process of waste equals food in order to prevent further harm upon the planet. [McDonough and Braungart]
Author: Ashutosh Jha, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
