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You’re (Probably) Recycling Wrong: Here’s How To Do It Right

Posted on by dishanth
You’re (Probably) Recycling Wrong: Here’s How To Do It Right

What Is Recycling?

Recycling is the process of converting waste into reusable materials. There are many examples of recycling that don’t involve putting items into a green bin, like using an old jam jar as a vase for flowers.

 

Why Should You Recycle?

Everyone has their own reasons for recycling, but here are five major reasons why you should make a habit to recycle properly:

  1. Reduce your carbon footprint: Throwing away recyclable materials like aluminum cans or newspapers is a huge waste of energy — equivalent to the annual output of 15 power plants. Recycling cans saves 95% of the energy required to make them from a virgin source.
  2. Preserve our natural resources and wildlife: The process of mining for raw materials is harmful to natural ecosystems and animals.
  3. Reduce landfill waste: Most of us have the luxury of never seeing where our bags of trash end up, but it has to go somewhere. Not only are landfills aesthetically displeasing and have adverse effects on tourism, but they’re also wreaking havoc on our environment.
  4. Prevent pollution: Recycling products to (1) keep them out of landfills and (2) reduce the amount of mining of raw materials prevents air and water pollution.
  5. Create jobs and stimulate the economy: Recycling and reuse activities account for more than 680,000 jobs, $37.8 billion in wages, and $5.5 billion in tax revenues in the U.S. alone.

 

What Can Be Recycled?

Specifics can vary depending on the rules at your local recycling center or curbside recycling program, but the following items can generally be recycled:

Aluminum/Metal

Recycling aluminum cans save 95% of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from its virgin source.10 You can recycle the following aluminum materials, but make sure they’re free of residue.

  • Beverage cans
  • Food cans
  • Tin foil
  • Scrap metal

If there’s a hard-to-clean substance stuck to an item, you’re better off throwing it away.

Paper Products/Cardboard

Paper and cardboard have a 68% recycling rate in the U.S., which is pretty high compared to other materials. Again, make sure the material is free of food residue before putting it in the recycling bin. And be sure to check with your curbside recycling program’s policy, as some only accept corrugated cardboard.

  • Cardboard boxes
  • Milk or juice cartons
  • Newspaper
  • Printer paper
  • Frozen food boxes
  • Ream wrappers
  • File folders
  • Poster Board

Plastics

Sadly, only 5–6% of the 46 million tons of plastic generated in the U.S. gets recycled.11 You can help increase that statistic by properly cleaning and recycling the following plastic products:

  • Water bottles
  • Soda bottles
  • Plastic beverage jugs
  • Takeout containers
  • Plastic jugs and tubs labeled No. 1 or 2*

*Typically, those with the numbers 1 or 2 inside the triangle can be recycled curbside, though some may have to be taken to a recycling center. Plastics numbers 3–7 must be taken to a specific recycling facility.

 

What Can’t Be Recycled

To avoid wishful recycling, you should trash (or explore alternative options) for the following waste:

  • Food scraps (look into composting instead).
  • Plastic shopping bags (most retailers offer bag recycling).
  • Food-tainted items (pizza boxes, dirty food takeout containers, used paperware, etc.)
  • Snack bags or candy wrappers
  • Paint buckets
  • Ceramics and kitchenware
  • Glassware (non-bottles or jars)
  • Broken glass
  • Windows or mirrors
  • Plastic wrap
  • Bubble wrap or packing peanuts
  • Styrofoam
  • Photographs
  • Medical waste
  • Wood
  • Yard waste
  • Six-pack rings
  • Frozen food bags

Other Materials and Recycling

There are other materials that can be recycled but must be taken to a special recycling center to do so properly. (In other words, don’t put these items in your recycling bin.)

These items may include:

  • Textiles/clothing
  • Light bulbs
  • Fluorescent tubes
  • Batteries
  • Computers/electronics

A quick internet search of “how to recycle [item] near me” should direct you toward the proper recycling facility or drop-off center for these items.

 

Do’s and Don’ts of Recycling

We cannot stress this enough: the rules of recycling vary based on your local recycling center or curbside recycling program, so be sure to check what guidelines you need to follow to avoid recycling contamination.

However, the following are common dos and don’ts when it comes to proper recycling.

Recycling Do’s:

  • Check with your local recycling center for guidelines.
  • Empty and clean all containers before recycling, making sure there’s no leftover food or beverage residue.
  • Break down cardboard boxes.
  • Keep the lid of metal cans attached and fold them inwards so the sharp edge isn’t exposed.
  • Separate your materials by type.

Recycling Don’ts:

  • Put any of the materials listed in the above section, “What can’t be recycled,” into a recycling bin.
  • Recycle plastics No. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 in a curbside recycling bin (these plastics must be taken to a specific recycling facility).
  • Flatten cartons or bottles.
  • Recycle the glass from windows, mirrors, vases, or drinkware.

 

How Are Products Recycled?

You now know what can and cannot be recycled, but have you ever wondered how things are recycled? Let’s take a look at some of the processes for the most common items below.

Aluminum/Metal

Aluminum cans and other metal materials are taken to special treatment plants. After being sorted and cleaned, the metals are remelted to remove colorings, coatings, and shapes.

Once in liquid form, the aluminum is then made into giant blocks called “ingots.” Ingots get shipped out to mills, where they get rolled out into sheets before being fashioned into their new shapes. In all, it takes just a few weeks for aluminum to be recycled.

Cardboard

Cardboard is first sorted by type, either boxboard (i.e., a cereal box) or corrugated (i.e., a standard shipping box). The material is then shredded and poured into big water tanks to be turned into a pulp, with all other materials (metal, tape, etc.) getting filtered out in this process.

After the filtering process, more water and chemicals are added to further pulverize the material before it gets rolled, dried, and pressed into sheets. The sheets are then cut into the proper shapes and sizes.

Paper (Office and Newspaper)

Similar to cardboard, newspapers or magazine paper are brought to a mill, where they are fed into a fiber preparation plant. From there, the paper is mixed in with water and chemicals that dissolve the ink and contaminants and turns into a soggy, mushy pulp.

The pulp is then injected between mesh sheets to form a wet sheet of paper. Once dried, the paper gets polished and rolled into big reels, later to be cut into smaller sizes and sold off.

Plastic

Once sorted by type, plastics are cleaned and then ground up and shredded. Once in bits, the plastic gets melted down and formed into small pellets about the size of a grain of rice.

The plastic pellets are then sold to companies to melt and mold into whatever container or shape they need to create.

 

How to Create a Home Recycling System

Having an organized and functional recycling system is important to promote proper recycling habits while also maintaining a healthier home (and planet). Here are a few steps to help get you started:

Step 1: Find Out the Recycling Pickup Schedule and Guidelines

If your city offers curbside recycling, make sure you’re aware of what items it accepts and what day your recycling pickup is.

Step 2: Figure Out Which Bins to Use and Label Them

Many cities require that curbside recycling be separated into separate bins. If you’re in charge of bringing recyclables to a recycling center, you’re better off buying separate recycling bins and labeling them by type (i.e., plastic, cans, cardboard, paper).

Step 3: Analyze (and Reduce) Your Waste

Do you get a lot of junk mail? Do you buy unnecessary plastic products? Perhaps you have a lot of items shipped to your home? There are ways you can reduce your waste to create fewer recycling headaches.

  • See if you can get a “no junk mail” sticker for your mailbox.
  • Opt out of junk mail by going to the website DMAchoice.org or calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT to stop receiving credit card offers.
  • When you order a product online, see if there are options for reduced shipping materials (Amazon offers this).
  • Sign up for e-notifications or statements for your bank or other service providers.

Reducing your home waste (especially ridding of those cardboard boxes) can help keep your home free of pests as well.

Step 4: Keep It Organized

Stay on top of your recycling by breaking down your materials and sorting them into their respective bins. If you have curbside recycling, set a phone reminder to move your bins to the curb the night before pickup.

 

Teaching Kids How To Recycle

Maintaining a home recycling system is a great chore for children, but the chore doesn’t have to be a bore. Here are some tips to make recycling more exciting for kids.

Make Smaller Recycling Bins Just for Kids

If possible, make smaller recycling bins for your kids’ bedrooms or playroom and teach them how to break down materials and properly sort them. The night before recycling day, they can add their separate stashes to the bigger bins.

Go on a Recycling Scavenger Hunt

A recycling scavenger hunt is a sneaky way to get your kids to help you clean the house. Have them go around your home and find different items that can be recycled, like the opened boxes from online purchases or the soda cans left in the TV room.

You can also hide recycled materials around the house to make it a little more interactive.

Create DIY Projects With Recyclable Materials

There are plenty of ways to upcycle recycled materials, especially those that can’t go into curbside recycling. You could make seed starters out of egg cartons, sew door drafts, or heating pads from old clothing. If you use recycled materials for general arts and crafts, the possibilities are endless.

Donate Toys and Clothes

Make a habit of going through the toys and clothes that your children have outgrown and asking them how these items may better serve other children in your community. Whether that be a neighbor or schoolmate or drop off at a donation center or thrift store.

Make a Bird Feeder

You can use plastic jugs or bottles to make homemade bird feeders. All you need is a pair of scissors or X-acto knife, a long stick, a piece of used wire (or string or twine), a nail, and some birdseed.

  1. Cut a hole in the side and the top of the bottle or jug.
  2. Poke a hole through the plastic with the nail.
  3. Put the long stick through both holes (this will act as the t perch for the birds to stand on).
  4. Use the nail again to poke holes in the top of the feeder.
  5. Insert the string through the top hole to make a hanger.
  6. Fill the bottom of the bottle with birdseed.
  7. Hang your bird feeder outside!

Play Zero Waste Games

You can recycle materials to make games for children. Many of these work best in bigger group settings, ideal for the classroom or parties. Here are some ideas:

  • Fill empty bottles with sand for bottle bowling.
  • Create towers with aluminum cans and see who can make theirs the tallest.
  • Do a recycling relay, where you give each kid a pile of mixed recyclables and trash and see who can properly sort their items into the correct bin the fastest.
  • Make three signs (plastic, glass, paper) and put them in different areas of the room. Call out different recycled items (like, “milk carton”) and have the kids run to whichever sign resembles the bin that item would go in.

 

Recycling and Eco Terms Glossary

Below are some helpful recycling and eco terms to know and teach to your kids.

  • Bin: A small container used to hold limited amounts of waste, typically specified by type (compost bin, paper bin, plastics bin, etc.)
  • Biodegradable: When a material can naturally be broken down by microorganisms and turned into water or carbon dioxide.
  • Commingled container: A single waste container that holds a blended collection of recyclable materials (any combination of paper, cardboard, aluminum, steel, glass, and plastic).
  • Compactor: A machine that uses pressure to compress materials into a dense mass.
  • Conserve: Protect something (especially an environmentally or culturally important place or thing) from harm or destruction.
  • Decompose: To rot or break down into essential elements.
  • E-waste: Electronic components that can be disassembled and recycled (including computers, monitors, keyboards, computer mice, TVs, cell phones, etc.)
  • Fossil fuels: Compound mixtures made of fossilized plant and animal remnants (coal, oil, and natural gas) that are extracted from the earth and burned as a fuel source.
  • Hazardous waste: Poisonous or toxic materials that can cause harm to humans, ecosystems, and wildlife if not properly disposed of.
  • Landfill: A place where trash and solid waste are dumped, buried, controlled, and managed. This trash can take decades or even centuries to break down.
  • Renewable energy: Alternative forms of energy from natural resources, like the sun (solar power), wind or water (hydropower).
  • Textiles: A type of cloth or fiber-based that may be composed of woven fabrics, yarns, or threads.

 

 

 

 

Source Today’s Homeowner

Turning Ocean Legacy Plastic into Useful Items

Posted on by dishanth
Turning Ocean Legacy Plastic into Useful Items

Plastic has made a significant impact on our lives; almost everything we use on a day-to-day basis is made out of plastic. And while some of these items can be recycled, most cannot due to the nature of many plastics. As a result, they end up in our landfills and our oceans. The rate of plastic entering our oceans is rapid and is predicted to rise 2.6 times by 2040 if it is not adequately monitored.

But what will happen to the legacy ocean plastic already in the oceans? One non-profit, the Ocean Legacy Foundation, has created a solution that uses the plastic that is recovered from ocean and beach cleanups and gives it an economic value that stimulates the plastic circular economy. The organization has created the first commercially available plastic pellet in North America called Ocean Legacy Plastic.

The pellet is made from 100% post-consumer plastics from recovered marine gear, including buoys, fishing ropes, oyster trays and other marine products. The sourced plastic materials are found along the Pacific Coast through Ocean Legacy depots, shoreline cleanups, and ocean recovery expeditions. All the materials collected are cleaned, segregated and processed using their own technology to ensure that the resins are high-quality for direct manufacturing applications.

Ocean Legacy Plastic Foundation has recently partnered with Full Circle Plastics from Nobelford, Alberta, to give these plastic items a new life and value. The plastic pellets are being used in commercial, industrial and residential construction. They are replacing traditional lumber in applications such as planter boxes, agriculture fence posts, outdoor decking construction, and a selection of outdoor furniture. Full Circle Plastics’ products require no maintenance, are waterproof, don’t rot and, importantly, keep plastic out of the environment, landfills and waterways.

The organization has also partnered with Origami Paddler to make paddleboards and kayaks, LUSH to make black product pots and containers, Whistler Performance Lubricants to make bio-based lubricant recyclable containers, and will soon see their plastic in certain models of Tideman Boats. Ocean Legacy Foundation also prides itself on the tracking and traceability of its plastics. Everything can be traced back to their shore cleanups, fishing and aquaculture operations and the ocean-recovered plastic waste.

The Ocean Legacy Plastic Foundation is committed to teaching people about the issues surrounding pollution in the water and helping them develop solutions. They combine their best-practice plastic management strategies with the needs of communities and the planet’s health. They advocate for better programs and practices around the world. They are also committed to helping countries acquire adequate infrastructure to manage waste. And finally, they are committed to action-based engagement, which involves cleaning up the oceans and restoring environments.

This non-profit is taking the necessary steps to help us get ocean legacy plastic out of the oceans and give unwanted items a new life. While the ultimate solution must be to avoid throwing plastic into the oceans, these are important tactics for cleaning up the water and contributing to a plastic circular economy.

 

 

 

 

Source Happy Eco News

Packaging Solutions You Can Eat

Posted on by dishanth
Packaging Solutions You Can Eat

Tomorrow Machine has designed GoneShells, a biodegradable juice bottle made from potato starch.

Most of the packaging we use today is single-use, meaning it’s meant to serve one purpose and then discarded after. On top of that, a lot of the packaging cannot be recycled due to the assortment of materials used to make them. Globally, we produce about 400 million tons of plastic waste yearly and the plastic containers we throw away take up to 450 years to degrade. A Swedish product design studio specializing in package, product and food concepts may have a sustainable solution to our wasteful plastic consumption.

The designers have created GoneShells, a biodegradable juice bottle. The bottle is made from a potato-starch material and coated in a bio-based water-resistant barrier on both the inside and outside to preserve the liquid it contains. The packaging can be home-composted, eaten or dissolved in water. The bottle is designed to be peeled into a spiral formation, similar to peeling an orange. Doing so breaks the barrier and immediately begins the material’s decomposition process. As long as the decomposition process isn’t activated, the packaging works similarly to a traditional plastic bottle.

The product was designed to tackle landfill waste and address the lack of recycling and industrial compositing facilities in some parts of the world. The designers also wanted to create packaging that would last the same amount of time as the contents inside. The designers are also using existing equipment designed to process fossil fuel-based thermoplastics. These methods and inexpensive raw materials will help bring GoneShells to markets. The only other thing the designers are working on to make this packaging 100% sustainable is the foiling letters that appear on the bottles. They are working on a printing solution that will follow the bottle concept.

Tomorrow Machine is also known for its This Too Shall Pass line, where the packaging is made with the same short life span as the food they contain. Their olive oil packaging is made out of caramelized sugar coated with wax. To use the contents inside, you crack it open like an egg. Once it is open, the wax no longer protects, and sugar and the package will melt when it comes in contact with water. Their smoothie packaging is made of agar-agar seaweed gel, and water is designed for drinks with a short life and needs refrigeration. It can be opened like a juice box by picking the top. Like the GoneShells, their packaging for Basmati Rice is wrapped in beeswax and can be opened by peeling the packaging.

Tomorrow Machine has a very innovative way to reduce single-use waste. By introducing GoneShells to markets worldwide, we can reduce the raw materials used to produce plastic and drastically minimize the waste that ends up in the landfill every year.

 

 

 

 

Source Happy Eco News

 

Xeros study explores upcycling of laundry microfibres

Posted on by dishanth
Xeros study explores upcycling of laundry microfibres

Microfibres are defined as tiny ‘threads’, smaller than 5mm, that break off from textiles through the everyday acts of wearing and laundering garments and textiles Xeros explains.

Estimates from The Microfibre Consortium suggest every year more than half a million tons of microfibres are released into the world’s oceans simply from washing our clothing.

Meanwhile, independent research shows that microfibres from synthetic textiles (known as microplastics) are one of the biggest sources of microplastic pollution in the world’s oceans.

In order to address this, Xeros Technology has developed a washing machine filtration device, XFilter, which captures the microfibres and prevents their release into the world’s oceans.

XFilter lasts the lifetime of a washing machine and allows users to place the captured microfibres directly into their bin to be disposed of with other household waste, as we already do with vacuum cleaners and tumble driers that collect similar mixed fibres.

“Microfibre waste from filtration is a complex material to recycle within existing recycling infrastructure: not only are the microfibres often mixed materials, but they also contain captured dirt and soil,” says Xeros. “This is why Xeros have teamed up the University of Surrey – to accelerative research into improved methods to permanently reduce this continued pollution build-up in the future.

 

 

Led by Dr Melis Duyar, the team from the University of Surrey and North Carolina State University have developed a new method specifically designed to upcycle textile micro/nano fibres shed during the washing and drying of clothes. The method produces clean hydrogen and solid carbon nanomaterials as a by-product.

Dr Duyar, senior lecturer at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at University of Surrey, said: “At the University of Surrey, we are developing solutions to upcycle microplastics without releasing the fossil carbon contained within them into the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gas emissions. Plastics are one of the problems associated with our dependency on fossil fuels, so any solution we develop to address plastics pollution must also fit within our strategy for reaching a net zero emission economy. This partnership with Xeros will allow us to bring our technology closer to commercialisation, by developing methods for upcycling real microfibre waste collected from commercially available filters. We are excited to see our patent pending processes in action as applied to mixed fibre feedstocks, which is a big step towards developing a viable, real-world solution.”

The carbon nanomaterials developed using this upcycling method can be used in various essential products including batteries, solar cells and medical devices.

Dr Paul Servin, application development director of Xeros, added: “There is nothing better than to convert, what is today considered to be waste and a problem in the world, into a highly valuable product which is what we, together with the excellent researchers at University in Surrey, will accomplish. I’m extremely excited about this project which can hopefully lead the way to future separated collection of microfibres from washing machines, tumble dryers and vacuum cleaners for the purpose of upcycling to a higher valued product.”

The project began this month with research conducted over a 12-month period.

 

 

 

 

Source Just Style

Novel tech to recycle silver, aluminum from end-of-life solar panels

Posted on by dishanth
Novel tech to recycle silver, aluminum from end-of-life solar panels

Scientists from the University of Leicester in the UK have discovered a process to recover silver and aluminum from used PV cells that is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than current recycling processes using mineral acids.

The researchers used the technology on crystalline solar cells measuring 12 × 15 cm, weighing 2 g, and consisting of a 100 µm thick silicon wafer, coated with a 100 nm thick silicon nitride anti-reflective layer on the front side and a 20 µm thick layer of aluminum on the back side, both stripped with silver electrodes approximately 30 μm high.

“First, we place the solar cell in an aluminum chloride solution. The aluminum electrode is removed from the silicon wafer. We use ultrasound to promote the dissolution of the aluminum, which takes place within a few minutes,” researcher Guillaume Zante told pv magazine.

Given the low cost of aluminum, there may be no economic interest in recovering it, but the aluminum salt solution could be used for wastewater treatment purposes, according to the scientists. “In the second step, the silver is dissolved from the solar cell using iron chloride, an oxidizing agent, in a choline chloride or calcium chloride brine, which takes around 10 minutes,” Zante explained, noting that the components of these two brines, or salt water, are found in chicken feed and grit used on roads to avoid ice, respectively, and are thus widely available, cheap, and low on toxicity.

“It is interesting to note that iron dissolved in water cannot oxidize silver, but iron dissolved in the brine can. Using a brine instead of water improves the ability of iron to oxidize silver and improves the solubility of silver in the brine,” Zante said. “This is due to the presence of chloride ions in the brine. The addition of water to the brine dilutes the chloride ions, allowing the silver chloride to precipitate. Silver chloride is easily filtered from the solution.”

 

 

This process successfully recovers silver chloride with a purity of 98%, which according to the researchers could be converted into metallic silver in a further step, thereby increasing its purity. The process does not affect the silicon wafer and nitride anti-reflective coating, leaving open the possibility to reuse the silicon in PV panels or processing it for other uses.

The results were obtained in a lab setting, using a few grams of solar cells, and may differ at an industrial scale. However, the authors believe that industrialization is feasible due to their use of cheap, low-toxicity and readily available chemicals. “Since we are using cheap chemicals, the price could be as low as the processing costs with mineral acids and in some cases cheaper, around $0.4 lower per kilogram of solar cell as compared to mineral acids,” Zante affirmed.

They presented their findings in “Efficient recycling of metals from solar cells using catalytic etchants,” which was recently published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. The scientists are currently developing a strategy to scale up the technology and to extract other metals from waste sources, including bismuth, tellurium and copper from thermoelectric materials, which are used in perovskite, thin film, and wiring and cabling in solar cells, respectively. They are also attempting to extract gold, nickel and copper from printed circuit-boards, as well as neodymium and dysprosium from waste magnets. The academics are part of the Met4Tech project, which supports the creation of a circular economy for technology metals.

 

 

Source – pv magazines

No trash goes to waste on Greek islands racing to recycle

Posted on by dishanth
No trash goes to waste on Greek islands racing to recycle

Before the tiny Greek island of Tilos became a big name in recycling, taverna owner Aristoteles Chatzifountas knew that whenever he threw his restaurant’s trash into a municipal bin down the street it would end up in the local landfill.

The garbage site had become a growing blight on the island of now 500 inhabitants, off Greece’s south coast, since ships started bringing over packaged goods from neighbouring islands in 1960.

Six decades later, in December last year, the island launched a major campaign to fix its pollution problem. Now it recycles up to 86 per cent of its rubbish, a record high in Greece, according to authorities, and the landfill is shut.

Chatzifountas said it took only a month to get used to separating his trash into three bins – one for organic matter; the other for paper, plastic, aluminium and glass; and the third for everything else.

“The closing of the landfill was the right solution,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We need a permanent and more ecological answer.”

Tilos’ triumph over trash puts it ahead in an inter-island race of sorts, as Greece plays catch-up to meet stringent recycling goals set by the European Union (EU) and as institutions, companies and governments around the world adopt zero-waste policies in efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

“We know how to win races,” said Tilos’ deputy mayor Spyros Aliferis. “But it’s not a sprint. This is the first step (and) it’s not easy.”

The island’s performance contrasts with that of Greece at large. In 2019, the country recycled and composted only a fifth of its municipal waste, placing it 24th among 27 countries ranked by the EU’s statistics office.

That’s a far cry from EU targets to recycle or prepare for reuse 55 per cent of municipal waste by weight by 2025 and 65 per cent by 2035.

Greece has taken some steps against throwaway culture, such as making stores charge customers for single-use plastic bags.

Still, “we are quite backward when it comes to recycling and reusing here,” said Dimitrios Komilis, a professor of solid waste management at the Democritus University of Thrace, in northern Greece.

Recycling can lower planet-warming emissions by reducing the need to manufacture new products with raw materials, whose extraction is carbon-heavy, Komilis added.

Getting rid of landfills can also slow the release of methane, another potent greenhouse gas produced when organic materials like food and vegetation are buried in landfills and rot in low-oxygen conditions.

And green groups note that -waste schemes can generate more jobs than landfill disposal or incineration as collecting, sorting and recycling trash is more labour-intensive.

But reaching zero waste isn’t as simple as following Tilos’ lead – each region or city generates and handles rubbish differently, said researcher Dominik Noll, who works on sustainable island transitions at Vienna’s Institute of Social Ecology.

“Technical solutions can be up-scaled, but socioeconomic and sociocultural contexts are always different,” he said.

“Every project or programme needs to pay attention to these contexts in order to implement solutions for waste reduction and treatment.”

High-value trash

Tilos has built a reputation as a testing ground for Greece’s green ambitions, becoming the first Greek island to ban hunting in 1993 and, in 2018, becoming one of the first islands in the Mediterranean to run mainly on wind and solar power.

For its “Just Go Zero” project, the island teamed up with Polygreen, a Piraeus-based network of companies promoting a circular economy, which aims to design waste and pollution out of supply chains.

Several times a week, Polygreen sends a dozen or so local workers door-to-door collecting household and business waste, which they then sort manually.

Antonis Mavropoulos, a consultant who designed Polygreen’s operation, said the “secret” to successful recycling is to maximise the waste’s market value.

“The more you separate, the more valuable the materials are,” he said, explaining that waste collected in Tilos is sold to recycling companies in Athens.

On a June morning, workers bustled around the floor of Polygreen’s recycling facility, perched next to the defunct landfill in Tilos’ arid mountains.

They swiftly separated a colourful assortment of garbage into 25 streams – from used vegetable oil, destined to become biodiesel, to cigarette butts, which are taken apart to be composted or turned into materials like sound insulation.

Organic waste is composted. But some trash, like medical masks or used napkins, cannot be recycled, so Polygreen shreds it, to be turned into solid recovered fuel for the cement industry on the mainland.

More than 100 tonnes of municipal solid waste – the equivalent weight of nearly 15 large African elephants – have been sorted so far, said project manager Daphne Mantziou.

Setting up the project cost less than 250,000 euros ($255,850) – and, according to Polygreen figures, running it does not exceed the combined cost of a regular municipal waste-management operation and the new tax of 20 euros per tonne of landfilled waste that Greece introduced in January.

More than ten Greek municipalities and some small countries have expressed interest in duplicating the project, said company spokesperson Elli Panagiotopoulou, who declined to give details.

No time to waste

Replicating Tilos’ success on a larger scale could prove tricky, said Noll, the sustainability researcher.

Big cities may have the money and infrastructure to efficiently handle their waste, but enlisting key officials and millions of households is a tougher undertaking, he said.

“It’s simply easier to engage with people on a more personal level in a smaller-sized municipality,” said Noll.

When the island of Paros, about 200 km (124 miles) northwest of Tilos, decided to clean up its act, it took on a city-sized challenge, said Zana Kontomanoli, who leads the Clean Blue Paros initiative run by Common Seas, a UK-based social enterprise.

The island’s population of about 12,000 swells during the tourist season when hundreds of thousands of visitors drive a 5,000 per cent spike in waste, including 4.5 million plastic bottles annually, said Kontomanoli.

In response, Common Seas launched an island-wide campaign in 2019 to curb the consumption of bottled water, one of a number of its anti-plastic pollution projects.

Using street banners and on-screen messages on ferries, the idea was to dispel the common but mistaken belief that the local water is non-potable.

The share of visitors who think they can’t drink the island’s tap water has since dropped from 100 per cent to 33 per cent, said Kontomanoli.

“If we can avoid those plastic bottles coming to the island altogether, we feel it’s a better solution” than recycling them, she said.

Another anti-waste group thinking big is the nonprofit DAFNI Network of Sustainable Greek Islands, which has been sending workers in electric vehicles to collect trash for recycling and reuse on Kythnos island since last summer.

Project manager Despina Bakogianni said this was once billed as “the largest technological innovation project ever implemented on a Greek island” – but the race to zero waste is now heating up, and already there are more ambitious plans in the works.

Those include CircularGreece, a new 16-million-euro initiative DAFNI joined along with five Greek islands and several mainland areas, such as Athens, all aiming to reuse and recycle more and boost renewable energy use.

“That will be the biggest circular economy project in Greece,” said Bakogianni.

Source Eco-Business

23 Green Business Ideas for Eco-Minded Entrepreneurs

Posted on by dishanth
23 Green Business Ideas for Eco-Minded Entrepreneurs

Today, consumers are just as interested in corporate social responsibility (CSR) as they are in a company’s products and services. This is especially good news for eco-minded entrepreneurs.

We’ve outlined 23 eco-friendly business ideas for making money and saving the planet at the same time, that can set you apart form larger companies practicing greenwashing tactics.

 

What is a green industry business?

A green industry business is one that uses sustainable materials to make its products. Green industry businesses aim to use as little water, energy and raw materials as possible while cutting carbon emissions, or it finds ways to utilize these materials in renewable and eco-friendly ways. This business approach minimizes the company’s strain on natural resources and contributions to climate change. In some cases, if waste is generated, it is reused as energy or raw material.

 

What is a green business model?

With a traditional business model, a company outlines raw material budgets, design processes, and service delivery or product distribution methods. A green business model, while ensuring ample revenue, prioritizes minimizing the company’s environmental impact instead of maximizing its profit. It may involve the restricted use of fossil fuels while emphasizing power supplied by solar panels and other approaches to drastically reduce energy consumption.

 

How do I start a green business?

As consumers have come to care about CSR, a greater number of green businesses have emerged, but the problems that climate change poses require many solutions. Thus, to start a green business, first identify an eco-friendly service that nobody in your market currently offers. Then think of similarly eco-minded people you know whom you could ask to join your team. Read our guide on how to start a business.

As you launch your green business, change your lifestyle to reflect the values and services of your business.

 

What companies are eco-friendly?

Eco-friendly companies may include outdoor apparel brands, businesses that make reusable plastic bottles, eco-friendly cleaning companies, businesses that install solar panels, a local recycling business, and many other potential ventures. If you’re looking to start your own eco-friendly, green industry business, consider any of the 23 ideas below.

1. Ink refill business

Starting an ink-refill business can not only be a highly profitable decision, it can be an environmentally conscious one, too. You might question whether refilling ink cartridges truly helps the environment considering the amount of paper that is wasted each year. However, by reusing old ink cartridges, there is less nonbiodegradable waste accumulating in landfills. Paper is still necessary in the business world, but empty ink containers are not.

2. Environmental publications

If you love to write, start your own environmentally minded publication. Your actions can make a big difference in the world. By debunking popular myths and sharing the truth about the world we live in, you can help consumers rethink how their actions affect the planet.

3. Green finance

Green finance focuses on supporting local, community-level projects with an emphasis on sustainable, ecologically friendly agriculture. Green finance is also typically concerned with providing educational opportunities, funding for artistic endeavors and projects that support local ecology.

Green finance is preoccupied with social profitability. While monetary profit remains important, the goal of green finance is to support beneficial projects that provide value to the local community and ecology.

4. Eco-friendly retail

Consumer rewards programs are popular among retailers, and e-commerce site EcoPlum is no exception. With every purchase, customers earn EcoChipz, which are redeemable for either rewards or a donation to various environmental causes. Each product sold also carries a third-party green certification or an equivalent eco-label.

Besides selling sustainably sourced products, EcoPlum produces educational content, including monthly columns by industry experts, local green business listings, recycling information, eco tips, and book and video recommendations. If you’re considering opening a retail store, consider partnering with a company that has similar values as you and your customers.

5. Sustainable construction materials

You might not think of construction as sustainable, but some companies now provide recycled materials for use in projects like infrastructure repair.

Axion, for example, with its eco-friendly products, hopes to change the way companies think about rebuilding America’s infrastructure. The company’s railroad ties and pilings are made from recycled plastic from consumer and industrial uses rather than non-sustainable materials like steel and concrete. Axion is currently working with major partners like Long Island Rail Road to improve infrastructure safely and sustainably in the United States.

6. Organic catering

A great way for eco-friendly foodies to share their passion for food and the environment is to start an organic catering company. By catering local events and business luncheons with foods containing organic and locally grown ingredients, free-range meats, and vegan, gluten-free, and paleo meal options, you’ll appeal to nature lovers and health and wellness enthusiasts alike.

Be sure, though, to minimize the impact on the environment by avoiding plastic and paper goods as much as possible and composting food waste.

7. Eco-friendly beauty salon

If cosmetology is your passion, start a beauty business that’s Mother Nature-approved. Organic and vegan hair and beauty products are popping up everywhere. A way to make this trend work for you is to open an eco-friendly beauty salon. You can open a hair salon that uses all-natural shampoos and conditioners or a nail salon that uses environmentally friendly and vegan polishes and spa treatments.

8. Eco-friendly landscaping

Professional landscaping may make your lawn and garden look nice, but all of that maintenance isn’t necessarily great for the environment. With some eco-friendly advice and know-how, you can help homeowners make their yards literally and figuratively greener. SheKnows recommends synthetic turf, drought-resistant plants and strategically placed trees for a lawn that saves water, energy, and money.

9. Sustainable event planning

Whether they’re big or small, meetings and events can generate large amounts of waste and consume valuable resources. Green event planners use their expertise and event-planning skills to find eco-friendly venues, materials, and accommodations.

Sustainable event management benefits more than just the planet. There are financial advantages, plus it generates a positive image for event organizers, vendors and stakeholders while raising awareness, and inspiring change in the community.

10. Bicycle repair and refurbishing

Biking short distances instead of driving is better for the environment and your health. Like most modes of transportation, bicycles occasionally need a tune-up.

You could be the expert cyclists come to when their bikes need repairing or maintenance. If you have some extra space, you could purchase inexpensive older bikes, fix them up and sell them for a profit.

11. Handmade all-natural/organic products

Soaps, cosmetics and cleaning products are just a few of the household products that can be made using common organic materials.

Sure, anyone can find a recipe for a sugar scrub or vinegar-based cleaning solution and do it themselves, but if you package and sell them in sets, your customers conveniently have those all-natural products at their fingertips. Local markets and events are a good place to sell, or you could start an online store.

12. Eco-consulting

Are you an expert on green living? Start an eco-consulting service. Consultants evaluate homes and offices, and offer solutions to make them more environmentally friendly.

You could advise clients on switching their home appliances to more energy-efficient machines or implement a recycling program. To further boost your credibility, become a certified eco-consultant.

13. Farmers market vendor

Thanks to the organic movement, those with a green thumb have a golden opportunity to earn money by selling non-GMO, pesticide-free produce at their local farmers market.

Selling naturally grown fruits and vegetables gives you a distinct advantage over competing growers who use conventional farming methods, including pesticides. You may have to be approved and/or get certified by your local board of health first before you can begin selling.

14. Green housekeeping services

For working parents, cleaning the house can be at the bottom of the to-do list. Market yourself as the green solution to their housekeeping woes by offering services that range from light dusting to heavy-duty chores like cleaning the kitchen and bathroom, using only approved all-natural and eco-friendly cleaning products.

Charge an hourly rate or create your own service packages for a flat fee. Remember, your clients are giving you access to their homes. Build a trustworthy reputation with people you know first before advertising to strangers.

15. ‘Upcycled’ furniture

Don’t throw out your old, broken furniture. With basic templates and access to power tools, you can break down and reassemble chairs, tables and dressers into new pieces that you can paint and sell. Shelving and storage units are easy to make from wood scraps, and depending on the item, you might even be able to fully restore a unique and valuable piece of furniture.

Alternatively, you could reupholster old chairs and couches, giving them new life. Buying secondhand doesn’t just save money, it also helps the environment.

16. Green franchises

Want to run a business with a solid brand and customer base already in place? Investing in a franchise might be the answer. While franchising might call to mind fast-food joints and hotel chains, there are many eco-friendly franchise businesses.

17. Secondhand store

New things are typically expensive, and pretty soon, those costs add up. For example, a new book could cost $15 to $30, while a used book usually costs only a couple of dollars.

Opening a secondhand store not only saves your customers money, it’s better for the environment. Instead of tossing a perfectly good item into the trash, encourage consumers to donate their used items to you so another person can get value out of that item. You can sell used clothes, coats, books, kitchen appliances and furniture.

18. Green consulting

Whether it’s cutting energy costs or reducing their carbon footprint, the pressure for businesses to adopt green practices is high, and it’s only going to grow.

Business sustainability consultant Barbara Englehart said there are numerous benefits for companies that go green, including reduced costs, risks and liabilities, and increased employee retention and productivity.

“This is all quite new in the business world, and companies need help,” Englehart told Business News Daily. “They weren’t teaching sustainability in business schools five or 10 years ago.”

19. Solar panel installation

Many green-minded homeowners have installed solar panels on their homes, and many more would like. If you know how to do this, offer this service in your area.

20. Eco-friendly cleaning

Common cleaning products contain chemicals that contribute to pollution, and harm people and pets that come in contact with them. Starting an eco-friendly cleaning business counters this problem. Your eco-friendly cleaning business can exclusively use nontoxic products or use brands that minimize their use of single-use plastics. You can further decrease your company’s environmental impact by reusing greywater whenever possible.

21. Reusable plastic bottles

Single-use plastics are indisputably a leading cause for concern among environmentalists. Offer people a way to drink water on the go without contributing to plastic pollution by launching a green industry business that designs, produces and sells reusable plastic bottles. Explore using alternative materials such as metal or glass, bottles made from recycled plastic, or renewable plastics from materials like corn starch or sawdust.

22. Environmental impact and carbon emissions lessons

Many people aren’t aware of just how much carbon emissions their daily activities produce and the impact those activities have on the environment. Offer classes to educate the public about how driving, using air conditioning in the summer, leaving lights on unnecessarily, flying and other activities contribute to carbon emissions. You can also teach people how to reduce the environmental impact of these activities.

23. Local eco-friendly recycling business

Chances are that your town’s department of public works oversees a public recycling program, but many experts say that what you put in your recycling bin doesn’t always get recycled. Some municipalities don’t accept all types of recyclable containers, while others may not thoroughly sort the collected recycling. Open an eco-friendly local recycling business to guarantee your community that their goods are recycled.

 

 

Source Business News Daily

Sustainable shopping: How this mall wants to help save the planet with you

Posted on by dishanth
Sustainable shopping: How this mall wants to help save the planet with you

In recent years, terms like “fast fashion” and “overconsumption” have seeped into modern society’s consciousness, giving shopping a bad rap. Raffles City is changing that, one eco step at a time.

Through the Project Green campaign–a series of sustainability initiatives involving retail, hospitality and corporate stakeholders–Raffles City Singapore is revolutionising its retail experience for the better.

“By providing our retailers, office tenants and hotels a suitable platform via Project Green to expand on their green offerings, Raffles City aspires to make a bigger impact to inculcate sustainable living in the daily lives of our shoppers and stakeholders, and to adopt an eco-conscious attitude to make a positive impact on our planet together,” says general manager of Raffles City Singapore, Steve Ng.

 

Raffles City’s Project Green showcase is held at Level 3 Atrium and features activities you can take part in. PHOTO: RAFFLES CITY

 

From July 8 to Sept 25, there will be a slew of activities lined up for shoppers at the mall. Discover your inner eco-warrior when you take part in workshops that teach you how to incorporate recycling into your everyday life, through ordinary activities like dining and shopping. Here are three easy ways to get involved.

 

Learning to go green

Held at Raffles City Level 3 Atrium, the Project Green showcase features brands within the mall and their sustainability efforts.

Leading by example, Raffles City has created part of the display using upcycled materials from the mall’s past Christmas decorations. It includes a prominent tree centrepiece with two bicycles that shoppers can pedal to power up the lights.

 

Part of the Project Green showcase lets you light up the tree centrepiece by pedalling on the two bicycles. PHOTO: RAFFLES CITY

 

In addition, an Adopt-A-Tree initiative by local cafe, The Providore, gives shoppers another avenue to practise sustainability efforts. Participants can help repopulate forests in Sumatra and Borneo, while helping to lower carbon emissions at the same time.

The main Project Green showcase is divided into four zones that feature different tenants from F&B, beauty, and fashion, along with an exhibition area that displays the initiatives by Swissotel the Stamford and Fairmont Singapore, as well as the CapitaLand Master Plan 2030.

 

Play a part in weaving the Pledge for Sustainability mural with recycled cotton and fabric. PHOTO: RAFFLES CITY

 

Meanwhile, you can also help weave the Pledge for Sustainability art mural at the exhibition area using recycled cotton and fabric, and possibly end up contributing to bid for the largest textile yarn installation in the Singapore Book of Records!

 

L’Occitane’s Recycling Program lets you drop off empty packaging from any beauty brand. PHOTO: RAFFLES CITY

 

At the F&B and beauty zones are Nespresso and L’Occitane, which will hold masterclasses and upcycling workshops. Learn how Nespresso recycles their used capsules, turning them into new aluminium objects, while L’Occitane unveils its Recycling Program – the first in Singapore to accept empty packing from any beauty brand. And while you’re at it, why not pop by their first and only eco store in Singapore on Level 1?

 

Nespresso’s recycling efforts include turning used coffee pods and capsules into aluminium daily objects. PHOTO: RAFFLES CITY

 

The fashion zone, on the other hand, will include brands like the socially conscious Little Match Girl and Lush cosmetics, as well as Furla, with its Bloom bag made from a special paper-like fabric and recycled acrylic chain strap.

 

View examples of upcycling at the fashion zone. PHOTO: RAFFLES CITY

 

Social enterprise Terra SG, known for its engaging eco-education programmes, will be running weekend public workshops. Featured mall tenants will also take turns to run workshops that help educate shoppers on other ways to go green.

 

Recycling as a lifelong journey

Going green is not just in fashion these days – it’s essential to help reduce our carbon footprint and preserve the Earth for the generations to come.

Unsure how to start? Head to the Green Corner at Lobby A on Basement 2 for inspiration.

A permanent set-up, the space has been reimagined and decked out with preserved moss, recycled wood and steel frames, with low-energy lighting and interactive elements.

 

Located at Basement 2, Lobby A, the Green Corner is a great place to learn about adopting recycling habits. PHOTO: RAFFLES CITY

 

To be refreshed every quarter, the Green Corner is designed to educate the public about sustainability and how to adopt good recycling habits.

Featuring interactive educational displays, vending machines which take in recyclable items, as well as recycling and e-waste bins, the Green Corner also has a Bag Sharing Station for shoppers to, well, share the love by depositing their unused paper bags for other shoppers to take and use.

 

Making a difference with your shopping

With beautifully designed reusable bags becoming commonplace in Singapore, make ‘Bagless Fridays’ your new shopping habit as you wind down for the weekend.

 

Drop off your unused paper bags at the Bag Sharing Station for other shoppers to pick up and use. PHOTO: RAFFLES CITY

 

A new initiative by Raffles City, ‘Bagless Fridays’ will take place throughout the Project Green campaign. Shoppers are encouraged to BYOR (Bring Your Own Reusables), with participating tenants not offering shopping bags in order to reduce plastic bag use and wastage.

As a bonus, shoppers who use their own recyclable bags at participating stores at Raffles City can earn double STAR$ on the CapitaStar app.

For a minimum spend of $450, shoppers will receive a Raffles City x Tiong Bahru Bakery limited edition reusable Sttoke cup specially designed in celebration of the bakery’s 10th anniversary.

 

Redeem a special edition Sttoke cup with every $450 spent. PHOTO: RAFFLES CITY

 

With Project Green, Raffles City is leading the way in encouraging a sustainable lifestyle, while showing us how simple it can be. So the next time you head out to the mall, how about taking that reusable bag with you?

 

 

Source The Straits Times

The circular economy: What B2B companies need to know

Posted on by dishanth
The circular economy: What B2B companies need to know

The world’s population is growing steadily, and with it the demand for raw materials and resources. But all too often these are not infinite and are slowly becoming scarce. Our consumption ensures that we gradually exceed the capacities and limits of our planet.

The circular economy is intended to help save resources and pave the way out of the vicious circle of the throwaway society. The idea is quite simple: existing materials and products are shared, borrowed, reused, repaired, refurbished, and recycled for as long as possible to extend the life of the raw materials used before they finally reach the end of their useful life.

Thus, waste generated is kept to a minimum as all components are kept in circulation in the economy for as long as possible.

 

Sustainable investments have peaked at $30 trillion globally – a 68 percent increase since 2014. Quite a few financiers have committed to climate neutrality goals and expect the same from their business partners

 

The circular economy not only helps to operate more sustainably, but it also reduces the threat to the environment, increases security of supply and has a positive impact on our climate.

For many companies, the transformation towards more sustainability and climate neutrality also has financial reasons. It has been noted on several occasions that sustainable products grow significantly faster and enjoy greater popularity than non-sustainable products.

Unilever, for example, stated that its sustainable brands grew a full 46 percent faster than others, accounting for 70 percent of the company’s sales growth. In addition, McKinsey has found that a focus on environmental, social, and governmental goals can significantly reduce rising operating costs for raw materials or water, for example.

Investors are also increasingly looking for forward-looking and innovative companies. Sustainable investments have peaked at $30 trillion globally – a 68 percent increase since 2014. Quite a few financiers have committed to climate neutrality goals and expect the same from their business partners.

The pressure on companies to operate in a climate-neutral manner and to advance measures such as the circular economy is therefore coming from all sides.

 

The urgency for a circular economy is growing

 

From returnable bottles to car sharing, consumers have had a growing range of options for living more sustainably for some time now. Half of Germans are willing to buy refurbished devices, according to the latest Bitkom study.

As demand for more sustainable products continues to grow, online retailers are also following suit by increasingly contributing to and sourcing from the circular economy as well. According to a consumer study by Mirakl, more than half of online shoppers surveyed are more likely to choose vendors with sustainable practices.

 

In addition to consumer goods, many B2B industries are also embracing the circular economy

 

In addition to consumer goods, many B2B industries are also embracing the circular economy. In the automotive industry, for example, the use of remanufactured parts creates tremendous environmental and economic benefits for insurance companies, auto body builders and car manufacturers.

According to an analysis by the VDI, remanufacturing a compressor saves 89 percent CO2 equivalents compared to new production. Procurement costs are also 40 to 70 percent lower, which also benefits insurance companies because they have to pay lower sums in the event of damage.

 

The automotive sector can become a pioneer of the circular economy

 

Aniel, a leading French B2B retailer of car body parts, has recognised the signs of the times. The company recently expanded the offering of its online marketplace, which already lists more than 65 million listings for over 15 million products, to include remanufactured body parts.

By centralising its product offering, Aniel is making it easier for its customers to access remanufactured products for which they would otherwise have had to search laboriously and time-consumingly for specialised third-party suppliers.

This significant expansion of the product offering in the marketplace has enabled Aniel to strengthen its positioning as a “one-stop store” for bodybuilders and automotive manufacturers.

The potential benefits of the marketplace model are enormous and can help a company become more agile, larger and more profitable. According to Mirakl’s new Enterprise Marketplace Index 2022, revenue growth in enterprise marketplaces is more than double that of e-commerce overall – for the second year in a row.

 

Online marketplaces like Zureli have the advantage of providing a large and centralised catalogue of offerings right in one place, helping to establish a resource-efficient approach to supporting the circular economy

 

When developing a marketplace strategy, B2B companies should focus on specialisation because they know their own ecosystem best, and customers rely on enterprise expertise.

Online marketplaces have the advantage of providing a large and centralised catalogue of offerings right in one place, helping to establish a resource-efficient approach to supporting the circular economy.

On average, an auto body shop serves more than 30 vehicle brands and thus receives supplies from dozens of different suppliers, including specialised dealers, from multiple locations. By centralising purchases and accessing a wide range of products, Aniel’s marketplace model saves shops a lot of time.

Continuous innovative thinking allows Aniel to strengthen the circularity of the automotive sector, secure the supply of spare parts and meet the challenge of internationalisation.

 

What’s next in terms of sustainability

Environmental awareness within companies is growing, and the sustainability of products is playing an increasingly important role. This includes optimised supply chains, sustainable materials, and fair working conditions. 86 percent of consumers even think that increased sustainable action can give B2B companies a decisive competitive advantage.

But there is still a lot of catching up to do when it comes to sustainability, both for consumers and for companies. While interest in sustainable products is growing, understanding of how the circular economy works still needs to improve. Only then can benefits be truly understood and changes implemented.

Through transparency, companies can demonstrate that the sustainability mindset is present and being advanced. The marketplace model provides a good foundation for the circular economy through its interconnectivity and numerous sales and comparison options, but companies must be willing to rethink their current concepts and processes. Only then can the circular economy become a reality.

 

 

Source Circular

21 circular economy solutions: changing how we eat, live and travel for a more sustainable world

Posted on by dishanth
21 circular economy solutions: changing how we eat, live and travel for a more sustainable world
  • In 2019 the global economy consumed over 100 billion tonnes of materials.
  • The Circularity Gap Report highlights how moving to circular economy can reduce consumption levels and help mitigate climate change.
  • These 21 changes to how we make, keep and discard things can build more sustainable systems and a circular economy.

Never before has humankind made and consumed so much stuff. In 2019, for the first time, the global economy consumed over 100 billion tonnes of materials.

Already five of the nine planetary boundaries have been transgressed during humanity’s short presence on Earth, driven by a throwaway culture that too often exploits nature. Our economy has become inherently linear, and it may be difficult to reimagine how we make, use and discard things unless we shift toward a more regenerative and inherently natural system.

 

How can we build a circular economy?

The latest edition of the Circularity Gap Report explores the concept of a circular economy and investigates its role in climate mitigation and in cultivating more equitable societies around the world. Ultimately, the model will require a systems shift: radically rethinking how we use resources to fulfil our needs and wants. The report presents a range of circular solutions, based on four key principles of the circular economy: using fewer resources, using resources for longer, recycling resources and regenerating resources.

The report applies these strategies to “key societal needs and wants” – such as housing, nutrition and transport – to transform how resources are fed into the economy. If applied globally, this could result in a 28% reduction of resource use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 39% – keeping the world on track to reach its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. Here we outline 21 strategies that can be applied in daily life, to businesses and at local and national government level. Importantly, these are not only grounded in energy policies – they go far beyond and span economic policy, industry, business and individual consumer behaviour.

 

Feeding the world and the circular economy

Providing nutrition to the world is an extremely resource and emissions intensive task: accounting for 10 billion tonnes of GHG emissions and 21.3 billion tonnes of resources a year. It’s also extremely inefficient as more than 30% of all food produced is thought to be wasted. While a massive proportion of the global population are malnourished, many others are overweight. Nutrition for all can be delivered with a fraction of the resources currently pumped into the linear food systems. The current model is ripe for change to a circular economy.

 

Build a circular economy through food sufficiency and cutting excess consumption.

 

1. Enough really can be enough

It’s extremely impactful to first slash excessive consumption before increasing production to tackle food shortages and scarcity. The words “no” and “refuse” are important in the circular economy.

2. Put healthier, satiating foods first

Let’s make cutting excess consumption tangible through food sufficiency: bringing the per capita caloric and protein intakes of high-income, high-emitter countries (such as the US or many in the EU, see the Shift profile on the right) down to match healthy levels – 2,000 calories a day for a typical woman. This can be done by reducing the material and emissions footprint per calorie of foods by prioritising healthier and more satiating foods over foods with low nutritional value. Think here of sugary beverages and refined, heavily processed items that require resources and energy to be produced, but their “empty calorie” effect on our stomachs means they are a wildly inefficient diet choice.

3. Embrace a plant-based diet

Animal-based proteins are yet another inefficient way to reach our daily calorie quota: 25kg of grain and about 15,000 litres of water is needed to produce only 1kg of beef – inputs that could instead be used to nourish humans. In some parts of the world, where a variety of other high protein, nutritious options are available, ditching animal proteins can be one of the most impactful individual actions for the climate. Eating a primarily plant-based diet could slash global emissions by 1.32 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents.

 

The role different countries play in reducing waste and building a systems approach for the circular economy.

 

4. Shop your fridge and cook creatively

Circular shifts will also deliver secondary benefits such as less packaging needed for food – a massive win in terms of reducing single-use plastic – reduced obesity and healthier overall communities. It could also help to reduce food waste, also a strategy in itself needed to make our food systems more circular. Try doing this at home by not only cutting excess consumption, but planning your meals ahead, looking up innovative recipes to make use of your broccoli stems or fruit peels, shopping your refrigerator before heading to the market and skipping impulse buys if possible. Food service can employ the use of AI apps, such as Winnow, which has been found to cut kitchen waste by 50% or more.

5. Check for certifications

Choosing food that is sustainably sourced – meaning it comes from ecosystems that are managed according to environmental standards that enable regeneration – is a strong circular choice. A range of sustainable and carbon-neutral certification schemes aim to provide this ethical stamp to consumers. Nowadays, even cheese can come with a PAS2060 certification, the international mark of carbon neutrality.

 

Eating a primarily plant-based diet could slash global emissions by 1.32 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents.

—@circleeconomy

 

6. Support local

Sometimes we need to look to the past to learn lessons for the future. Practising the habits of our grandparents by going local and regional when picking our ingredients can have substantial environmental plus points. This often reduces the need for hot-housing vegetables, which equates to a reduction in fuel inputs, plus fewer food miles and lower transportation impacts. Supporting or practising urban, organic and precision farming models can also eliminate harmful synthetic fertiliser use, a huge source of emissions on its own.

In the UK, interest in allotments soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as home-grown food caught on. Lastly, backed by carbon-neutral biomass certification, using food waste and losses as animal feed – instead of the usual soy-based feeds – is an age-old tradition that will support the growth of secondary markets, take a chunk out of livestock emissions and help to avoid deforestation. While it’s not legal in the EU, it’s a successful practice in Japan and South Korea, where about 40% of food waste is used as feed.

7. Cook clean

Finally, cooking with polluting fuels is a silent killer: nearly 4 million people die a year from illness related to the associated pollution. Food preparation resources can also be made more circular, and safe, by replacing polluting traditional biomass and black carbon producing stoves with clean cooking apparatuses, including advanced solar-electric stoves. Increasing access to clean and sustainable energy around the world will be key to making this circular act available to those who most need it.

 

Homes and buildings and the circular economy

Providing shelter for the world is the most intensive “need” in terms of resources and emissions. Buildings are often developed without regard for the ecosystems of which they are a part. And in our civilisation’s history, we have built a lot: the mass of human-made things, from pavements to apartments to phones, now outweighs all natural biomass, such as trees and animals. Using circular economy strategies to lessen the load of our housing needs on the environment, and building with (rather than over) nature is imperative. Fulfilling the global economy’s need for housing is currently responsible for nearly 40 billion tonnes of resources and 13.5 billion tonnes of GHG emissions a year.

 

Multi-purpose buildings reduce the overall floor space needed and optimise resource efficiency, and also deliver proportional savings on heating and cooling.

—@circleeconomy

 

8. Design flexible, multi-purpose homes

To make our need for housing circular, we must ultimately call for fewer, but better, new houses to be built and make using them for multiple purposes the norm, especially in higher-income countries where we have masses of stock already built up. To make the most of the buildings we already have, they should be used flexibly and be able to adapt as time and needs evolve. Imagine a hybrid building that is used as a flex-work office space, a community centre and an evening school. Such spaces can be payment-per-use, such as the cross-industry collaborative building Dutch Mountains in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Multi-purpose buildings reduce the overall floor space needed and optimise resource efficiency, and also deliver proportional savings on heating and cooling. These savings will be further boosted by cuts in energy consumption that can be practised by anyone: lower room temperatures, smart metering and improved thermal insulation.

9. Use existing homes for longer

To continue making the most of the buildings already gracing the Earth, we must prioritise extending the lifetime of existing stock. Up until the 1960s there were strong traditions of reusing and sorting building materials, but this began to change as the construction industry in Europe moved from lime mortar to cement mortar, building materials became cheaper, and there were fewer requirements regarding the service life of buildings. Supporting and urging government interventions that ban building with virgin materials and policies to cap new construction in line with available volumes of secondary materials for building can reduce the need to extract finite materials from the Earth. Ultimately, waste from demolished buildings can be processed into new building materials, such as concrete mix or building sand. These options massively boost resource efficiency in production and performance.

10. No building left behind – or empty

Core circular methods must be practised at all levels, from the consumer to the national government. These include renovation, refurbishment, retrofitting and modular design. Modular design allows us to easily adapt buildings over time to suit changing needs and carries the potential for deconstruction, relocation and reuse of elements (or even whole buildings). Underused and disused buildings should also be occupied – in a time of resource scarcity buildings should not be sitting empty. Only with these methods can we try to meet the global housing demand within our global stock limits.

11. Nature-based solutions and renewable technologies

Nature-based solutions (NBS) can also lower material and energy demand for housing. We can be inspired by low-energy approaches such as Passivhaus design (this minimises the requirements for mechanical space heating, cooling and ventilation), while also applying renewable technologies such as solar photovoltaic or thermal, air-source and geothermal heat pumps to shrink the carbon footprint of a property. The Mahali Hub in South Africa are modular homes built with upcycled and locally available materials and a range of sustainable additions such as rainwater harvesting and passive cooling, resulting in net-zero homes.

We need to see the widespread use of low-carbon construction materials, material lightweighting and local sourcing to help to cut embodied energy in the housing system. And to add some regenerative power, the use of natural or renewable building materials, such as wood, straw and hemp, can boost biodiversity and regenerate ecosystems, while also generally slashing material footprints due to their lightweight character. Green roofs and living walls are all examples of NBS interventions with regenerative benefits, at least in terms of thermal performance, water management, biodiversity and air quality.

 

To dive into these 21 circular solutions that can bring us back on a 1.5 degree pathway, and understand the key role local and national governments and businesses play in driving the circular transition, download the Circularity Gap Report 2022.

 

Consuming and producing goods and the circular economy

Fulfilling the societal need for consumables – a diverse group of items ranging from refrigerators and furniture to clothing and cleaning agents – is not hugely resource-intensive compared to housing, for example, at 6.9 billion tonnes of resources and 5.6 billion tonnes of GHG a year. However, it’s incredibly wasteful, toxic and it is a huge drain on a different set of resources: cotton, synthetic, fossil fuel-based materials such as polyester and all the dye pigments and chemicals that go with it.

The production of low-cost, synthetic materials, which form the backbone of cheap, fast fashion, has increased nine-fold in the past 50 years, using around 350 million barrels of oil each year and shedding microplastics in the process. Meanwhile, the fashion industry is responsible for a fifth of waste water globally. That’s why we must move towards a circular economy.

 

Shifting consumption choices and mainstreaming circular design, both usage and acquisition rates can decline.

—@circleeconomy

 

12. Make careful consumer choices

As we know by now, we need to begin by using less. Aside from conscious choices and utilising the all-important r-word – refuse – we need to start with the efficient design and use of consumer products. By shifting consumption choices and mainstreaming circular design, both usage and acquisition rates can decline. Tangible actions include: increasing digitisation to reduce paper use; not making textiles from animals; aiming to eradicate single-use plastic; optimising the usage of electronics to minimise e-waste; choosing only eco-labelled responsibly-sourced timber furniture, and prioritising local purchasing and sourcing.

13. Get repairing and sharing

We must also learn to make the most of the stuff we have. Here, encouraging repair, maintenance, sharing, re-manufacturing and take-back programmes for textiles, appliances, furniture and machinery are powerful and should form the base of circular systems. Durable denim meets circular business models in the case of Kuyichi: the company’s resale business model offers a take-back scheme for customers to easily give their denim a new lease of life to their denim, as well as a resale service for preloved goods.

14. Support ‘right to repair’

The backwards practice of designing products to break relatively quickly, planned or built-in obsolescence, must be eliminated, or we should choose not to invest in the companies that fail to do so. A phone with an old battery should not have to be tossed out and replaced, but should instead be repaired, the battery replaced easily with available and value-for-money replacement parts. Design for disassembly, customisation and replacement parts are all practical and marketable options that should become mainstream. The EU has no dedicated policy in place to stop the absurd practice of planned obsolescence, yet, Biden in the US has taken a bold and necessary step in formally backing “right to repair” legislation that calls on companies to release the knowledge and tools required to repair many common devices.

15. Consider chemicals

To reduce the level of toxins and pollutants in the environment, we should prioritise the use of sustainable materials for chemical-free consumables. This is imperative in light of recent research that posits that the fifth planetary boundary to be surpassed is chemical pollution – spurred by plastics and chemicals from farmland fertilisers, for example, leaching into the environment. We use products and dispose of them, but they don’t just go away. To avoid further environmental degradation, businesses and consumers alike can prioritise bio-based alternatives, chemicals leasing and natural fertilisers, and organic compost in gardens.

16. Recycle and help build secondary markets

We can also look to recycle our consumables when refusing, repairing or refurbishing are not possible avenues. Closing loops and boosting value in secondary markets will allow a circular market for consumables to thrive. To get there, governments must promote the recycling of plastics, synthetic fibres, paper, wood and wood by-products; as well as specifying recycled content obligations, and substituting them where possible for virgin or raw material. On the plastics front, a range of legislation in this arena has been rolled out: by 2030, all plastic bottles in the EU must contain 30% recycled content, while this stands at 50% in California; and in Maharashtra in India, industrial packaging produced in the state must include 20% recycled content. All steps in the right direction, but this has got to move faster, while concurrently turning off the plastics tap by reducing unnecessary plastics production. If applied globally, this could cut 1.23 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and save 2.18 billion tonnes of materials, according to the Circularity Gap Report 2022.

 

Mobility, travel and the circular economy

Mobility systems in their current form are responsible for 8.7 billion tonnes of resources and 17.1 billion tonnes of GHG emissions a year – coming in second only to housing. With its mammoth footprint and contribution to air pollution worldwide, mobility is commonly associated with GHG emissions reduction in the minds of both policymakers and the public.

Current mobility habits leave much to be desired. Privately owned vehicles in Europe sit unused for 90% of the time, while the phenomenon of “ghost flights” recently shocked the world: airlines flying empty planes just to retain flight slots, all the while spewing GHG emissions. From driving to flying, opportunities for change are plentiful as we look towards a circular economy.

 

We can learn a lot from the behaviours practiced during the COVID-19 lockdowns – namely a cut in long-distance travel and telecommuting for work.

—@circleeconomy

 

17. Travel less often

When it comes to cutting the resource and emissions intensity of mobility, the simplest way is to reduce travel. We can learn a lot from the behaviours practiced during the COVID-19 lockdowns – namely a cut in long-distance travel and telecommuting for work. Post-pandemic, these environmentally friendly behaviours can continue to be encouraged through a range of interventions.

The provision of regional and local hubs – the so-called 15-minute city being piloted in both Paris, the US and China, for example – allows residents to reach amenities within 15 minutes, either by foot, bike or public transport. Shared and virtual offices, telecommuting and working from home when possible can continue to be promoted by employers, especially as many companies acknowledge that staff productivity was maintained.

18. Go for lightweight designs

Vehicle design improvements are another more incremental way to reduce the level of materials used in mobility. Lightweight and smaller vehicles, such as cars and scooters, result in less steel and aluminium used for production, as well as lower fuel consumption and embodied energy.

19. Keep your car for longer

When it comes to prioritising durable design and material selection, plus optimising repairability and maximising maintenance, we can also use materials for longer – extending the lifetime of vehicles.

20. Share when you can

As well as better designed vehicles, better utilisation of all vehicles will further reduce the intensity of this societal need. With personal vehicle ownership no longer the dream it once was, interventions include shared mobility, via car clubs and pools, ride-sharing, and public transport, with park-and-ride provision to cut fuel consumption.

21. Design for reuse

Finally, optimising end-of-life vehicle management is critical to cycle flows, with the recycling of metal and plastic components, and the use of recycled materials, on the rise.

To dive into these 21 circular solutions that can bring us back on a 1.5 degree pathway, and understand the key role local and national governments and businesses play in driving the circular transition, download the Circularity Gap Report 2022.

 

 

Source WeForum