Circular Economy: Past, Present and Future

For a society accustomed to the achievements of a linear economy, the transition to a circular economic system is a hard task even to contemplate. Although the changes needed may seem daunting, it is important to remember that we have already come a long way. However, the history of the waste hierarchy has taught that political perseverance and unity of approach are essential to achieving long term visions in supply chain management.

Looking back, it is helpful to view the significance of the Lansink’s Ladder in the light of the sustainability gains it has already instigated. From the outset, the Ladder encountered criticism, in part because the intuitive preference order it expresses is not (and has never been put forward as) scientifically rigorous. Opposition came from those who feared the hierarchy would impede economic growth and clash with an increasingly consumerist society. The business community expressed concerns about regulatory burdens and the cost of implementing change.

Circular-Economy

However, such criticism was not able to shake political support, either in Holland where the Ladder was adopted in the Dutch Environmental Protection Act of 1979, or subsequently across Europe, as the Waste Hierarchy was transposed into national legislation as a result of the revised Waste Framework Directive.

Prevention, reuse and recycling have become widely used words as awareness has increased that our industrial societies will eventually suffer a shortage of raw materials and energy. So, should we see the waste hierarchy as laying the first slabs of the long road to a circular economy? Or is the circular economy a radical new departure?

Positive and negative thinking

There have been two major transitionary periods in waste management: public health was the primary driver for the first, from roughly 1900 to 1960, in which waste removal was formalised as a means to avoid disease. The second gained momentum in the 1980s, when prevention, reuse and recovery came on the agenda. However, consolidation of the second transition has in turn revealed new drivers for a third. Although analysing drivers is always tricky – requiring a thorough study of causes and effects – a general indication is helpful for further discussion. Positive (+) and negative (-) drivers for a third transition may be:

(+) The development of material supply chain management through the combination of waste hierarchy thinking with cradle to cradle eco design;

(+) The need for sustainable energy solutions;

(+) Scarcity of raw materials necessary for technological innovation; and

(+) Progressive development of circular economy models, with increasing awareness of social, financial and economic barriers.

(-) Growth of the global economy, especially in China and India, and later in Africa;

(-) Continued growth in global travel;

(-) Rising energy demand, exceeding what can be produced from renewable energy sources and threatening further global warming;

(-) Biodiversity loss, causing a further ecological impoverishment; and

(-) Conservation of the principle of ownership, which hinders the development of the so-called ‘lease society’. 

A clear steer

As the direction, scale and weight of these drivers are difficult to assess, it’s necessary to steer developments at all levels to a sustainable solution. The second transition taught that governmental control appears indispensable, and that regulation stimulates innovation so long as adequate space is left for industry and producers to develop their own means of satisfying their legislated responsibilities.

The European Waste Framework Directive has been one such stimulatory piece of legislation. Unfortunately, the EC has decided to withdraw its Circular Economy package, which would otherwise now be on track to deliver the additional innovation needed to achieve its goals – including higher recycling targets. Messrs. Juncker and Timmermans must now either bring forward the more ambitious legislation they have hinted at, or explain why they have abandoned the serious proposals of their predecessors.

Perhaps the major differences between Member States and other countries may require a preliminary two-speed policy, but any differences in timetable between Western Europe and other countries should not stand in the way of innovation, and differences of opinion between the European Parliament and the Commission must be removed for Europe to remain credible.

Governmental control requires clear rules and definitions, and for legislative terminology to be commensurate with policy objectives. One failing in this area is the use of the generic term ‘recovery’ to cover product reuse, recycling and incineration with energy recovery, which confuses the hierarchy’s preference order. The granting of R1 status to waste incineration plants, although understandable in terms of energy diversification, turns waste processors into energy producers benefiting from full ovens. Feeding these plants reduces the scope for recycling (e.g. plastics) and increases COemissions. When relatively inefficient incinerators still appear to qualify for R1 status, it offers confusing policy signals for governments, investors and waste services providers alike.

The key role for government also is to set clear targets and create the space for producers and consumers to generate workable solutions. The waste hierarchy’s preference order is best served by transparent minimum standards, grouped around product reuse, material recycling or disposal by combustion. For designated product or material categories, multiple minimum standards are possible following preparation of the initial waste streams, which can be tightened as technological developments allow.

Where the rubber meets the road

As waste markets increase in scale, are liberalised, and come under international regulation, individual governmental control is diminished. These factors are currently playing out in the erratic prices of secondary commodities and the development of excess incinerator capacity in some nations that has brought about a rise in RDF exports from the UK and Italy. Governments, however, may make a virtue of the necessity of avoiding the minutiae: ecological policy is by definition long-term and requires a stable line; day to day control is an impossible and undesirable task.

The road to the third transition – towards a circular economy – requires a new mind-set from government that acknowledges and empowers individuals. Not only must we approach the issue from the bottom-up, but also from the side and above. Consumer behaviour must be steered by both ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ controls: through information and communication, because of the importance of psychological factors; but also through financial instruments, because both consumers and industry are clearly responsive to such stimuli.

Where we see opposition to deposit return schemes, it comes not from consumers but from industry, which fears the administrative and logistical burden. The business community must be convinced of the economic opportunities of innovation. Material supply chain management is a challenge for designers and producers, who nevertheless appreciate the benefits of product lifetime extensions and reuse. When attention to environmental risks seems to lapse – for example due to financial pressures or market failures – then politics must intervene.

Government and industry should therefore get a better grip on the under-developed positive drivers of the third transition, such as eco design, secondary materials policy, sustainable energy policy, and research and development in the areas of bio, info, and nanotechnologies. 

Third time’s the charm

Good supply chain management stands or falls with the way in which producers and consumers contribute to the policies supported by government and society. In order that producers and consumers make good on this responsibility, government must first support their environmental awareness.

The interpretation of municipal duty of care determines options for waste collection, disposal and processing. Also essential is the way in which producer responsibility takes shape, and the government must provide a clear separation of private and public duties. Businesses may be liable for the negative aspects of unbridled growth and irresponsible actions. It is also important for optimal interaction with the European legislators: a worthy entry in Brussels is valuable because of the international aspects of the third transition. Finally, supply chain management involves the use of various policy tools, including:

  • Rewarding good behaviour
  • Sharpening minimum standards
  • Development and certification of CO2 tools
  • Formulation and implementation of end-of-waste criteria
  • Remediation of waste incineration with low energy efficiency
  • Restoration or maintenance of a fair landfill tax
  • Application of the combustion load set at zero

‘Seeing is believing’ is the motto of followers of the Apostle Thomas, who is chiefly remembered for his propensity for doubt. The call for visible examples is heard ever louder as more questions are raised around the feasibility of product renewal and the possibilities of a circular economy.

Ultimately, the third transition is inevitable as we face a future of scarcity of raw materials and energy. However, while the direction is clear, the tools to be employed and the speed of change remain uncertain. Disasters are unnecessary to allow the realisation of vital changes; huge leaps forward are possible so long as government – both national and international – and society rigorously follow the preference order of the waste hierarchy. Climbing Lansink’s Ladder remains vital to attaining a perspective from which we might judge the ways in which to make a circle of our linear economy.

Note: The article is being republished with the permission of our collaborative partner Isonomia. The original article can be found at this link.

Transforming Waste: Eco-friendly Rubbish Management

Waste is an inevitable byproduct of human activity. Your day-to-day actions generate substantial rubbish, much of which can negatively impact the planet if not managed responsibly. Implementing effective eco-friendly waste disposal solutions centered on recycling and composting, however, provides opportunities to transform management practices in sustainable ways that cleanse the environment.

waste-management-plan

Importance of Waste Management

Implementing proper waste management is crucial for maintaining public and environmental health. Uncontrolled dumping of rubbish poses severe threats, including groundwater and soil contamination leading to waterborne and communicable diseases. Gas emissions from decaying waste contribute to air pollution and climate change. Methane and carbon dioxide emitted from landfills are potent greenhouse gasses. They trap heat in the atmosphere.

Efficient and responsible waste handling minimizes these substantial hazards. Systematic rubbish collection combined with waste processing innovations like recycling and biogas generation helps promote sustainability for both current and future generations. Proper management facilitates a cleaner living environment while also conserving resources and mitigating pollution emissions.

Evolving Waste Management Practices

Waste management approaches and technologies have progressed considerably over time across municipalities and nations, shifting away from basic waste burial or burning towards more eco-conscious and circular economic processes.

Previously, waste disposal and recycling were largely unregulated practices without mandatory standards. However, most developed countries have now implemented stringent guidelines and legislation around waste. These strict protocols govern waste handling, transportation, treatment and disposal while also incentivizing material recovery.

Progressive companies like Dirt Cheap Rubbish Removal further supplement existing municipal waste programs by offering affordable and responsible rubbish solutions focused on recycling non-biodegradable materials as much as possible. Learn more about Dirt Cheap Rubbish Removal by checking out their website. Their comprehensive services significantly reduce household and business waste volumes by reclaiming a wide variety of reusable materials from customer premises.

Eco-Friendly Waste Disposal Techniques

Implementing eco-friendly waste disposal fundamentally requires properly categorizing and sorting rubbish into core types before collection. This enables more efficient downstream recycling and responsible treatment. Gradually minimizing dependence on waste dumping into landfills and incinerators without energy recovery infrastructure also drastically reduces environmental impact.

In addition to cutting greenhouse emissions, these alternative techniques aid wider sustainability efforts by preserving raw materials and the energy resources needed to manufacture brand new products from scratch. Recycling materials can thus support the transition towards a more resource efficient circular economic model.

Separation and Sorting of Waste

Separating rubbish into broad categories like glass, different paper grades, plastic polymers, metals and organic waste is an essential initial step. This streamlines sorting at materials recovery facilities while also reducing contamination across recyclables.

Four recycle bins of different colorsCategorization at the source enables more efficient recycling processes further downstream. For governments and businesses, cleaner waste streams also directly translate into reduced processing costs and higher profits from harvested materials. Over time, uniform adoption can drive broader recycling rates at a systemic level.

Reuse and Repurposing Strategies

Reusing packaging containers or repurposing other items for alternative household applications extends product lifespans. This directly decreases waste volumes ending up in landfills. For example, glass jars and bottles can simply be washed and reused multiple times for household storage before finally requiring recycling.

Even single-use plastics like shopping bags can potentially be repurposed as household waste bin liners instead of being immediately discarded. Such small reuse efforts at scale collectively reduce the amount of waste produced by households and commercial facilities.

Recycling: An Essential Practice

Recycling involves the systematic collection and processing of waste materials into reusable secondary raw materials or feedstock for manufacturing new products. This closed loop approach reduces pressure on extracting finite virgin natural resources to meet consumer demand.

Additionally, recycling substantially preserves energy and water resources while also minimizing environmental pollution through the avoided emissions and waste from conventional linear material production. Recycling paper saves trees. And recycling aluminum cans consumes 95% less energy compared to creating metal from mineral ore.

In short, establishing recycling frameworks and culture is indispensable for transitioning societies towards more sustainable systems of production and consumption. It is one of the most effective environmental policies for achieving resource conservation at scale.

Waste-to-Energy Transformation

The principle of waste-to-energy is to convert non-recyclable waste into usable energy forms like heat and fuel. For instance, biodegradable waste routed away from landfills can become feedstock for biofuel digestion facilities producing renewable biogas and nutrient rich digestate. The biogas can directly substitute natural gas for heating or generating electricity.

Reasons to convert Waste to Energy

Even non-biodegradable plastic waste, usually harder to manage, can be thermochemically converted into synthetic gas or oils also usable as fuel. WTE provides an efficient waste disposal solution while also harnessing the underlying calorific value within discarded rubbish. Over time, this approach can decrease reliance on extracting and importing fossil fuels for national energy needs.

Impact on Climate Change

Our prevailing extractive and linear modes of economic activity also translate into suboptimal waste management, which directly influences climate change. Uncontrolled methane emissions from landfills and waste dumping are substantial contributors to global warming, given methane traps heat much more effectively relative to carbon dioxide.

These impacts can be mitigated by reducing biodegradable waste and extracting landfill gas for energy use. Additionally, recycling energy-intensive materials like metals and plastics at scale also dramatically lowers the embedded carbon footprint of goods by reducing demands for carbon-intensive manufacturing using virgin materials.

Given the urgency of keeping global warming below 1.5°C this century, improved recycling and recovery frameworks worldwide that enable circular resource flows can reduce cumulative emissions by over 15-20% according to some estimates. This is equivalent to over 10 billion tonnes less carbon dioxide released compared to conventional linear production systems.

Role of Education in Waste Management

Education is a fundamental long-term tool for promoting broad adoption of responsible waste management attitudes and practices at a societal level. Integration across school curriculums helps inform future generations regarding the significance of responsible waste disposal and management starting from a young age.

Environmental Permitting Company

Public awareness campaigns led by governments, communities and businesses also play a key role in emphasizing proper waste sorting, recycling and composting. They illustrate the tangible environmental and health impacts of uncontrolled dumping in landfills compared to the circular economy benefits of effective resource recovery systems. Such active and repeated educational initiatives foster mindset shifts and cultural values centered on conservation, sustainability and collective responsibility.

Future of Waste Management

Waste management services on this website broadly touch every fabric of modern society. Its future hinges on sustained innovation, emerging technologies and reimagined infrastructure systems.

Automated sensor-based sorting or advanced waste processing approaches like enzymatic bioremediation, pyrolysis, gasification and plasma treatment show strong promise for efficiently handling diverse waste types. These emerging technical capabilities can help radically divert rubbish away from landfills if widely deployed.

Technology indeed cannot deliver sustainable waste solutions alone without simultaneous social adoption of circular economy principles across households, businesses and policy. However, strategic and context-specific integration of sensors, digital platforms, artificial intelligence and waste processing infrastructures provide potent tools to reshape the sector.

Closing Remarks

Responsible worldwide waste management warrants a collective effort spanning across households, businesses, communities and governments. Beyond just eco-friendly waste disposal, it requires a cultural commitment towards mindful consumption, maximal material reuse and recycling alongside rapid deployment of emerging technical capabilities for sustainable resource recovery.

Creating a Better Waste Management Plan for Your Business

People are more environmentally conscious than ever, and want to do their part to help reduce waste. Not only are they themselves eco-friendly, but they also want the companies they purchase from and support to do their part as well. Nearly every wyoming llc will produce some type of waste, despite their best intentions. Even things like offices can create a lot of waste. This waste can have a terrible impact on the environment, for everything from wildlife to our own public health.

However, producing zero waste isn’t always possible for companies (at least not currently). As a result, it is more important than ever to have a good waste management strategy for your business. These plans help you deal with responsibly getting rid of waste, as well as reducing it where possible.

Unfortunately, crafting one isn’t always easy. Thankfully, we are here to help. This article is going to go over some great tips for creating a better waste management plan for your business.

Do Your Due Diligence

First and foremost, hire a waste production manager to perform an adequate amount of due diligence on waste processes in your business. While some companies might think they know all of the waste that they are producing, that isn’t always the case. There could be remnants of waste on your property from years ago, which could be damaging the soil and the environment.

In order to truly get the full picture of the waste you are creating or have created, you need to have testing, site-walks and other types of due diligence conducted. The more you know about the kind of waste you are creating, and how much, the better suited you will be to build out your customized plan.

Whether you are an established company wanting to improve or create your plan, or a company looking for a new workplace or site, doing due diligence is a must. If you want to learn more about this environmental due diligence, and the assessments involved, you can do so in this Phase I Environmental Site Assessment article.

Find Ways to Reduce and Reuse

While responsibly disposing of things is often at the heart of any waste management plan, it should be about so much more than that. In fact, actually throwing things away at a dump or landfill should be kept to a minimum. Instead, your plan should be focused primarily on reducing your waste and reusing what you can.

This could be by changing up certain processes, using new technology, or simply identifying what methods produce the most waste, and optimizing them. Also seek to reuse the waste that you can. If you yourself can’t use it, see if another company or industry might be able to.

For example, instead of tossing food waste in the garbage, it can often be used as compost by large farms. While not all types of waste can be reduced or reused, you would be shocked at what can be done if you take your time and come up with a plan.

Know the Responsibilities and Guidelines in Your Area

In most areas, businesses have certain responsibilities when it comes to waste management. It could be anything from offering the right receptacles to staying below a certain threshold of waste. You need to be aware of your responsibilities wherever you operate. If you don’t comply and do what you are responsible for doing, you could end up with some serious penalties or fines to deal with.

In addition to knowing the responsibilities you have in your local area, also be aware of the guidelines. Some cities or areas will require the waste to be sorted or disposed of in a certain way. Be sure to have all of these policies and rules clearly stated for everyone, so they aren’t left confused about anything.

On a similar note, be aware of the local services that can assist with waste management. Know where they operate, what sorts of materials they can help you dispose of and what the associated costs are.

In conclusion, we hope the information and tips in this article have helped you create a better waste management strategy.

Waste Management in the Food Processing Industry

Food processing industry around the world is making serious efforts to minimize by-products, compost organic waste, recycle processing and packaging materials, and save energy and water. The three R’s of waste management – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – can help food manufacturers in reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and reusing waste.

EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy

EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy is an excellent resource to follow for food processors and beverage producers as it provides the guidance to start a program that will provide the most benefits for the environment, society and the food manufacturer.

Notably, landfill is the least favored disposal option for waste generated in food and beverage producers worldwide. There are sustainable, effective and profitable waste management options including:

  • making animal feed,
  • composting to create nutrient-rich fertilizer,
  • anaerobic digestion to produce energy-rich biogas,
  • recycling/reusing waste for utilization by other industries,
  • feeding surplus food to needy people

Waste Management Options

Food manufacturers has a unique problem – excess product usually has a relatively short shelf life while most of the waste is organic in nature. Food waste created during the production process can be turned into animal feed and sold to goat farms, chicken farms etc. As far as WWTP sludge is concerned, top food manufacturers are recycling/reusing it through land application, anaerobic digestion and composting alternatives.

Organic waste at any food processing plant can be composted in a modern in-vessel composting and the resultant fertilizer can be used for in-house landscaping or sold as organic fertilizer as attractive prices.

Another plausible way of managing organic waste at the food manufacturing plant is to biologically degrade it in an anaerobic digester leading to the formation of energy-rich biogas and digestate. Biogas can be used as a heating fuel in the plant itself or converted into electricity by using a CHP unit while digestate can be used as a soil conditioner. Biogas can also be converted into biomethane or bio-CNG for its use as vehicle fuel.

Items such as cardboard, clean plastic, metal and paper are all commodities that can be sold to recyclers Lots of cardboard boxes are used by food manufacturers for supplies which can be broken down into flat pieces and sold to recyclers.

Cardboard boxes can also be reused to temporarily store chip packages before putting them into retail distribution boxes. Packaging can be separated in-house and recovered using “jet shredder” waste technologies which separate film, carton and foodstuffs, all of which can then be recycled separately.

Organizing a Zero Landfill Program

How do you develop a plan to create a zero landfill program or zero waste program in food and beverage producing company? The best way to begin is to start at a small-level and doing what you can. Perfect those programs and set goals each year to improve. Creation of a core team is an essential step in order to explore different ways to reduce waste, energy and utilities.

Measuring different waste streams and setting a benchmark is the initial step in the zero landfill program. Once the data has been collected, we should break these numbers down into categories, according to the EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge and identify the potential opportunities.

For example, inorganic materials can be categorized based on their end lives (reuse, recycle or landfill).  The food and beverage industry should perform a waste sort exercise (or dumpster dive) to identify its key streams.

Nestlé USA – A Case Study

In April 2015, Nestlé USA announced all 23 of its facilities were landfill free. As part of its sustainability effort, Nestlé USA is continually looking for new ways to reuse, recycle and recover energy, such as composting, recycling, energy production and the provision of safe products for animal feed, when disposing of manufacturing by-products.

Employees also work to minimize by-products and engage in recycling programs and partnerships with credible waste vendors that dispose of manufacturing by-products in line with Nestlé’s environmental sustainability guidelines and standards. All Nestlé facilities employ ISO 14001-certified environmental management systems to minimize their environmental impact.

Recommended Reading: Renewable Energy from Food Recycling

A Guide to Sustainable Waste Management for Businesses

There are many reasons to adopt sustainability as your main guiding policy in conducting business. With environmental problems becoming more prevalent worldwide, consumers seem to show a strong preference for businesses that adhere to environmental ethics. A sustainable business strategy can thus give you an edge over competitors. But business sustainability is tightly connected to waste management because any business activity generates waste that can harm the environment.

In this article, you’ll discover a detailed guide to sustainable waste management for businesses that want to build an eco-friendly identity.

waste-management-in-companies

Identify Wasteful Activities

Whether you deliver products or services, analyze your business practices and determine what activities produce the largest amounts of waste. Most importantly, determine whether these waste-generating activities can be avoided or reduced. For example, paper consumption in offices is often wasteful and can be easily reduced by avoiding unnecessary printing and copying and working predominantly with electronic files.

So, identify all wasteful activities in your company. Then implement a series of rules to avoid these activities or reduce their recurrence. Much better than implementing a sustainable waste management system is not to generate waste at all.

Reuse, Recycle or Donate

Pay attention to the waste generated in your company and determine which items or components can be reused, recycled, or donated. In many cases, what you consider waste can find an application elsewhere.  Good waste management involves foremost an assessment of whether an item has lost all functional and practical purposes or is fit for other uses inside your company or elsewhere.

Always consider reusing items that haven’t lost their properties or features. Instruct employees to recycle. Add bins in the office for materials such as paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, or aluminum. Never send electronics, office equipment, furniture, or tools to the landfill. Either send them to a recycling facility or donate them to a charity.

Create a Disposal Plan

It’s almost impossible to avoid all waste since even raw materials and supplies can turn into waste due to being contaminated or damaged. This is why you need a waste disposal plan that it’s either dangerous to keep on your premises or cannot be recycled. For example, old and unused fuels can become contaminated and require removal from a specialized service.

waste-management-plan

To maintain a clean, healthy, and safe environment for your employees and customers, create a disposal plan for each type of waste. Ideally, only biodegradable waste should go to the landfill.

Conclusion

Although a business can find it difficult not to generate waste, it’s important to develop a waste management system that takes into consideration environmental concerns. Businesses need raw materials, supplies, tools, electronics, and various equipment to function properly. They also need energy, electricity, and water. And because businesses consume so many tangible and intangible resources, governments and customers expect them to show a sense of responsibility for the environment.

By adopting a sustainable waste management system, you demonstrate an ethical, future-oriented business approach. Perform a waste audit and use the tips above to set waste reduction goals for your business.

Waste Minimisation – Role of Public, Private and Community Sector

When it comes to waste minimisation and moving material up the waste hierarchy you will find partisan advocates for the roles of the public, private and community sectors. Each will tell you the reasons why their sector’s approach is the best. The private sector will extol their virtues as the only ones capable of efficiently and effectively doing the job.  They rightly note that they are the providers on the front lines who actually recover the vast majority of material, that the private sector approach drives innovation and efficiency, and that if waste minimisation is to be sustainable this must include economic sustainability.

 

The community sector on the other hand will make a strong case to say that their model, because it commonly encompasses social, environmental, and economic outcomes, is able to leverage value from recovered materials to dig deeper into the waste stream, to optimise recovered material quality, and to maximise employment and local economic benefit.

Before recycling and composting were economically viable prospects, community sector organisations led the way, developing many of the techniques now widely used. They remain the leaders in marginal areas such as furniture reuse, running projects that deliver environmental outcomes while providing wider community benefits such as rehabilitation and training for marginalised groups.

Finally, in the public sector corner, advocates will point out that the profit-driven private sector will only ever recover those materials that are able to generate positive revenues, and so cannot maximise waste minimisation, while social outcomes are strictly a secondary consideration. The community sector, on the other hand, while encompassing non-monetary values and capable of effective action on a local scale, is not set up to deliver these benefits on a larger scale and can sometimes struggle to deliver consistent, professional levels of service.

The public sector can point to government’s role in legislating to promote consistent environmental and social outcomes, while councils are major providers and commissioners of recycling services and instrumental in shaping public perceptions around waste issues. The public sector often leads in directing activity towards non-monetary but otherwise valuable outcomes, and provides the framework and funding for equity of service levels.

So who is right? Each sector has good arguments in its favour, and each has its weaknesses. Does one approach carry the day?  Should we just mix and match according to our personal taste or based on what is convenient?

Perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Maybe the issue is not “which approach is better?” but instead “how might the different models help us get to where we ultimately want to go?”

Smells Like Waste Minimisation

So where do we want to go?  What is the waste minimisation end game?

If we think about things from a zero waste perspective, the ideal is that we should move from linear processes of extraction, processing, consumption and disposal, to cyclical processes that mimic nature and that re-integrate materials into economic and natural systems.  This is the nirvana – where nothing is ‘thrown away’ because everything has a further beneficial use.  In other words what we have is not waste but resources.  Or to put it another way – everything has value.

Assuming that we continue to operate in an essentially capitalist system, value has to be translated into economic terms.  Imagine if every single thing that we now discard was worth enough money to motivate its recovery.  We would throw nothing away: why would we if there was money to be made from it?

So in a zero waste nirvana the private sector and the community sector would take care of recovery almost automatically.  There might evolve a community and private sector mix, with each occupying different niches depending on desired local outcomes. There would be no need for the public sector to intervene to promote waste minimisation.  All it would need to do would be to set some ground rules and monitor the industry to ensure a level playing field and appropriate health and safety.

Sectoral Healing

Returning to reality, we are a long way from that zero waste nirvana.  As things stand, a bunch of materials do have economic value, and are widely recycled. Another layer of materials have marginal value, and the remainder have no value in practical terms (or even a negative value in the case of hazardous wastes).

The suggested shift in perspective is most obvious in terms of how we think about the role of the public sector. To bring us closer to our goal, the public sector needs to intervene in the market to support those materials of marginal value so that they join the group that has genuine value.

Kerbside (or curbside) collection of certain materials, such as glass and lower value plastics, is an example of an activity that is in effect subsidised by public money. These subsidies enable the private sector to achieve environmental outcomes that we deem sufficiently worthwhile to fund.

However, the public sector should not just be plugging a gap in the market (as it largely does now), but be working towards largely doing itself out of a job. If we are to progress towards a cyclical economy, the role of the public sector should not be to subsidise marginal materials in perpetuity, but to progressively move them from marginal to genuinely economic, so that they no longer require support.

At the same time new materials would be progressively targeted and brought through so that the range and quantity requiring disposal constantly shrinks.  This suggests a vital role for the public sector that encompasses research, funding for development of new technologies and processes, and setting appropriate policy and price structures (such as through taxes, levies, or product stewardship programmes).

Similarly, the community sector, because it is able to ‘dig deeper’ into the waste stream, has a unique and ongoing role to play in terms of being able to more effectively address those materials of marginal value as they begin to move up the hierarchy.  The community sector’s unique value is its ability to work at the frontiers.

Meanwhile, the private sector’s resources and creativity will be needed to enable efficient systems to be developed to manage collection, processing and recycling of materials that reach the threshold of economic viability – and to create new, more sustainable products that fit more readily into a waste minimising world.

In the end, then, perhaps the answer is to stop seeing the three models as being in competition. Instead, we should consciously be utilising the unique characteristics of each so that we can evolve our practices towards a future that is more functional and capable of delivering the circular economy that must eventuate if we are to sustain ourselves on this planet.

Note: The article is being republished with the kind permission of our collaborative partner Isonomia. The original article can be viewed at this link

5 Ethical, Sustainable and Eco-friendly Cost-Saving Tips

Consumers are no longer solely interested in catching a great deal. In fact, it’s the quick and cheap, disposable living mindset that has put the world in such a precarious state. Studies have shown that a business’s impact on the world plays a key role in their purchasing decision. Here are five ethical, sustainable, and eco-friendly cost-saving tips to help you cut back on your spending, and your carbon footprint.

Green SMEs

Evaluate your Utility Providers

Take a look at your utility providers to see what they’re doing to make a positive impact on the world around them. For those that are bill tracking, it is important to note that many energy service providers offer special rates and rebates for lower consumption. Using Energybot, you can contrast and compare providers in your area. You can visit their website to find the most affordable, eco-friendly option for you.

In areas where providers are limited, you can still look at their environmental initiatives and programs that will save you money while making a positive impact. Many utility providers conduct energy audits or provide rebates for swapping out appliances and faucets for eco-friendly versions.

Hit the Thrift Shop

Online shopping makes it easy to get anything you could dream of at an affordable rate. However, there’s a good chance that someone like you had a similar item and discarded it.

Hitting the thrift shop before shopping online will not only save you money but will also have a positive environmental impact. The clothes you buy online are manufactured and shipped from all over the world. This creates carbon emissions that have a detrimental effect. There’s a hidden cost to affordable online shopping; buy local whenever possible.

Eat Seasonally

Eating food from local sources is better for the environment and the economy. By ensuring that your money stays in the local economy, you’re stimulating growth that will ultimately benefit you over time. Furthermore, you aren’t paying to have food manufactured, shipped, and stored from thousands of miles away.

Eating seasonal produce will help you save money on fresh food and improve the diversity of your diet. By consuming seasonal, local produce, you’re saving money, boosting the local economy, positively impacting the environment, and improving your health. It’s a win for all involved.

Be Water Savvy

Minimizing your water consumption will help keep your budget low and the environment thriving. Start by monitoring your consumption at home and making small changes. Shut the water off while brushing your teeth. Don’t rinse your dishes before putting them in the washer. Wait until you have a full load to do laundry.

To take it to the next level, swap your faucet and showerheads out with aerators and low-flow alternatives. Start collecting and reusing rainwater for gardening. Replace your hot water tank with a “tankless” alternative. Look at your meter usage and set reduction goals.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Recycling is a great initiative that can make an incredible difference in the environment when done correctly. However, recycling is just one of the “Three R’s” to remember.

Circular-Economy

 

Reduce and reuse often go hand-in-hand. Reduce your packaging consumption by buying food in bulk and using reusable grocery bags. Before you recycle something, think about ways to give it new life. Mason jars can be used to store dry goods and pack lunches rather than using plastic containers. Keep a few large jugs handy to fill with water, rather than adding to the single-use bottle problem. Instead of plastic toothbrush, use a bamboo toothbrush from Ecoy.

There are plenty of ways to lower your spending while taking care of the environment. Use a budgeting app like Mint to gain awareness about where your money is going. Then, use a carbon footprint calculator to evaluate your consumption. By making some simple changes to your lifestyle, you can limit harmful spending.