tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/zero-waste-39264/articlesZero waste – The Conversation2023-07-24T20:50:36Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2066572023-07-24T20:50:36Z2023-07-24T20:50:36ZCanada’s federal single-use plastics ban: What they got right and what they didn’t<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canadas-federal-single-use-plastics-ban-what-they-got-right-and-what-they-didnt" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>There is little dispute these days over the need to regulate single-use plastics. But there is ample confusion around what plastics to address and how to do so.</p>
<p>In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the intention to reach <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/reduce-plastic-waste/canada-action.html">zero plastic waste in Canada by 2030</a>, spurred on by a ban on some plastic items in 2022. </p>
<p>As the UN <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/nations-agree-end-plastic-pollution#:%7E:text=175%20nations%20agree%20to%20develop,plastic%20production%2C%20use%20and%20disposal">continues to develop its own global regulations</a>, Canadian businesses and consumers are starting to feel the impacts of our single-use plastics ban, and some industries are finding it more challenging than others to adapt. </p>
<h2>Designing a plastics ban</h2>
<p>In order to determine what items to include in the first phase of the ban, the federal government performed a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/evaluating-existing-substances/science-assessment-plastic-pollution.html">scientific assessment of plastic consumption</a>. Based on this study, the ban targeted six items determined to be of highest concern: plastic ring carriers, plastic straws, plastic stir sticks, plastic bags, plastic cutlery and plastic food wares. </p>
<p>The government also laudably <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/reduce-plastic-waste/single-use-plastic-overview.html">categorized plastics as a toxic substance</a>.</p>
<p>However, the question remains: is Canada’s single-use plastics ban actually going to make a big difference? </p>
<p>Among the targeted plastics include common food service items such as takeout containers and plastic cutlery, items which <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2021/06/18/these-four-plastic-items-make-up-almost-half-of-all-ocean-trash/?sh=45080bb5fea4">are among the most commonly found in the environment</a>. This waste alongside the <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10214/26944">usefulness of plastics for restaurants</a> would seemingly make the food service industry an essential place to start when addressing plastics waste.</p>
<h2>Focus on circularity and reusable alternatives rather than single-use items</h2>
<p>When looking for alternatives to single-use plastics as a restaurant operator, there are a plethora of single-use paper, bamboo, compostable, biodegradable, wood pulp or bio-based plastic options. </p>
<p>However, despite the advantage that many of these alternatives can break down over time, not enough emphasis is put on the remaining essential <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/biodegradableplastics-may-end-up-doing-more-harm-than-good/2023/01/30/46e356b6-a0e3-11ed-8b47-9863fda8e494_story.html">single-use nature</a> of these items. </p>
<p>Indeed, the ability for compostable and biodegradable food wares to be accepted in a municipal composting facility is entirely dependent on the waste management cycle of that municipality, which can differ greatly between neighbouring cities. </p>
<p>Additionally, given the lack of standardization on what <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/blogs/sustainability-works/posts/is-biodegradable-and-compostable-plastic-good-for-the-environment-not-necessarily">is classified as biodegradable</a>, consumers can often be deceived by mislabelled products. </p>
<p>After all, microplastics are biodegraded plastics.</p>
<p>Offering alternative materials to food service operators is certainly a step in the right direction. However, as an effective long-term solution, the government needs to offer support for the integration and growth of <a href="https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw-IWkBhBTEiwA2exyO9g_vHbIgcOIC-zk9EkESNDSQWReS0OTFkn3nOFiOia0paS5GuKvIhoCCOkQAvD_BwE">circular systems</a>. </p>
<p>In doing so, we also need to acknowledge the challenges involved in implementing these systems for restaurant operators. </p>
<h2>Challenges and solutions for food service operators</h2>
<p>The greatest <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10214/26944">challenges operators are facing</a> with this ban are the costs of quickly switching to reusable or compostable items, sourcing issues and the general lack of alternatives that tick all the same material boxes as conventional plastics. </p>
<p>Looking at the way restaurant operators are responding to this challenge, there are a few key solutions we need to be focusing on. </p>
<p>First and foremost is an emphasis on reusables over alternatives. To make a zero-plastic waste transition realistic, we need to focus on supporting the infrastructure and consumer education required to make reusables accessible. </p>
<p>Ample progress has been made in this area since takeout food has <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/new-normal-the-year-in-takeout-trends-as-restaurants-face-a-reckoning-1.5231981?cache=yes">become more common</a> and has resulted in the launch of multiple reusable takeout container startups such as Suppli, Friendlier, or ShareWares. </p>
<p>Additionally, as with any change that affects our daily lives, our own habits are simultaneously the easiest place to start and the hardest to change. As such, a large piece of this transition will be <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JHTI-01-2023-0052/full/html">consumer education</a> so that restaurant goers and grocery shoppers understand the ‘why’ behind this plastics transition. </p>
<p>All levels of government can better support restaurants through this transition by providing guidance, funding and advocacy for scaling reusable startups and for integrating them into food service with different communities likely requiring different levels of support.</p>
<p>Some companies have been experimenting with <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/tim-hortons-returnable-cups-experiment">their own reusable schemes</a>, however, relying on corporate drive alone will not be sufficient.</p>
<h2>Seeing the plastics ban as an opportunity</h2>
<p>In light of the development of this ban and the deliberations over the United Nations’ plastic regulation treaty, it’s clear that legislation surrounding single-use plastic reduction will likely increase over the next decade. </p>
<p>Restaurant operators, and other industries that regularly handle single-use plastics need to be more proactive about what they will need from their government to become less reliant on plastics in the future. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-barbie-world-after-the-movie-frenzy-fades-how-do-we-avoid-tonnes-of-barbie-dolls-going-to-landfill-209601">In a Barbie world ... after the movie frenzy fades, how do we avoid tonnes of Barbie dolls going to landfill?</a>
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<p>Moreover, the six items included on Canada’s list of banned plastics are by no means comprehensive and <a href="https://davidsuzuki.org/story/canadas-plastics-ban-should-include-beverage-containers/">activists continue to call</a> for additional items to be included. In particular, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/what-is-and-is-not-included-in-canada-s-ban-on-single-use-plastics-1.5136387">nine additional</a> common single-use plastics were found in the environment but are not being practically addressed. </p>
<p>Canada has the opportunity to be a global leader with the implementation of this single-use plastics ban by supporting reuse and moving towards circular practices. </p>
<p>If we can get further support for reusable programs, expand the list of harmful plastics and provide targeted consumer education around the harms of plastic waste then we have a real shot at an exemplary start to a circular economy. </p>
<p>Are we up to the challenge?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada is seen as leading the way in banning single-use plastics. But how comprehensive are these actions, and how realistic is the dream of a zero-waste future?Bruce McAdams, Associate Professor in Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, University of GuelphEmily Robinson, Post-Graduate Researcher and Food Education Manager, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973782023-03-06T13:36:07Z2023-03-06T13:36:07ZWill we eventually have to send our trash into space if we run out of room on Earth?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510206/original/file-20230214-18-pi7ci8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C0%2C5266%2C3521&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A trash compactor rolls over an active dump site at Pioneer Crossing Landfill in Birdsboro, Pa.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/trash-compactor-rolls-over-an-active-dump-site-at-pioneer-news-photo/1315782016">Natalie Kolb/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
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<p>Will we eventually have to send our trash into space if we run out of room on Earth? Aiden, age 13, Maryland Heights, Mo.</p>
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<p>Our planet holds a lot of trash. Since the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution">Industrial Revolution</a>, we humans have produced <a href="https://phys.org/news/2016-11-earth-technosphere-trillion-tons.html">30 trillion tons of stuff</a> – from skyscrapers and bridges to clothes and plastic bags. Much of it is still with us in the form of waste. </p>
<p>Globally, people add <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/zero-waste-families-plastic-culture">350 million tons</a> to this total every day. What’s worse, much of the world’s garbage is <a href="https://www.wastedive.com/news/world-bank-global-waste-generation-2050/533031/">mismanaged</a> – dumped on land, in waterways and in open dumps in cities and towns. This exposes people to <a href="https://www.who.int/tools/compendium-on-health-and-environment/solid-waste">serious health risks</a>. It <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksus.2013.08.003">harms plants and soil</a>, and a lot of waste finds its way <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/plastic-pollution">into the oceans</a>. Thinking about what a mess we’re making can be pretty overwhelming. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Managing trash in the U.S. is big business.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Waste in space?</h2>
<p>Sending trash into space isn’t as off the wall as it might sound. After all, there’s a lot of room out there, with no one – as far as we know today – to claim it. </p>
<p>Some researchers have suggested <a href="https://space.nss.org/wp-content/uploads/Space-Manufacturing-conference-12-111-Disposal-Of-High-Level-Nuclear-Waste-In-Space.pdf">sending waste into space</a>. They’re mainly thinking about <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/03/15/134569191/spent-fuel-rods-now-a-concern-at-nuclear-plant">used radioactive fuel rods</a> from nuclear power plants. It’s true that nuclear waste will remain extremely hazardous for tens of thousands of years, and humans have done a <a href="https://worldnuclearwastereport.org">lousy job so far</a> of disposing of it safely on Earth. </p>
<p>These proposals, though, have <a href="https://opinion.sites.northeastern.edu/2020/12/29/why-dont-we-send-nuclear-waste-into-space/">never moved forward</a>, for many reasons. One is the risk: What if a rocket carrying tons of highly radioactive waste exploded on takeoff? Another is the cost, which would be <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/09/20/this-is-why-we-dont-shoot-earths-garbage-into-the-sun/">vastly higher</a> than the already high price of storing it safely on Earth. </p>
<p>There is also a lot of “<a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-space-junk-and-why-is-it-a-problem.html">space junk</a>” already orbiting the planet, including broken satellites and meteor debris. NASA estimates there are <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html">over half a million pieces</a> the size of a marble or larger in Earth’s orbit. They travel at high speeds, so they can really damage spacecraft in a collision. It wouldn’t be smart to add to this problem. </p>
<p>Here’s a much better strategy: Reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfills, incinerators, open dumps on land and the oceans. Part of that job is up to governments, which set rules on issues like <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/environment-and-natural-resources/state-plastic-bag-legislation">whether to allow single-use plastic bags</a>. But there are many things people can do to reduce waste in their daily lives. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Many U.S. communities are starting to compost organic wastes, like food scraps and yard trimmings. This reduces the volume of waste going into landfills and produces a valuable fertilizer.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Many Rs</h2>
<p>You might be familiar with the “<a href="https://www.epa.gov/recycle">3 Rs of trash</a>”: reduce, reuse, recycle. Each step means less waste at the end of the day. </p>
<p>If you want to reduce waste in your life, choose reusable mugs, cutlery or grocery bags instead of single-use plastic items. Many towns and cities have <a href="https://berkeleyca.gov/doing-business/operating-berkeley/food-service/single-use-foodware-rules">made this the rule</a>. </p>
<p>Some communities also collect organic wastes, like food scraps and yard trimmings, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/city-compost-programs-turn-garbage-into-black-gold-that-boosts-food-security-and-social-justice-136169">turn them into compost</a> – a soil-like material that gardeners and landscapers use as fertilizer. And many gardeners do their own <a href="https://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home">composting at home</a>.</p>
<p>You can <a href="https://www.wastedive.com/news/adam-minter-on-why-secondhand-markets-are-the-true-circular-economies/567057/">reuse</a> by buying secondhand goods and clothes and donating your unwanted but still usable stuff. <a href="https://www.freecycle.org/pages/about">Freecycle networks</a> make it easy to give away usable items that you don’t need and get different goods in return. </p>
<p>Recycling paper, plastics, glass and aluminum keeps them out of landfills. It also <a href="https://kingcounty.gov/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/programs/climate/climate-change-recycling.aspx">helps to slow climate change</a>, since it can take less energy to make new products from recycled materials. In 2018, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials">nearly one-third</a> of municipal solid waste in the U.S. was either recycled or composted. </p>
<p>Some items, like plastic bags and straws, can be hard to recycle. But aluminum cans, paper, cardboard and <a href="https://millerrecycling.com/plastics-recycling-numbers/">certain kinds of plastic</a> are successfully recycled at much higher rates. Knowing <a href="https://dnr.mo.gov/waste-recycling">what can be recycled where you live</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-wishcycling-two-waste-experts-explain-173825">how to do it</a>, is important – <a href="https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/green-living/best-and-worst-states-recycling-study">the rules vary a lot from place to place</a>.</p>
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<p>There are <a href="https://www.gdrc.org/uem/waste/more-3r.html">more than 3 Rs to act on</a>. You can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO-EuhVzONM">repair</a>, <a href="https://www.thisoldhouse.com/cambridge-house/21014966/what-to-expect-with-reclaimed-wood">reclaim</a> and <a href="https://www.replate.com/waste-less-food/leftovers-reimagined/">reimagine</a> how you buy and use things. </p>
<p>There’s growing discussion about the <a href="https://www.repair.org/stand-up">right to repair</a> – giving consumers access to information and parts so they can repair their own goods, from electronics to cars. Companies would rather have you buy new replacements, but many people are pushing for rules that make it easier to fix your own stuff.</p>
<p>There are many options for reducing waste before space is the only place left to put it. Once you try some, you’ll find it’s easier than you think.</p>
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<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197378/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate O'Neill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Humans generate a lot of trash, but there are cheaper and safer ways to handle it than loading it on rockets.Kate O'Neill, Professor of Global Environmental Politics, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005452023-03-01T19:06:03Z2023-03-01T19:06:03ZWe can’t keep putting apartment residents’ waste in the too hard basket<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512761/original/file-20230228-6045-110fn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4557%2C3022&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The harsh realities of managing the waste we produce are in the news: <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/no-purple-bin-for-you-residents-expected-to-take-glass-rubbish-to-drop-off-points-for-recycling-20230128-p5cg48.html">councils shunning new glass bins</a>, <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8073761/global-plastics-crisis-deepens-despite-rising-concerns/">more plastic being produced per person in the world</a> and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/this-is-urgent-sydney-council-faces-growing-stink-as-bins-dumped-rubbish-pile-up-20230131-p5cgrp.html">Sydney bins overflowing</a>. And the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2021-census-count-includes-australians-living-wheels-and-water-most-us-still-firmly-land">growth in apartment living</a> in Australia threatens to add to these problems. Apartments worldwide have <a href="https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/82124/DuToit_Effect_2020.pdf?sequence=1">lower</a> recycling <a href="https://relondon.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/LWARB-Making-recycling-work-for-people-in-flats-full-report_200128-1.pdf">rates</a> than standalone houses.</p>
<p>Our research on <a href="https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/geoj.12457">apartments and plastic use</a> in four cities – Melbourne, London, Barcelona and Perth – found apartments present extra challenges for waste production, collection, sorting and disposal. Our ongoing <a href="https://tremsnetwork.com/hub-themes/theme-1-2/social-and-policy-dimensions-of-waste-minimisation-and-waste-management/">research project</a> is exploring ways to minimise kerbside waste and maximise recycling. The problems with apartments arise from issues of space, design, infrastructure (such as bins, chutes and pick-ups of bins and hard waste) and the resources put into managing their waste. </p>
<p>However, there are examples in cities in Australia and overseas of schemes that have improved apartment waste recycling so it matches, if not exceeds, that of standalone houses.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/households-find-low-waste-living-challenging-heres-what-needs-to-change-197022">Households find low-waste living challenging. Here's what needs to change</a>
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<h2>What is being done about these problems?</h2>
<p>In Victoria, the state government has mandated a new, <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/fourth-bins-roll-out-divert-waste-landfill">separate bin</a> to collect waste glass from households. Glass is a high-impact packaging material, due to the energy and water used in both its production and recycling. </p>
<p>Broken glass is also a major contaminant for paper and cardboard in current mixed waste streams. The <a href="https://www.vic.gov.au/container-deposit-scheme">container deposit scheme</a> being introduced in Victoria, along with glass bins, will help separate glass from this recycling stream.</p>
<p>However, challenges lie ahead. Some local councils are showing <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/no-purple-bin-for-you-residents-expected-to-take-glass-rubbish-to-drop-off-points-for-recycling-20230128-p5cg48.html">signs of refusing</a> to provide bins for glass. Lack of space for multiple bins is one key reason. Multi-unit developments and apartments are just not designed for such infrastructure. </p>
<p>COVID-19 led to an explosion in the quantity of packaging waste because of online orders and deliveries. Plastic waste in particular appears to be largely out of control, despite growing angst and even bans on the use of some plastics. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/redcycles-collapse-is-more-proof-that-plastic-recycling-is-a-broken-system-194528">REDcycle's collapse is more proof that plastic recycling is a broken system</a>
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<p>But waste management has been a problem for apartment buildings around the world since long before the pandemic. </p>
<p>For example, 30 apartment buildings in <a href="https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/recycling-exemptions-in-seattle-irk-some-residents/279194150/">Seattle</a> are exempted from providing recycling bins due to a lack of space. And in Sydney, residents of the <a href="https://southsydneyherald.com.au/residents-want-recycling-services/">Waterloo public housing estate</a> have been surprised to be entirely excluded from the city’s recycling scheme due to contamination of recycled waste streams.</p>
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<img alt="Disposal chutes for landfill waste and recyclable waste" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512807/original/file-20230301-24-8o67ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512807/original/file-20230301-24-8o67ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512807/original/file-20230301-24-8o67ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512807/original/file-20230301-24-8o67ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512807/original/file-20230301-24-8o67ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512807/original/file-20230301-24-8o67ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512807/original/file-20230301-24-8o67ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some apartments have disposal chutes that make it easier for residents to dispose of landfill waste and recyclable waste separately.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Bhavna Middha</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://kelleherenvironmental.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/SITAUK-LookingUp-web.pdf">Research in the United States</a> found a gap in recycling between apartments of different socioeconomic status was due to lower service levels (caretaking and janitorial) in low-income buildings.</p>
<h2>It’s not just an individual responsibility</h2>
<p>Thus far, action on waste production and prevention is limited to voluntary covenants for producers of packaging, and programs promoting changes in individual behaviour. </p>
<p>Households bear the brunt of responsibility – especially in apartments, where space to manage different bins, their smells and aesthetics is at a premium. Yet it is manufacturers and retailers who design and make highly packaged and non-recyclable materials. </p>
<p>While the rubbish keeps piling up, producers’ mostly ineffectual voluntary agreements lie on virtual shelves. A case in point is Sydney council <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/this-is-urgent-sydney-council-faces-growing-stink-as-bins-dumped-rubbish-pile-up-20230131-p5cgrp.html">blaming worker shortages</a> and COVID-19 overflow for the rubbish piling up, rather than the original producers of waste.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-un-wants-to-slash-plastic-waste-it-must-tackle-soaring-plastic-production-and-why-we-use-so-much-of-it-179107">If the UN wants to slash plastic waste, it must tackle soaring plastic production - and why we use so much of it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our <a href="https://tremsnetwork.com/hub-themes/theme-1-2/social-and-policy-dimensions-of-waste-minimisation-and-waste-management/">continuing research</a> is exploring the issues associated with apartments. These issues include how waste is produced – for example, through the demand created for packaging – and available space, as well as how policymakers, architects, builders and householders conceive of everyday apartment living. </p>
<p>In the shared spaces of apartments, waste production, collection, sorting and disposal depend on the design of these spaces and the organisation of infrastructure for collection and disposal. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bins for different kinds of waste lined up in the basement of an apartment complex" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512806/original/file-20230301-28-fh6yle.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512806/original/file-20230301-28-fh6yle.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512806/original/file-20230301-28-fh6yle.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512806/original/file-20230301-28-fh6yle.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512806/original/file-20230301-28-fh6yle.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512806/original/file-20230301-28-fh6yle.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512806/original/file-20230301-28-fh6yle.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many apartments don’t have as much space as this inner-city high-rise complex for all the bins needed to sort residents’ waste.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Bhavna Middha</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-bins-might-help-but-to-solve-our-waste-crisis-we-need-a-strong-market-for-recycled-products-132440">Four bins might help, but to solve our waste crisis we need a strong market for recycled products</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What more can be done?</h2>
<p>We are exploring examples that try to break free of blaming individual choices and behaviours. The latter approach might produce short-term gains but fails to embed long-term changes – as this <a href="https://relondon.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/LWARB-Making-recycling-work-for-people-in-flats-full-report_200128-1.pdf">project in London showed</a>. It’s possible, though, to design circular economy systems for apartments that match or even exceed waste recycling for detached suburban houses. </p>
<p>For example, in the City of Melbourne’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-17/vic-food-waste-trial-melbourne-apartments-dehydrators/101978298">trial of dehydrators in apartment buildings</a> food waste is collected and processed on the premises. It recognises that individual apartments often lack space for composting. </p>
<p>In South Korea, apartments are an integral part of the <a href="https://seoulspace.com/waste-disposal-recycling-in-korea-full-breakdown/#:%7E:text=In%2520Korea%252C%2520most%2520apartments%2520will,with%2520your%2520general%2520waste%2520bag.">recycling regime</a>. Some have recycling bin space, including food waste bins, on every floor. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-government-delays-food-waste-recycling-bins-are-coming-to-your-kitchen-sooner-than-you-think-195734">Despite government delays, food waste recycling bins are coming to your kitchen sooner than you think</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The city of New York has developed <a href="https://www.zerowastedesign.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ZeroWasteDesignGuidelines2017_Web.pdf">“zero waste” guidelines</a> based on case studies in organic waste management and disposal in apartment buildings. The program includes retrofitting buildings. </p>
<p>To improve the recycling of waste from apartments, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344920305085">research</a> points to the need to take into account all relevant factors, including the chemical properties of the waste, household practices and business models. We can apply what we know about apartment living to design better apartments and retrofit existing ones to reduce the waste they produce and manage it better. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2021-census-count-includes-australians-living-wheels-and-water-most-us-still-firmly-land">millions of Australians</a> now living in apartments, we can’t keep putting their waste in the too hard basket.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200545/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bhavna Middha receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Transformation of Reclaimed Waste Resources to Engineered Materials and Solutions for a Circular Economy (TREMS) </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ralph Horne receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Transformation of Reclaimed Waste Resources to Engineered Materials and Solutions for a Circular Economy (TREMS)</span></em></p>Apartments have lower waste recycling rates than houses, which means the growing numbers of apartment dwellers could add to Australia’s waste management crisis. But there are solutions to the problem.Bhavna Middha, Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT UniversityRalph Horne, Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research & Innovation, College of Design & Social Context, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1970222023-02-23T01:43:54Z2023-02-23T01:43:54ZHouseholds find low-waste living challenging. Here’s what needs to change<p>Australian households produce about <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/environment/environmental-management/waste-account-australia-experimental-estimates/latest-release">12 million tonnes</a> of waste every year. That puts the sector almost on par with manufacturing or construction.</p>
<p>But it doesn’t have to be this way. With support, households can change patterns of consumption and develop a low-waste lifestyle. Our <a href="https://www.monash.edu/arts/social-sciences/household-innovation-and-the-transition-to-the-low-waste-city">new research</a> explores how Australians engage with low-waste living. </p>
<p>We interviewed residents about their existing waste management practices. We then invited them to design and implement their own six week household experiments. Their ideas ranged from home gardening and repairs to zero-plastic cooking and bulk store shopping. And then we brought them all together with policymakers to share their experiences. </p>
<p>The results show that householders were keen to experiment with change but that low-waste living is not easy. </p>
<h2>Taking responsibility for recycling</h2>
<p>For years, Australia sent waste materials offshore for recycling. When China banned these imports in 2018, Australian governments had to fast-track better <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/how-we-manage-waste/national-waste-policy">waste management policies</a>. </p>
<p>In a true <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-circular-economy-23298">circular economy</a>, nothing is wasted. Resources are valued and continuously reused as they cycle through the system. </p>
<p>But in the transition phase, the focus has been on recycling as a way to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="General waste including a soft toy dog and deflated pool toys among recyclable items from kerbside recycling bins at the Cleanaway Recycling Centre in Brisbane" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511857/original/file-20230223-14-b3r09r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511857/original/file-20230223-14-b3r09r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511857/original/file-20230223-14-b3r09r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511857/original/file-20230223-14-b3r09r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511857/original/file-20230223-14-b3r09r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511857/original/file-20230223-14-b3r09r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511857/original/file-20230223-14-b3r09r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kerbside recycling bins are often contaminated with general waste that cannot be recycled. The material piles up at waste management facilities before it can be sorted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos.aap.com.au/search/recycling%20australia?q=%7B%22pageSize%22:25,%22pageNumber%22:3%7D">JONO SEARLE/AAP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Soft plastics have been particularly problematic. In recent years, households have been encouraged to take soft plastics, mostly packaging, back to the supermarket. But the REDcycle soft plastics collection scheme was overloaded. Coles and Woolworths <a href="https://theconversation.com/redcycles-collapse-is-more-proof-that-plastic-recycling-is-a-broken-system-194528">paused</a> collection on November 9 2022 after it was revealed that the scheme had been unable to deliver on its recycling promises for months. </p>
<p>That followed the <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/08/21/skm-recycling-collapses-with-100m-debt/">collapse of recycling company SKM</a> in Victoria in 2019. Stockpiles of unprocessed rubbish filled warehouses, while other recycling was sent directly to landfill. </p>
<p>Several Australian states banned single-use plastics, <a href="https://www.vic.gov.au/single-use-plastics">most recently Victoria</a>, but success will depend on <a href="https://theconversation.com/single-use-plastic-bans-research-shows-three-ways-to-make-them-effective-197449">making it easy</a> to use alternatives. </p>
<p>Households <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/environment/environmental-management/waste-account-australia-experimental-estimates/latest-release">produced</a> the bulk of Australia’s plastic waste (47%) and food/organic waste (42%) in 2018-19. Improving these statistics requires changes in social norms around lifestyles and consumption practices in conjunction with changes in retail practices, supported by regulation and new collection infrastructure.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Material-Geographies-of-Household-Sustainability/Gorman-Murray-Lane/p/book/9781138268333">Previous research</a> has shown that households operate on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666320301537">the level in between</a> the micro-level of individuals and the macro-level of communities. But there is a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2210422421000368">lack of appreciation</a> of the role households can play in the transition to sustainability.</p>
<h2>Experimenting with change</h2>
<p>Transitioning to low-waste living requires changes in household consumption and waste management practices.</p>
<p>The Covid lockdowns in Victoria provided both an opportunity and an incentive for many people to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15487733.2022.2088004">change their consumption practices</a>. However, as life returns to the ‘new normal’, many find it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/06/bin-so-long-adelaide-woman-puts-rubbish-out-for-first-time-in-two-years-after-epic-effort-to-cut-waste?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other">far from easy</a> to maintain a low-waste life. </p>
<p>We conducted a series of innovative household experiments with 19 Melbourne-based participants. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511846/original/file-20230222-330-hqp0tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Whiteboard covered in colourful sticky notes describing ideas for how to make low-waste living more convenient." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511846/original/file-20230222-330-hqp0tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511846/original/file-20230222-330-hqp0tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511846/original/file-20230222-330-hqp0tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511846/original/file-20230222-330-hqp0tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511846/original/file-20230222-330-hqp0tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511846/original/file-20230222-330-hqp0tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511846/original/file-20230222-330-hqp0tz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workshop participants offered many suggestions in response to the question: How could government policy make low-waste living more convenient?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A mother of two students wanted to be 100% waste free for six weeks, while another mother focused on zero-plastic cooking. Others committed to trying out bulk stores, while a woman living by herself started a garden. Another single woman wanted to learn how to repair her clothes and her bike, while a part-time salesworker living with his husband wanted to create a 3-week low-waste action challenge for his friends. </p>
<h2>What we learned</h2>
<p>Participants said they found household change very challenging. </p>
<p>We were told the experiments required extra mental capacity, time, money and motivation. Householders also needed more information and support to achieve, then maintain, the desired change in practices.</p>
<p>For some, the experience provided an incentive to try something different, such as walking the extra distance to the bulk food store rather than taking the easy option of the supermarket. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young woman shopping in a light, bright bulk food store, being shown what to do by worker." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511849/original/file-20230223-19-nk2tq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511849/original/file-20230223-19-nk2tq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511849/original/file-20230223-19-nk2tq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511849/original/file-20230223-19-nk2tq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511849/original/file-20230223-19-nk2tq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511849/original/file-20230223-19-nk2tq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511849/original/file-20230223-19-nk2tq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bulk food stores encourage customers to bring their own reusable containers from home, or use more environmentally-friendly packaging such as paper bags, eliminating soft plastic packaging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-young-woman-shopping-bulk-food-1439367545">By Jack Frog at shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Changes didn’t always stick. A transition to shampoo and conditioner bars required extensive research and was too hard for one: “Just that one switch was so intense … it was expensive as well.” </p>
<p>Supermarkets were a major source of frustration around unwanted plastics: “The packaging is such a big problem. It’s just ridiculous. It should be stopped … There are very few items that you can buy that doesn’t have some sort of packaging.” </p>
<p>Social relationships were important in low-waste living. One woman said her family told her they were not prepared to go any further on the zero waste journey, while another had her husband and kids supporting her all the way. </p>
<p>The challenge of reducing food waste with children in the house came up too: “It’s challenging to reduce how much food gets wasted with children. I have reduced how much I cook … I’ve tried to do stocktakes of my freezer, my pantry, the fridge … to really focus on meal planning … But it’s really, really challenging … I think if it was just me, I would have a lot more success.” </p>
<p>Facebook groups were a useful resource “because it does make you realise that there are other people who are trying to save every piece of plastic from going in the bin”. </p>
<p>Householders articulated many policy and system changes required to make low-waste living easier including legislation on high waste producers, banning polluting products, improving recycling infrastructure, creating markets for recycled products, encouraging innovation, providing better information and improving product labelling. </p>
<p>The householders were aware of low-waste alternatives in different parts of the world and frustrated by system failure in Australia.</p>
<p>“We need support and systemic change from the government (policy) and businesses (innovation) to drive down the amount of plastics associated with our everyday products,” one participant said. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protesters cover the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne with plastic and cardboard that should be recycled." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511851/original/file-20230223-26-akm2hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511851/original/file-20230223-26-akm2hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511851/original/file-20230223-26-akm2hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511851/original/file-20230223-26-akm2hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511851/original/file-20230223-26-akm2hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511851/original/file-20230223-26-akm2hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511851/original/file-20230223-26-akm2hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The waste crisis became more acute in 2019 after China refused to continue accepting Australia’s contaminated waste for recycling, prompting protests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos.aap.com.au">JAMES ROSS/AAP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Low-waste living should be made easy</h2>
<p>Ultimately, our research shows substantial changes are needed to make low-waste living easy. </p>
<p>We found experimentation within the home could be useful in designing and testing new policy. The experience can connect policymakers to real people and the things that matter to them, such as parenting, friendships, sharing a meal, ‘making ends meet’, and caring for others. </p>
<p>If the transition to a circular economy is to be successful, it needs to be planned from the perspective of everyday life within households. </p>
<p><em>Acknowledgements: We are deeply grateful for all participants in the study for generously sharing their time, insights and efforts with us.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stop-tossing-your-spent-vapes-and-e-cigs-youre-breeding-a-new-waste-pandemic-199956">Stop tossing your spent vapes and e-cigs: you're breeding a new waste pandemic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197022/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob Raven receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Lindsay receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Lane receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Environmental Science Program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David O. Reynolds does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Experimenting with low-waste living shows it’s not easy being green. But householders can help policymakers design better waste management systems.Rob Raven, Professor and Deputy Director (Research), Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash UniversityDavid O. Reynolds, Postdoctoral Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University of SingaporeJo Lindsay, Professor of Sociology, Monash UniversityRuth Lane, Associate Professor in Human Geography, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1955682022-12-26T20:52:15Z2022-12-26T20:52:15ZRethinking the big spring clean chuck-out frenzy: how keeping old things away from the landfill can ‘spark joy’ in its own way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499484/original/file-20221207-26-gh9dy6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C43%2C5790%2C3692&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Driving home recently, I encountered a familiar sight: four dining chairs on the kerb waiting for some sucker to rescue them. Loading them into the car (sucker!) I wondered: how long were these chairs in shed limbo-land before finally getting kicked to the kerb? </p>
<p>When a wooden chair goes a bit wonky, it feels counter-intuitive to throw it away when it’s mostly OK. It’s often demoted to the shed, with the optimistic thought: “The wood is still good. Maybe it could be fixed.” </p>
<p>But will you really fix it? Sell it? Give it? Keep it? Nah. Chuck it.</p>
<p>Chucking has become easy – and socially acceptable. The pressure to de-clutter, galvanised by the <a href="https://konmari.com/about-marie-kondo/">Marie Kondo</a> tidying-up craze, can feel moralistic. “Just chuck it already!” we say to ourselves, or our partners.</p>
<p>Kondo’s books (more than <a href="https://konmari.com/about-marie-kondo/">13 million sold</a>) implore us to discard ruthlessly any item that doesn’t immediately “spark joy”, with Kondo <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/41711738-jinsei-ga-tokimeku-katazuke-no-maho?fbclid=IwAR2lOCN38fT-LzljeqBFd1KAV1q5t_qci9r7kS23fLXAmbYWUDqc0N0ZEEw&page=14">urging</a> us to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>not be distracted by thoughts of being wasteful […] to get rid of what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful […] so, arm yourself with plenty of garbage bags and prepare to have fun!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Kondo promotes throwing things “away” or “out” without addressing where exactly that nebulous place is. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chairs pile up in landfill" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499485/original/file-20221207-20-dszd97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where do chucked-out things go?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-a-tree-dies-dont-waste-your-breath-rescue-the-wood-to-honour-its-memory-125137">When a tree dies, don't waste your breath. Rescue the wood to honour its memory</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Where do chucked-out things go?</h2>
<p>These items do not disappear when flung into the ether. They land quite concretely in expanding landfills that degrade landscapes and ecosystems, taint water supplies, and pump out methane as carbon is released during decomposition.</p>
<p>In a world of unbridled consumerism, we are experiencing a waste crisis. We dispose of tremendous amounts of furniture while consuming masses of new furniture, all in the midst of global <a href="https://theconversation.com/timber-shortages-look-set-to-delay-home-building-into-2023-these-4-graphs-show-why-185197">timber supply shortages</a>. </p>
<p>Even buying well-crafted, locally made “green” furnishings from sustainably harvested timber doesn’t stop our chucked-out things from rotting in landfill.</p>
<p>In my <a href="https://soad.cass.anu.edu.au/people/ashley-eriksmoen">research</a>, I have spoken to craftspeople, academics, community organisers, and environmental activists about furniture waste. The message is consistent: try to keep what already exists circulating in the world. </p>
<h2>Waste as a cultural construct</h2>
<p>Waste is often described as “matter out of place”. What we define as rubbish is a matter of perspective. It’s a <a href="https://axonjournal.com.au/issues/11-2/breakingun-breaking-un-makingmaking">cultural construct</a>.</p>
<p>A wonky chair may be only negligibly different to its original state. But even if still functioning, or easily repaired, it becomes worthless once worn or wobbly.</p>
<p>This loss of value is reflected in waste collection policies and op-shops. It’s simple to book a council pickup collection or donate to an op-shop. It’s just so easy to get rid of things.</p>
<p>But either that chair is in good serviceable condition and is diverted from the waste stream for reuse, or it’s deemed rubbish and sent to the pit. There is no middle ground for easily repairable items. </p>
<p>If a chair is an antique, finely crafted, or of sentimental value, people tend to make the effort and spend money on expert restoration work. </p>
<p>But it can be hard to justify that for an ordinary chair. </p>
<p>Sandie Parkes, founder and owner of the Canberra Green Sheds, is awash in chairs to the point where they intermittently need to cull them, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Every day we are offered about ten times more chairs than we can possibly sell.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Broken chairs lie on the street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499722/original/file-20221208-21-qh64s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Few people know where to begin with fixing a wooden chair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ashley Eriksmoen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Learning to repair</h2>
<p>Few people know where to begin with fixing a wooden chair. But many community groups teach such skills. <a href="https://twoshedsworkshops.com.au/">Two Sheds Workshops</a> in Canberra and Bega has woodworking and upholstery classes for women and children to learn basic skills and boost confidence.</p>
<p>Jess Semler, Two Sheds Workshop’s Canberra manager, told me, told me repair “doesn’t have to be a convoluted or long process. There is no one right way to fix something.” Once the process is demystified, students can work out how to fix other things, bringing creativity and playfulness to the process.</p>
<p>Greg Peters, key conservator of <a href="http://www.patinations.com.au/">Patinations Conservation Service</a> in Canberra, reiterated that for everyday, mass-produced furniture with no inherent historical or financial value, most repairs are actually relatively simple if you just “give it a go”, learn from the internet and remember there’s usually nothing to lose in trying.</p>
<p>Don’t have the tools? Ask around. Dr Niklavs Rubenis, a senior lecturer in object design at the University of Tasmania, suggests tapping into the collective knowledge of communities by asking neighbours for advice, or to borrow and share tools. </p>
<p>One positive global trend is the proliferation of repair cafes, where volunteers and clients can drop-in to pop-up repair events. </p>
<p>Griffith University’s Professor Leanne Wiseman researches the international <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-10/act-right-to-repair-movement-growing-in-australia/100283348">Right to Repair</a> movement, and is part of the <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/law-futures-centre/our-research/australian-repair-network">Australian Repair Network</a>. Wiseman counts about 100 repair cafes in Australia, most of which are listed <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/law-futures-centre/our-research/australian-repair-network">here</a>, operated mostly by volunteers bringing their own equipment.</p>
<p>And there are at least <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=tool+library+australia&rlz=1C5GCEM_enAU963AU965&biw=1440&bih=769&tbm=lcl&ei=EBiQY-zkCtKphwOO84PAAg&oq=Tool+Library&gs_lcp=Cg1nd3Mtd2l6LWxvY2FsEAEYAzIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgARQAFgAYLgWaABwAHgAgAGqAYgBqgGSAQMwLjGYAQDAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz-local#rlfi=hd:;si:;mv:%5B%5B-27.7448986052003,155.93609047581103%5D,%5B-38.97913985445452,133.52398110081103%5D,null,%5B-33.54423302832462,144.73003578831103%5D,6">11</a> <a href="https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/i-dont-need-power-drill-i-only-use-it-once-year-how-i-started-community-tool-library/">tool libraries</a> across Australia.</p>
<h2>Finding a good home for broken furniture</h2>
<p>Time poor or not keen to repair? Try posting on Facebook Marketplace or your local Facebook Buy Nothing group. You might connect your old chair to someone keen to fix it or harvest its usable timber for creative reuse.</p>
<p>My practice as an artist involves re-purposing abandoned chairs into works of critical design, which provokes viewers to rethink everyday objects. </p>
<p>My work <a href="https://www.habitusliving.com/design-hunters/people/ashley-eriksmoen-afda-winner">The Dream, or The view from here is both bleak and resplendent</a> is made from discarded chairs and has 47 legs touching the floor and a tangled canopy cresting over the seat. It raises questions about consumption and reuse.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499724/original/file-20221208-22-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">My work: The Dream, or The view from here is both bleak and resplendent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Paterson of Dorian Photographics</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The chairs I rescued recently were made from dark stained wood. The look was dated, and the white seats were stained, but structurally, the chairs were in good nick. I will be deconstructing them and shaping parts into leafy stems to make new sculptural works that return the wood to plant and tree-like forms, like I did in my recent work for <a href="https://sculpturebythesea.com/gallery/?filter=artist:ashley-eriksmoen">Sculpture by the Sea</a> in Bondi. Another chair set saved from the pit.</p>
<p>I get it. Holidays and new year’s resolutions often mean big clean-ups. But before you chuck out good or almost-good things for the sake of decluttering, ask yourself if there’s a less wasteful option. (And if you really must get new chairs, consider finding quality second-hand chairs that will last). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Discarded furniture lies on a street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499673/original/file-20221207-11-8qggl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Think before you chuck.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nobody is saying you should become a hoarder. But not everything needs to be Marie Kondo-ed just because it doesn’t “spark joy”. Make peace with old items, even if they’re a bit dated. They can often be spruced up with a bit of glue, paint or fresh upholstery. Think carefully before you throw out something good or fixable as part of a furious spring clean.</p>
<p>When I bring furniture into my house, I think of it like a pet – something that should be cared for and not discarded on a whim. Furniture can last for generations if we just let it. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/design-and-repair-must-work-together-to-undo-our-legacy-of-waste-119932">Design and repair must work together to undo our legacy of waste</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Jameson Eriksmoen has received funding from Australia Council for the Arts, ArtsACT, Melbourne Art Foundation, Transport Canberra and City Services. She is a board member of the non-profit Greenwood Global.</span></em></p>Not everything needs to be Marie Kondo-ed just because it doesn’t ‘spark joy’. Ask yourself if there’s a less wasteful option.Ashley Jameson Eriksmoen, Senior Lecturer, School of Art & Design, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1865842022-08-19T15:03:22Z2022-08-19T15:03:22ZWe studied 40,000 pieces of litter to find out where it all comes from – here’s what we discovered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479635/original/file-20220817-26-21c2t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5615%2C3741&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>Litter is perhaps the most tangible of all environmental problems. And it’s not just a disrespectful few who are responsible for it. Litter, defined in its broadest terms, includes any solid material present in the environment that was <a href="https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/oceans-seas/what-we-do/working-regional-seas/marine-litter">made or processed by people</a>. It may have arrived there from an accidental spillage, as debris washed ashore, or because of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jul/06/bp-accused-of-dumping-industrial-waste-marine-protected-area-shetland-regulator-clearance-oil-firm-pipe-cables-drilling">irresponsible management</a> of industrial waste.</p>
<p>How some types of litter enter and travel through the environment cannot be traced. Litter breaks down beyond recognition, identifying marks such as branding wear away and rivers can transport it far from where it originated. But some litter has clear sources and pathways, discernible from its function and packaging labels, from which the brand that made the item can be easily identified.</p>
<p>The community interest company <a href="https://planetpatrol.co/">Planet Patrol</a> created an app for people to record the litter they find and remove. We used it to map the location, materials, type and, where possible, brands of 43,187 items of litter collected across the UK in 2020. Our research was recently published in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389422009086#sec0100">Journal of Hazardous Materials</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two maps of the UK depicting total app entries and total litter found by region." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479124/original/file-20220815-17-8rov66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479124/original/file-20220815-17-8rov66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479124/original/file-20220815-17-8rov66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479124/original/file-20220815-17-8rov66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479124/original/file-20220815-17-8rov66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479124/original/file-20220815-17-8rov66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479124/original/file-20220815-17-8rov66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">App users submitted the litter they found throughout the UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389422009086#sec0100">Stanton et al. (2022)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Plastic was the most common material recorded, accounting for 63.1% of all items. Metal was second (14.3%), followed by composite materials (pieces of litter made from more than one material, like Tetrapak cartons) at 11.6%. Bottles, lids, straws and other items from the drinks industry made up 33.6% of the total, of which metal cans were the most common.</p>
<p>Our citizen scientists identified brands for 16,751 items (38.8% of the total), with 50% of these belonging to just ten brands. The Coca-Cola Company was the most frequently identified brand (11.9% of branded litter), followed by Anheuser-Busch InBev (7.4%) and PepsiCo (6.9%). The top three brands were all drinks manufacturers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479125/original/file-20220815-25-gddnz5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Sankey diagram showing how brands, parent companies and materials comprise total litter found." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479125/original/file-20220815-25-gddnz5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479125/original/file-20220815-25-gddnz5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479125/original/file-20220815-25-gddnz5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479125/original/file-20220815-25-gddnz5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479125/original/file-20220815-25-gddnz5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479125/original/file-20220815-25-gddnz5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479125/original/file-20220815-25-gddnz5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Despite taking up most space in the statements of packaging manufacturers, plastic comprised a third of total litter found.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389422009086#sec0100">Stanton et al. (2022)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Plastic policies</h2>
<p>Surprisingly, our findings do not vindicate one of the EU’s most important orders on litter: the 2019 <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/904/oj">Single-Use Plastics Directive</a>. This identified the <a href="https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/plastics/single-use-plastics_en">top ten types of plastic litter</a> based on beach surveys around Europe, and legislated to reduce their production and sale in the EU while the UK was still a member. </p>
<p>These ten items, which include cotton buds, plastic bags and plastic bottles, were not all common in our results, which came from sampling inland areas as well as some beaches. Though this directive applies to the whole of the EU, we suspect its focus on coastal environments alone does not accurately reflect the nature of most litter found across Europe.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two disposable coffee cups immersed in sand on a beach." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479602/original/file-20220817-14-8cp4t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479602/original/file-20220817-14-8cp4t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479602/original/file-20220817-14-8cp4t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479602/original/file-20220817-14-8cp4t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479602/original/file-20220817-14-8cp4t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479602/original/file-20220817-14-8cp4t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479602/original/file-20220817-14-8cp4t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Common litter on beaches may not represent what’s typically found elsewhere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-coffee-cups-litter-on-beach-1963357075">Henk van Dijk/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Throughout the 2020s, the UK government and its devolved powers will introduce or reform legislation to tackle litter. These include a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-of-plastic-packaging-tax-from-april-2022/introduction-of-plastic-packaging-tax-2021">plastic tax</a> (introduced in April 2022), a tax on the production of plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled plastic, a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/introducing-a-deposit-return-scheme-drs-for-drinks-containers-bottles-and-cans/outcome/introducing-a-deposit-return-scheme-drs-in-england-wales-and-northern-ireland-executive-summary-and-next-steps">deposit return scheme</a> for drink containers (limited to plastic containers only <a href="https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/deposit-return-scheme-drs">in England</a>) and <a href="https://consult.defra.gov.uk/extended-producer-responsibility/extended-producer-responsibility-for-packaging/">reforms</a> which will make packaging producers pay for action including litter picking and education campaigns. Over the same decade, the top ten companies identified by our study plan to change the materials they use in their packaging. </p>
<p>Our analysis of these corporate and legislative policies concluded that they disproportionately favour solutions based on recycling, with little consideration of how to reduce waste and allow people to reuse items. This approach fails to address plastic pollution’s root cause: selling things people don’t really need.</p>
<h2>Should we name (and shame)?</h2>
<p>Since most litter in the environment cannot be traced back to its origins, naming the people and organisations responsible may seem futile. But litter that can be linked with an industry or a company is some of the easiest to address. This is particularly true for packaging, which made up 59.1% of the items logged in our study.</p>
<p>Given how common this type of waste appears to be, expanding opportunities for people to refill containers with goods (where appropriate), removing or reducing the need for new packaging as zero-waste shops do, is a good idea. This will require collaboration between companies, industries and governments. Small-scale efforts to achieve this are underway, with Wales pledging to become the first <a href="https://www.refill.org.uk/refill-wales/">refill nation</a> (where people can easily refill water bottles, making bottled water obsolete), some supermarkets introducing or trialling <a href="https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/which-supermarkets-have-packaging-free-products-adRlB4c1J86b">refill aisles</a> and The Coca-Cola Company’s various small-scale <a href="https://packagingeurope.com/news/how-will-coca-cola-meet-its-pledge-to-make-25-of-its-beverage-packaging-refillable-or-returnable/8195.article">efforts</a> to allow consumers to refill bottles with beverages, most notably in Latin America.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person fills a mason jar with red lentils." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479632/original/file-20220817-9126-1bbyzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479632/original/file-20220817-9126-1bbyzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479632/original/file-20220817-9126-1bbyzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479632/original/file-20220817-9126-1bbyzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479632/original/file-20220817-9126-1bbyzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479632/original/file-20220817-9126-1bbyzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479632/original/file-20220817-9126-1bbyzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zero-waste shops allow customers to fill containers brought from home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-fills-jar-red-lentils-selling-2046808436">Reshetnikov_art/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Making it easier for people to refill packaging would also reduce demand for raw packaging materials, lower transportation costs and emissions and reduce waste. It will also help people reckon with their own environmental footprints.</p>
<p>Tracing and curbing litter requires foresight and collaboration, which is currently lacking among companies that profit from the waste-generating consumption of single-use products, and the legislators that fail to properly govern it. Naming them is the start of holding them accountable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186584/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Stanton works with Planet Patrol on a voluntary basis. He received funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Johnson is a trustee of the Clean Rivers Trust, a charitable organisation working on environment pollution. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Antonia Law and Guaduneth Chico do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Making it easier for people to refill containers is key to slowing the tide of packaging waste.Thomas Stanton, Loughborough University Doctoral Prize Fellow, Loughborough UniversityAntonia Law, Lecturer in Physical Geography, Keele UniversityGuaduneth Chico, Lecturer in Environmental Sciences and GIS, Nottingham Trent UniversityMatthew Johnson, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1701582022-03-15T15:32:59Z2022-03-15T15:32:59ZMicroalgae is nature’s ‘green gold’: our pioneering project to feed the world more sustainably<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451044/original/file-20220309-21-1nh0beb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chlorella, a species of microalgae grown for the ALG-AD project in Devon.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/unicellular-green-algae-large-cells-1042159933">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a young child in the mid-1960s, my days were spent living an idyllic rural life on a dairy farm in the village of Lewdown in the heart of Devon. I recall many happy days exploring the glorious countryside, living a life in balance with nature and the environment – or at least, that’s how it felt.</p>
<p>But I also remember the ever-present slurry pit full of manure down at the end of our cowshed. It wasn’t fenced off, and my mum would remind me on regular occasions that to stray too close could mean death by drowning in what was, in essence, an enormous vat of smelly cow pats. As a five-year-old, I stayed well clear.</p>
<p>What we didn’t know then was that this pit of farm manure posed not only a hazard to me, but to our environment. Manure, which is often returned to the land as a nutrient fertiliser <a href="https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/publications/environment-natural-resources/environmental-implications-of-excess-fertilizer-and-manure-on-water-quality">without consideration of its wider impacts</a>, releases greenhouse gases including methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, and other harmful nitrogenous gases such as ammonia. It can also lead to nitrogen-rich run-off into water courses, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fertilizer-runoff-overwhelms-streams/">polluting rivers, lakes and coastlines</a> – with knock-on effects on fish mortality and tourism.</p>
<p>In short, what I thought was an idyllic childhood, living on a farm in balance with nature, wasn’t quite that. Subsequently, as a bioscientist, I’ve spent much of my life researching microorganisms that can help maintain a healthy planet. Nearly 60 years later, I find myself leading a <a href="https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/alg-ad-creating-value-from-waste-nutrients-by-integrating-algal-and-anaerobic-digestion-technology/">pioneering Europe-wide project</a> dedicated to transforming potentially harmful waste into something positive. In the process, we can help to build a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-a-sustainable-circular-economy-would-look-like-133808">circular economy</a>” that regenerates nature and keeps materials in circulation. And at the centre of this work are some remarkable microscopic organisms – our “green gold”.</p>
<h2>Jewels of nature</h2>
<p>We all know how important trees are in terms of <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-arent-enough-trees-in-the-world-to-offset-societys-carbon-emissions-and-there-never-will-be-158181">sequestering carbon</a>, yet we tend to overlook the two-thirds of our planet that is covered by water. Our seas and oceans are filled with organisms that are equally vital to the Earth’s life cycles, yet because they are individually less visible to the naked eye than land plants, we largely ignore them.</p>
<p>Microalgae – not to be confused with macroalgae (seaweeds) – are massively abundant in our seas, freshwater lakes and rivers. These tiny organisms are important “<a href="http://sites.nd.edu/madelyn-martinez/2019/04/22/the-importance-of-primary-producers/">primary producers</a>” on our planet, acting as biomass factories. They use sunlight through the process of photosynthesis to convert inorganic molecules (carbon dioxide, nutrients and water) into proteins, fats and carbohydrates, plus a host of other organic compounds that help them grow and survive. These tiny microorganisms support all life in our oceans and, with their high turnover rates, contribute to <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.281.5374.237">around 50% of</a> the planet’s primary production.</p>
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<p>There are literally hundreds of thousands of species of microalgae. A commonly occurring group are the diatoms, of which there are an estimated 20,000 species. With beautifully intricate, snowflake-like cell walls made of glass, diatoms are true jewels of nature. Another common group are the coccolithophores, covered in elaborate, frisbee-like calcium carbonate chalk plates. During the Cretaceous period, which ended 66 million years ago, enormous blooms of coccolithophores formed the white cliffs of Dover.</p>
<p>As microalgae do not have roots, leaves and stems, they can use carbon dioxide and nutrients more efficiently than land plants, enabling them to grow more rapidly. They can be relatively easily cultivated and harvested to produce biomass crops (“algaculture”) which can be used as food or for bioenergy. Algal biomass also contains a wide range of useful molecules that can be used in bioplastics, biofuel, health products, cosmetics and food ingredients.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>My growing appreciation of these fascinating microorganisms, with their amazing ability to grow on waste nutrients and produce something useful, inspired me to want to help address the twin global challenges of sustainability and environmental protection. Using nature’s “green gold” to clean up waste nutrients while also producing sustainable feeds and other products seemed to me a no-brainer.</p>
<p>Back in the 70s, I recall my A-level biology teacher, Mr Montague, introducing us to the carbon and nitrogen cycles and explaining how important the balance of each of these cycles is to life on our planet. I even remember him talking about the greenhouse effect and temperature rise. But we didn’t realise back then just how severe the threat of carbon dioxide-related climate change was – or how nitrogen would emerge as a major contributor to the complex environmental challenges we face today.</p>
<h2>Towards a circular economy</h2>
<p>To have any hope of meeting <a href="https://theconversation.com/glasgow-climate-pact-where-do-all-the-words-and-numbers-we-heard-at-cop26-leave-us-171704">our global climate change targets</a> and achieving a sustainable equilibrium, we need to work towards a circular economy that eliminates waste and pollution, keeps materials in circulation and regenerates nature. This must replace our existing linear “use and discard” model which has led to unbalanced nutrient cycles.</p>
<p>In response to this, farmers, the food industry and waste-water companies are <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/476/1/012074/pdf">increasingly turning to anaerobic digestion</a> (AD) to process their waste. AD is a natural process in which bacteria in large tanks called digestors feed on organic waste – sewage, food waste, farm manure and other agricultural waste – to produce a biogas, rich in carbon and hydrogen, that can be captured and used to generate renewable electricity and heat.</p>
<p>The nitrogen component of the organic waste is retained in a thick liquid called digestate, which can be returned to the land by farmers as a naturally produced fertiliser – preferable to synthetic fertilisers produced using energy-intensive and CO₂-emitting processes. However, as the AD industry has expanded, so the increased production and returning of digestate to the land poses a risk of nutrient pollution.</p>
<p>As a result, many areas in the United Kingdom and Europe are now restricted by the <a href="http://adlib.everysite.co.uk/adlib/defra/content.aspx?doc=18647&id=18649">Nitrate Directive</a> and <a href="http://adlib.everysite.co.uk/adlib/defra/content.aspx?id=000IL3890W.17USYFLDOH012T">nitrate vulnerable zone</a> (NVZ) legislation, introduced to prevent pollution through excessive use of nitrogen returned to the land. Currently, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nitrate-vulnerable-zones">55%</a> of land in England is designated an NVZ, while the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrate_vulnerable_zone#:%7E:text=parties%20and%20farmers.-,Northern%20Europe,as%20well%20as%20marine%20eutrophication.">entirety of Wales</a> is in the process of becoming another such zone.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biofuel-how-new-microalgae-technologies-can-hasten-the-end-of-our-reliance-on-oil-176723">Biofuel: how new microalgae technologies can hasten the end of our reliance on oil</a>
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<p>One way of overcoming this regulatory challenge is through the use of microalgae. And so, in 2017, our Europe-wide, circular economy project <a href="https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/alg-ad-creating-value-from-waste-nutrients-by-integrating-algal-and-anaerobic-digestion-technology/%22%22">called ALG-AD</a> was born. The ultimate goal is to convert nitrogen that poses a risk to the environment into microalgae that can be used in sustainable animal feed, replacing existing, highly resource-intensive sources of feed in the process. Using funding from the <a href="https://www.nweurope.eu/">INTERREG North-West Europe programme</a>, Swansea University partnered with ten other organisations throughout north-west Europe – a densely populated and intensely agricultural area that is particularly vulnerable to nitrate pollution of groundwater. The whole of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrate_vulnerable_zone#:%7E:text=parties%20and%20farmers.-,Northern%20Europe,as%20well%20as%20marine%20eutrophication.">Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark</a> are also already designated NVZs.</p>
<p>By recycling unwanted nitrogen into something useful, we can prevent it escaping into the atmosphere and into waterways, thereby reducing pollution to both land and atmosphere. The microalgae naturally convert the nitrogen into protein and other nutritional molecules which can be used back in the food chain. Five years on from the project’s launch, we have already shown that such a circular economy solution is workable on an industrial scale.</p>
<h2>A new source of protein</h2>
<p>The projected growth of the planet’s population over the next half-century means global food production is <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/global_food_security_how_do_we_feed_a_growing_population_web.pdf">expected to increase</a> by at least 50%. We are also all being encouraged to reduce consumption of meat protein to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation. New sources of protein are therefore a top priority, and microalgae are strong contenders. Companies such as Nestlé are already <a href="https://www.nestle.com/randd/news/allnews/partnership-corbion-microalgae-plant-based-products">researching microalgae</a> as an alternative source of protein, both as animal feed and food for humans.</p>
<p>While the microalgal production industry is still in its infancy, the ability to produce a new source of protein without the issues associated with <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-eating-grass-fed-beef-isnt-going-to-help-fight-climate-change-84237">meat</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/brazils-thriving-soy-industry-threatens-its-forests-and-global-climate-targets-56973">soya</a> is very attractive. Furthermore, being able to cultivate microalgae close to where they will be used by farmers in animal feed offers another distinct advantage.</p>
<p>A big challenge for our European project has been to test this technology for development at full working scale. We have therefore worked directly with the AD industry as it processes food and farm waste, providing us with industrially produced nitrogen (in digestate) to cultivate our microalgae.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451051/original/file-20220309-32-19e624a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451051/original/file-20220309-32-19e624a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451051/original/file-20220309-32-19e624a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451051/original/file-20220309-32-19e624a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451051/original/file-20220309-32-19e624a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451051/original/file-20220309-32-19e624a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451051/original/file-20220309-32-19e624a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The 7,000 L Algal photobioreactor, constructed in a heated greenhouse at Langage-AD in Devon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Claudio Fuentes- Grünwald</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the UK, just 30 miles from the Devon farm on which I lived as a child, we have built <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APsobJ62_K0&t=4s">a pilot “algae-AD”</a> facility at an AD company sited next to Langage Dairy Farm. <a href="https://www.langagead.com">Langage-AD</a> has the capacity to process 20,000 tonnes of food waste a year, producing biomethane that generates heat and electricity. We were provided with a large, heated greenhouse situated right next to where the waste is processed. This was the ideal location for our “algal photobioreactor”, a series of vertical see-through tubes in which microalgae are grown in an aqueous medium containing nutrients that are exposed to both daylight and artificial light.</p>
<p>Two sister photobioreactor facilities have been built in Brittany in France and Ghent in Belgium. All partners have undertaken in-depth studies to determine how to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.133180">best process</a> the digestate and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X20304797">optimise nutrient uptake</a>. Too much and we found that our microalgae didn’t like it; too little and not much happened.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/APsobJ62_K0?wmode=transparent&start=4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The algal cultivation facility at Langage-AD.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Promisingly, we have found that microalgae grown on digestate are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960852420316230">richer in protein</a> compared with microalgae grown on more typically-used inorganic nutrients, with protein levels reaching up to around 80% of the total biomass produced. This is well over double the amount of protein contained in meat and soya products. In a world where there is an <a href="https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/07/fao-predicts-global-shortage-of-protein-rich-foods/">increasing protein shortage</a> and alternatives to meat are sought, this is a real bonus.</p>
<p>Currently, around <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/soy">75% of the world’s soya crop</a> is used as a source of protein in animal feed. As with beef production, soya production has come under scrutiny for its role in deforestation, particularly in <a href="https://theconversation.com/brazil-signs-agreement-to-halt-deforestation-but-bolsonaro-cannot-be-trusted-171091">Brazil</a> and Argentina. In addition, the transportation of soya across the globe generates a huge carbon footprint. To top it all, transporting soya to high agricultural areas disturbs the global balance of nitrogen, leading to “nutrient hotspots” and an increase in NVZs.</p>
<p>Our studies have confirmed <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12155-022-10397-2">the potential of microalgae</a> as a protein source to supplement and replace soya protein. However, the scale of microalgal cultivation is currently not big enough to make a significant impact on soya markets. Therefore, our real-life feed trial experiments have so far concentrated on testing microalgae as a food supplement, to improve the health of piglets and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdz2A_qLIHw">of fish</a>. But we know that the market for algae-based animal feed and ingredients is set to <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/algae-based-animal-feed-and-ingredients-market-to-grow-by-usd-750-65-millionkey-drivers-and-market-forecasts17000-technavio-research-reports-301294508.html">grow rapidly</a>.</p>
<h2>Rolling out these novel biotechnologies</h2>
<p>To date in the UK, we have focused on two commonly occurring freshwater species of green microalgae, <em>Chlorella vulgaris</em> and <em>Scenedesmus obliquus</em> (both from the division Chlorophyta). Both species contain good levels of proteins and a host of molecules with beneficial properties for health, which we are still exploring.</p>
<p>But yet another amazing thing about microalgae is their diversity. There are tens of thousands of other species with a breathtaking variety of form and function, still waiting to be explored.</p>
<p>Now, supported by the groundwork of our research, it is up to pioneering businesses, regulators and investors to work together to enable the roll-out of these novel biotechnologies more widely. As we move to a society and economy more circular than linear, which uses its waste while preventing environmental contamination, it seems that microalgae will become more familiar to us all in one form or another.</p>
<p>Our project has already demonstrated that microalgae have strong potential in helping reduce food security-related issues such as land scarcity, climate change and inefficient and unsustainable fertiliser usage, as well as associated nutrient leakage and water pollution. In so doing, they can be used to raise environmental standards in Europe and throughout the world. Indeed, our work supports the recently announced <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_5916">European Green Deal</a>, promoting the circular economy and protection of nature, and the new <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/key-policies/common-agricultural-policy/new-cap-2023-27_en">Common Agricultural Policy</a> with its strong emphasis on environment-friendly farming practices and agro-ecology.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic showing Common Agricultural Policy key objectives" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For the period 2023-27, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will be built around these 10 key objectives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/food-farming-fisheries/key_policies/images/the-10-cap-objectives_en.jpg">EC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, it is still relatively early days. As with any waste-related technology, legislation and regulation needs to be <a href="https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/alg-ad-creating-value-from-waste-nutrients-by-integrating-algal-and-anaerobic-digestion-technology/publications/the-alg-ad-project-reports-and-deliverables/">carefully considered</a>. For now, the simplest way forward is to use anaerobically digested vegetable-based waste rather than animal-based waste, thereby eliminating the possibility of any animal waste or animal contamination passing back into the food chain.</p>
<p>We would also like to further increase the uptake of digestate into the algae and, like any new and developing technology, we need to balance up the cost and overall environmental benefits. To achieve this, we are gathering results from across the partnership and consolidating our data for use in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12155-022-10397-2">life cycle analysis</a>. This will also enable interested farmers, food producers and other industries to decide <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P_u28_y6RY">if the technology</a> is for them, and what they might best achieve according to their particular needs.</p>
<p>Another way microalgae can be used to help in agriculture is as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0734975021000604">biostimulants</a> – natural products that, when applied in small quantities, enhance nutrition uptake and improve stress tolerance, thus reducing the need for chemical fertilisers. We are also delving further into the many other valuable components within microalgal cells, including molecules that have benefits as human and animal <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/immune-system-modulator">immune modulators</a>, anti-inflammatories and antivirals. The full benefits of microalgae to produce new products are just waiting to be reaped.</p>
<p>Ironically, throughout my working life, I didn’t exactly heed the advice of my mum all those years ago, to stay away from the dangerous mix of nutrients that was brewing in the manure pit at the end of our cowshed. But I would like to think, in not doing so, that I have been part of a revolution in the way we regard and treat waste, ensuring that the valuable nutrients in cow manure and other organic waste can increasingly be used for the benefit of us, and our planet.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
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<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
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<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-china-combined-authoritarianism-with-capitalism-to-create-a-new-communism-167586?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">How China combined authoritarianism with capitalism to create a new communism</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-my-20-years-in-afghanistan-taught-me-about-the-taliban-and-how-the-west-consistently-underestimates-them-167927?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">What my 20 years in Afghanistan taught me about the Taliban – and how the west consistently underestimates them</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/we-have-nothing-left-the-catastrophic-consequences-of-criminalising-livelihoods-in-west-africa-157454?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">‘We have nothing left’ – the catastrophic consequences of criminalising livelihoods in west Africa</a></em></p></li>
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<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carole Llewellyn receives funding from the Interreg North-West Europe programme and Welsh Government on the ALG-AD, project, NWE520.</span></em></p>The inside of story of a pioneering programme to convert nitrogen into microalgae that can generate sustainable animal feed.Carole Anne Llewellyn, Professor in Applied Aquatic Bioscience, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1707042021-11-03T03:45:53Z2021-11-03T03:45:53ZNZ’s government plans to switch to a circular economy to cut waste and emissions, but it’s going around in the wrong circles<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429685/original/file-20211102-15-11z1ezj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C97%2C7238%2C4829&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Brian Scantlebury</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The New Zealand government is currently developing plans to address two crises — climate change and waste — and to embrace a circular economy. But it has no clear path for how to do this. The resulting muddle is watering down the potential of a circular economy to bring lasting change.</p>
<p>Public consultation is underway to develop an <a href="https://environment.govt.nz/assets/publications/Emissions-reduction-plan-discussion-document.pdf">emissions reduction plan</a>, following the Climate Change Commission’s <a href="https://www.climatecommission.govt.nz/our-work/advice-to-government-topic/inaia-tonu-nei-a-low-emissions-future-for-aotearoa/">advice</a> on carbon budgets towards New Zealand’s 2050 net-zero target. </p>
<p>Another consultation document proposes to overhaul the country’s <a href="https://consult.environment.govt.nz/waste/taking-responsibility-for-our-waste/supporting_documents/wastestrategyandlegislationconsultationdocument.pdf">waste strategy and legislation</a>. </p>
<p>Both documents intend to move Aotearoa towards a circular economy — one that limits waste and pollution, keeps products in use, and regenerates natural systems to protect, not pillage, natural resources.</p>
<p>But the government’s plans for circularity are fragmented, contradictory and uncoordinated. They fail to confront the business-as-usual drivers of the linear economy or to enhance collaboration. </p>
<p>New Zealand needs a dedicated Crown agency to champion a low-waste, low-emissions circular economy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-a-sustainable-circular-economy-would-look-like-133808">What a sustainable circular economy would look like</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The need for circularity</h2>
<p>New Zealand is one of the <a href="https://data.oecd.org/waste/municipal-waste.htm">most wasteful countries in the OECD</a>. Waste is not only a pollutant but the dead end of a linear supply chain that emits greenhouse gases at every step along the way. </p>
<p>Roughly half of global emissions come from <a href="https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/completing-the-picture">producing and consuming stuff</a>. Every bit of waste represents embodied emissions lost to the economy.</p>
<p>Circular practices preserve this embodied energy by keeping products and materials in use. This slows down global extraction of natural resources, from mining to tree-felling. The less is extracted, the more waste and emissions are reduced. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bale of squashed drink cans in a recycling facility" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429832/original/file-20211102-19-8szacv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429832/original/file-20211102-19-8szacv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429832/original/file-20211102-19-8szacv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429832/original/file-20211102-19-8szacv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429832/original/file-20211102-19-8szacv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429832/original/file-20211102-19-8szacv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429832/original/file-20211102-19-8szacv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">About half of global emissions come from things we consume.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Dazeley/Getty Images</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Currently, just 8.6% of the global economy is circular. This figure must double by 2032 to keep us on track to <a href="https://www.circularity-gap.world/2021">limit global warming to 1.5°C</a>.</p>
<p>Doubling the circularity of New Zealand’s economy would mean transforming production and consumption systems. Today, much of what we make and buy is inherently linear. </p>
<p>In a circular economy, products are built to last and designed for repair. Organics are composted to replenish soils. Business models favour sharing over individual ownership, and reuse over single use.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A stand of share bicycles." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429833/original/file-20211102-20320-14ezxi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429833/original/file-20211102-20320-14ezxi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429833/original/file-20211102-20320-14ezxi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429833/original/file-20211102-20320-14ezxi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429833/original/file-20211102-20320-14ezxi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429833/original/file-20211102-20320-14ezxi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429833/original/file-20211102-20320-14ezxi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a circular economy, sharing is better than ownership.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Amelia Tomkins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This seismic shift in economic direction demands coordination across sectors, strong leadership and a shared understanding of the circular model. The government must collaborate with those already practising circularity and reconfigure the rules to wind down linear practices. </p>
<h2>Lack of a whole-of-system approach</h2>
<p>The consultation documents do not tell a shared circular economy story. The waste strategy focuses on end-of-product-life processes such as waste management, litter and recycling; the proposed emissions reduction plan discusses business models and innovation. </p>
<p>The waste proposal suggests the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment (<a href="https://www.mbie.govt.nz/">MBIE</a>) will eventually bind everything together in a “separate and broader circular economy strategy”, but this risks creating a bigger tangle.</p>
<p>The confusion is not surprising. The government’s work on circularity has been splintered between the Ministry for the Environment and MBIE. The agencies’ organisational cultures and priorities differ and they have not connected their thinking for a whole-of-system approach. </p>
<p>Critical elements of the circular economy are falling through the cracks in the silos, particularly the part about economic transformation. Increasing corporate responsibility for waste is the hottest potato no one wants to touch. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-businesses-could-cut-plastic-waste-with-a-track-and-trace-system-151489">How businesses could cut plastic waste with a track and trace system</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The consultation documents propose few upstream policy interventions to trigger product redesign or new business models that reduce waste and emissions. Instead, they focus on using or disposing of waste after it’s been produced, which presumes, rather than challenges, linear inefficiencies.</p>
<h2>All the wrong circles</h2>
<p>Despite responsibility being the central theme of the waste proposal, it makes nobody responsible for waste creation because it never analyses where waste comes from. Instead, it emphasises improved waste management and anti-littering laws. This lumps responsibility at the end of the pipe, on individuals and councils who cannot influence waste baked into the system further upstream. </p>
<p>Furthermore, product stewardship is ring-fenced to “end-of-life” activity, neutralising its potential to redistribute responsibility further up product supply chains. </p>
<p>The emissions reduction plan does not fill this gap, apart from some promising initiatives for the construction sector. The connection it draws between circularity and climate abatement mostly relates to organic waste rather than overall production and consumption. Despite considering the potential for new business models to address climate change, product stewardship is barely mentioned. </p>
<p>Instead, it views circular innovation through the lens of the “bioeconomy”, where waste-derived biomass is converted into bioenergy and new products. But a bioeconomy depends on continued waste generation, which is arguably non-circular. It also contradicts the waste proposal’s suggestion to discourage waste-to-energy “downcycling” through levies.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-municipal-waste-to-energy-incineration-is-not-the-answer-to-nzs-plastic-waste-crisis-126824">Why municipal waste-to-energy incineration is not the answer to NZ's plastic waste crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A circular economy with no driver</h2>
<p>The government cannot achieve circularity alone, but has no cogent plan for collaboration.</p>
<p>Supporting community groups and local enterprises <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/what-our-climate-policy-is-overlooking">does not appear a government priority</a>. Both documents describe circularity and innovation as future states, yet many organisations already implement circular and zero-waste practices and are potential partners.</p>
<p>A Te Tiriti-based partnership is fundamental for economic transformation. The Climate Change Commission described the circular economy as <a href="https://www.climatecommission.govt.nz/our-work/advice-to-government-topic/inaia-tonu-nei-a-low-emissions-future-for-aotearoa/chapter-summaries/">aligned with a Māori worldview</a>. Organisations like <a href="https://www.parakore.maori.nz/">Para Kore</a> show Māori leadership in advancing zero waste and circularity. </p>
<p>While the emissions reduction plan promises meaningful partnership with Māori, the waste proposal does not. This is a missed opportunity. New waste legislation could protect <a href="https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/pq/article/view/7126">Māori decision-making rights</a> and rangatiratanga over natural resources.</p>
<p>Rather than charting a clear path to a circular economy, the government is proliferating documents that perpetuate a business-as-usual approach where communities, councils and government run around in the wrong kinds of circles, cleaning up after industry. </p>
<p>The problem isn’t a lack of good ideas. But these ideas aren’t properly filtered or organised, important elements and key partners are missing and nobody’s in the driver’s seat. </p>
<p>Moving Aotearoa away from silos and towards a circular economy requires a dedicated Crown agency with a Te Tiriti-compliant governing structure. This agency could champion circularity, resource efficiency and conservation across the system, from resource extraction to product disposal.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170704/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Blumhardt is a researcher for Āmiomio Aotearoa - a trans-disciplinary, multi-partner research project into the circular economy funded by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and hosted by the University of Waikato. She is also a contractor for the Zero Waste Network. She founded and runs The Rubbish Trip and Takeaway Throwaways. She is affiliated with the New Zealand Product Stewardship Council, Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance and WasteMINZ. She was a member of the advisory group to the Ministry for the Environment for the proposed waste strategy.</span></em></p>New Zealand plans to shift to a circular economy but planning is split between agencies, is inconsistent and and contradictory, and it perpetuates a business-as-usual approach.Hannah Blumhardt, Senior Associate at the Institute of Governance and Policy Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1685612021-09-28T20:10:39Z2021-09-28T20:10:39ZWant to reduce your food waste at home? Here are the 6 best evidence-based ways to do it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423474/original/file-20210928-21-1qg9xcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C18%2C5970%2C3989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From the farm to the plate, the modern day food system <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/i3901e/i3901e.pdf">has a waste problem</a>. Each year, a third of all food produced around the world, or <a href="http://www.fao.org/food-loss-and-food-waste/flw-data">1.3 billion tonnes</a>, ends up as rubbish. Imagine that for a moment – it’s like buying three bags of groceries at the supermarket then throwing one away as you leave.</p>
<p>Wasting food feeds climate change. Food waste accounts for more than 5% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. And this doesn’t include emissions from activities required to actually produce the food in the first place, such as farming and transport.</p>
<p>One of the largest sites of food waste <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/report/unep-food-waste-index-report-2021">is the home</a>. In <a href="https://www.fial.com.au/sharing-knowledge/food-waste">Australia</a>, households throw out about 2.5 million tonnes of food each year. That equates to <a href="https://www.fial.com.au/building-capability/feasibility-study-launch">between</a> A$2,000 and $2,500 worth of food per year per household. </p>
<p>But there’s some good news. Our <a href="https://www.ozharvest.org/app/uploads/2021/09/OzHarvest_Food_Waste_Report_Full.pdf">Australian-first research</a>, released today, identified the six most effective behaviours anyone can do to reduce food waste. Combined, these relatively small changes can make a big difference.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="fork scrapes food off plate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423475/original/file-20210928-18-18xdv02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423475/original/file-20210928-18-18xdv02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423475/original/file-20210928-18-18xdv02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423475/original/file-20210928-18-18xdv02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423475/original/file-20210928-18-18xdv02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423475/original/file-20210928-18-18xdv02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423475/original/file-20210928-18-18xdv02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian households throw out up to $2,500 worth of food each year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What we did</h2>
<p>Food waste by households is a complex problem influenced by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666320301537?via%3Dihub">many factors</a>. Some, such as food type, package size and safety standards, are out of a consumer’s control. But some are insignificant <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224416302679">daily behaviours</a> we can easily change, such as buying too much, forgetting about food at the back of your fridge, not eating leftovers and cooking too much food.</p>
<p>We wanted to better understand the complex nature of household food waste. Together with Australia’s leading food rescue organisation <a href="https://www.ozharvest.org/">OzHarvest</a>, our <a href="https://www.ozharvest.org/app/uploads/2021/09/OzHarvest_AtAGlance_Report.pdf">research</a> sought to identify and prioritise evidence-based actions to reduce the amount of food Australians throw away.</p>
<p>We reviewed Australian and international literature, and held online workshops with 30 experts, to collate a list of 36 actions to reduce food waste. These actions can be broadly grouped into: planning for shopping, shopping, storing food at home, cooking and eating.</p>
<p>We realised this might be an overwhelming number of behaviours to think about, and many people wouldn’t know where to start. So we then surveyed national and international food waste experts, asking them to rank behaviours based on their impact in reducing food waste.</p>
<p>We also surveyed more than 1,600 Australian households. For each behaviour, participants were asked about:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the amount of thinking and planning involved (mental effort)</p></li>
<li><p>how much it costs to undertake the behaviour (financial effort)</p></li>
<li><p>household “fit” (effort involved in adopting the behaviour based on different schedules and food preferences in the household).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Consumers identified mental effort as the most common barrier to reducing food waste.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-a-simulated-mars-mission-taught-me-about-food-waste-132010">What a simulated Mars mission taught me about food waste</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="woman holds up hand in front of plate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423480/original/file-20210928-28-10zb1t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423480/original/file-20210928-28-10zb1t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423480/original/file-20210928-28-10zb1t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423480/original/file-20210928-28-10zb1t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423480/original/file-20210928-28-10zb1t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423480/original/file-20210928-28-10zb1t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423480/original/file-20210928-28-10zb1t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The researchers surveyed 1,600 consumers about their attitudes to food waste reduction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>Our research identified the three top behaviours with the highest impact in reducing food waste, which are also relatively easy to implement:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Prepare a weekly meal at home that combines food needing to be used up</p></li>
<li><p>Designate a shelf in the fridge or pantry for foods that need to be used up</p></li>
<li><p>Before cooking a meal, check who in the household will be eating, to ensure the right amount is cooked.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Despite these actions being relatively easy, we found few Australian consumers had a “use it up” shelf in the fridge or pantry, or checked how many household members will be eating before cooking a meal. </p>
<p>Experts considered a weekly “use-it-up” meal to be the most effective behaviour in reducing food waste. Many consumers reported they already did this at home, but there is plenty of opportunity for others to adopt it.</p>
<p>Some consumers are more advanced players who have already included the above behaviours in their usual routines at home. So for those people, our research identified a further three behaviours requiring slightly more effort:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Conduct an audit of weekly food waste and set reduction goals</p></li>
<li><p>Make a shopping list and stick to it when shopping</p></li>
<li><p>Make a meal plan for the next three to four days.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Our research showed a number of actions which, while worthwhile for many reasons, experts considered less effective at reducing food waste. They were also less likely to be adopted by consumers. The actions included:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Preserving perishable foods by pickling, saucing or stewing for later use</p></li>
<li><p>Making a stock of any food remains (bones and peels) and freeze for future use</p></li>
<li><p>Buying food from local specialty stores (such as greengrocers and butchers) rather than large supermarkets.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/melbourne-wastes-200-kg-of-food-per-person-a-year-its-time-to-get-serious-60236">Melbourne wastes 200 kg of food per person a year: it's time to get serious</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="fridge shelf with sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423477/original/file-20210928-23-lq1c06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423477/original/file-20210928-23-lq1c06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423477/original/file-20210928-23-lq1c06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423477/original/file-20210928-23-lq1c06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423477/original/file-20210928-23-lq1c06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423477/original/file-20210928-23-lq1c06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423477/original/file-20210928-23-lq1c06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A designated shelf in the fridge can help reduce food waste.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Doing our bit</h2>
<p>Today is the United Nations’ <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-food-waste-day">International Day</a> of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. It seeks to increase awareness and prompt action in support of a key target in the global <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a> to halve food loss and waste by 2030. </p>
<p>Australia has <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/waste/food-waste">signed up</a> to this goal, and we hope this research helps fast-track those efforts.</p>
<p>OzHarvest is launching its national <a href="https://www.ozharvest.org/use-it-up/">Use-It-Up</a> food waste campaign today, aiming to support Australians with information, resources and tips. Based on our findings, we’ve also developed a decision-making tool to help policy makers target appropriate food waste behaviours. </p>
<p>Australia, and the world, can stop throwing away perfectly edible food – but everyone must play their part.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-can-go-in-the-compost-bin-tips-to-help-your-garden-and-keep-away-the-pests-156342">What can go in the compost bin? Tips to help your garden and keep away the pests</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168561/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Boulet receives funding from multiple State and Federal government agencies to conduct behaviour change research. for this project, Mark was funded by OzHarvest through the Australian government's Environmental Restoration Fund.</span></em></p>Wasting food feeds climate change but relatively small changes can make a big difference. Here are 6 to try.Mark Boulet, Research Fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1476722020-11-09T06:47:08Z2020-11-09T06:47:08ZHow life-cycle assessments can be (mis)used to justify more single-use plastic packaging<p>After <a href="https://www.mfe.govt.nz/plastic-bag-ban">banning plastic bags</a> last year, New Zealand now proposes to <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-regulate-environmentally-harmful-plastic-packaging-tyres-e-waste">regulate single-use plastic packaging</a> and to ban various <a href="https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/waste/reducing-impact-of-plastic-our-environment-moving-away-from-hard-to-recycle-and-single-use-items">hard-to-recycle plastics and single-use plastic items</a>. </p>
<p>These moves come in response to <a href="https://www.colmarbrunton.co.nz/better-futures-reports-2020/">growing public concern</a> about plastics, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6510/1515.abstract">increasing volumes</a> of plastic in the environment, mounting evidence of <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2020/07/breakingtheplasticwave_report.pdf">negative environmental and health impacts</a> of plastic pollution and the role plastics play in the <a href="https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Plastic-and-Climate-FINAL-2019.pdf">global climate crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Addressing plastic packaging is key to reversing these negative trends. It <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782.full">accounts for 42%</a> of all non-fibre plastics produced. </p>
<p>But the plastics industry is pushing back. Industry representatives claim efforts to regulate plastic packaging will have <a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2007/S00394/declaring-plastic-packaging-a-priority-product-will-be-bad-for-the-environment.htm">negative environmental consequences</a> because plastic is a lightweight material with a lower carbon footprint than alternatives like glass, paper and metal. </p>
<p>These claims are based on what’s known as life-cycle assessment (<a href="https://lcanz.org.nz/lca-guidance/lca-intro/">LCA</a>). It’s a tool used to measure and compare the environmental impact of materials throughout their life, from extraction to disposal.</p>
<h2>Industry arguments to justify plastic packaging</h2>
<p>LCA has been <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/1099-1522(200003/04)13:2%3C55::AID-PTS490%3E3.0.CO;2-G">used to measure the impact of packaging</a> ever since the Coca-Cola Company commissioned the first comprehensive assessment in 1969.</p>
<p>While independent LCA practitioners may adopt rigorous processes, the method is <a href="https://www.eunomia.co.uk/reports-tools/plastics-can-life-cycle-assessment-rise-to-the-challenge/">vulnerable to misuse</a>. According to European waste management consultancy Eunomia, it is limited by the questions it seeks to answer:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ask inappropriate, misleading, narrow or uninformed questions and the process will only provide answers in that vein. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Industry-commissioned life-cycle assessments often frame single-use plastic packaging positively. These claim plastic’s light weight offsets its harmful impacts on people, wildlife and ecosystems. Some studies are even used to justify the continued expansion of <a href="https://www.plasticseurope.org/application/files/9015/1310/4686/september-2010-the-impact-of-plastic.pdf">plastics production</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cheap-plastic-is-flooding-developing-countries-were-making-new-biodegradable-materials-to-help-145564">Cheap plastic is flooding developing countries – we’re making new biodegradable materials to help</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But plastic can come out looking good when certain important factors are overlooked. In theory, LCA considers a product’s whole-of-life environmental impact. In practice, the scope varies as practitioners select system boundaries at their discretion. </p>
<p>Zero Waste Europe has highlighted that life-cycle assessment for food packaging often omits important considerations. These include the potential <a href="http://zerowasteeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Justifying-plastic-pollution_The-shortcomings-of-LCAs-in-food-packaging-policy_FoEE-ZWE-April-2018.pdf">toxicity of different materials</a>, or the impact of leakage into the environment. Excluding factors like this gives plastics an unjustified advantage.</p>
<p>Researchers have <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26826362/">acknowledged</a> the method’s critical failure to account for marine pollution. This is now a priority for the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-017-1382-z">research community</a>, but not the plastics industry.</p>
<p>Even questionable LCA studies carry a veneer of authority in the public domain. The packaging industry capitalises on this to <a href="https://talking-trash.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/TalkingTrash_FullReport.pdf">distract, delay and derail</a> progressive plastics legislation. Rebutting industry studies that promote the environmental superiority of plastics is difficult because commissioning a robust LCA <a href="https://lcanz.org.nz/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LCT-LCA-and-transitioning-to-a-Circular-Economy-LCANZ-July-2020-v1.6.pdf">is costly and time-consuming</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-pandemic-could-slash-the-amount-of-plastic-waste-we-recycle-139616">Why the pandemic could slash the amount of plastic waste we recycle</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Life-cycle assessment and packaging policy</h2>
<p>LCA appeals to policymakers aspiring to develop evidence-based packaging policy. But if the limitations are not properly acknowledged or understood, policy can reinforce inaccurate industry narratives. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pmcsa.ac.nz/topics/rethinking-plastics/">Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa New Zealand</a> report, from the office of the prime minister’s chief science adviser, has been influential in plastics policy in New Zealand. </p>
<p>The report dedicates an entire chapter to LCA. It includes case studies that do not actually take a full life-cycle approach from extraction to disposal. It concedes only on the last page that LCA does not account for the environmental, economic or health impacts of plastics that leak into the environment. </p>
<p>The report also erroneously suggests LCA is “an alternative approach” to the zero-waste hierarchy. In fact, the two tools work best together. </p>
<p>The zero-waste hierarchy prioritises strategies to prevent, reduce and reuse packaging. That’s based on the presumption that these approaches have lower life-cycle impacts than recycling and landfilling. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dispensers for cereals, nuts and grains in zero waste grocery store" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368175/original/file-20201109-23-160b0s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368175/original/file-20201109-23-160b0s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368175/original/file-20201109-23-160b0s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368175/original/file-20201109-23-160b0s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368175/original/file-20201109-23-160b0s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368175/original/file-20201109-23-160b0s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368175/original/file-20201109-23-160b0s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Zealand has a growing number of zero-waste grocers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Ugis Riba</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of LCA’s limitations is that practitioners tend to compare materials already available on the predominantly single-use packaging market. However, an LCA guided by the waste hierarchy would include <a href="http://zerowasteeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Justifying-plastic-pollution_The-shortcomings-of-LCAs-in-food-packaging-policy_FoEE-ZWE-April-2018.pdf">zero-packaging or reusable packaging systems</a> in the mix. Such an assessment would contribute to sustainable packaging policy.</p>
<p>New Zealand already has <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sustainaotearoa">growing numbers of zero-waste grocers</a>, supplied by local businesses delivering their products in reusable bulk packaging. We have <a href="https://takeawaythrowaways.nz/reuse-schemes-at-home-and-abroad">various reuse schemes for takeaways</a>. </p>
<p>New Zealand is also a voluntary signatory to the <a href="https://www.newplasticseconomy.org/assets/doc/Global-Commitment_Definitions_2020-1.pdf">New Plastics Economy Global Commitment</a>, which includes commitments by businesses and government to increase reusable packaging by 2025. </p>
<p>Prominent organisations, including the <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/reuse">Ellen MacArthur Foundation</a> and the <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/">Pew Charitable Trusts</a>, estimate <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2020/07/breakingtheplasticwave_report.pdf">reusables could replace</a> 30% of single-use plastic packaging by 2040. The Pew report states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A reduction of plastic production — through elimination, the expansion of consumer reuse options, or new delivery models — is the most attractive solution from environmental, economic and social perspectives. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The plastics industry has misused LCA to argue that attempts to reduce plastic pollution will result in bad climate outcomes. But increasingly, <a href="https://www.lifecycleinitiative.org/">life-cycle assessments that compare packaging types across the waste hierarchy</a> are revealing that this trade-off is mostly a single-use packaging problem.</p>
<p>Policymakers should take life-cycle assessment beyond its industry-imposed straitjacket and allow it to inform zero-packaging and reusable packaging system design. Doing so could help New Zealand reduce plastic pollution, negative health impacts and greenhouse gas emissions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147672/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trisia Farrelly receives funding from Massey University, the Ryoichi Sasakawa Foundation, and Environmental Investigation Agency International. She is affiliated with Massey University, New Zealand Product Stewardship Council, Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Break Free From Plastic, and Association of Social Anthropologists Aotearoa NZ. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Blumhardt is affiliated with the New Zealand Product Stewardship Council, The Rubbish Trip, Takeaway Throwaways,, Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance, Better Futures Forum, Sustain Aotearoa: Independent Zero Waste Grocers Incorporated, Lawyers for Climate Action New Zealand and Zero Waste Network Aotearoa. Hannah also works part-time as a Researcher for Eunomia Research & Consulting NZ.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Takunda Y Chitaka does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Life-cycle assessments of food packaging often omit the impact and possible toxicity of plastics leaking into the environment. Excluding these factors gives plastics an unjustified advantage.Trisia Farrelly, Senior Lecturer, Massey UniversityHannah Blumhardt, Senior Associate at the Institute of Governance and Policy Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonTakunda Y Chitaka, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1273232020-02-02T18:54:03Z2020-02-02T18:54:03ZUS and EU laws show Australia’s Right to Repair moment is well overdue<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312691/original/file-20200129-154302-id299m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4594%2C3442&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In many cases, it just seems easier and cheaper to replace than repair broken devices. But it needn't be that way.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australians are buying more and more gadgets and devices. Our homes and workplaces seemed to be filled with smart phones, drones, Fitbits, internet- connected fridges, air-conditioners that turn off when people leave the room: anything that makes our lives more convenient.</p>
<p>Behind the scenes, of course, there’s a growing pile of discarded, broken devices. The software that makes these devices so appealing also often prevents us accessing a cheap and easy fix. </p>
<p>But as the US and EU experience has shown, Right to Repair legislation – laws that make it easier for consumers, repairers and tinkerers to fix their broken goods – can offer an attractive alternative to the problem of overflowing, dangerous e-waste.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/design-and-repair-must-work-together-to-undo-our-legacy-of-waste-119932">Design and repair must work together to undo our legacy of waste</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Easier to replace than repair</h2>
<p>More often than not, broken devices must be sent to the manufacturer for diagnosis before repair can even start. In many cases, it just seems easier and cheaper to replace than repair. </p>
<p>Local repairers often do not have access to either the relevant technologies or the information needed to repair a broken device.</p>
<p>And it’s not just about hand-held gadgets. </p>
<p>As the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/New%20car%20retailing%20industry%20draft%20report.pdf">observed</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>today’s new cars contain in excess of 10 million lines of computer code — more code than is used to operate the avionics and on-board support systems of modern airliners. New cars are now effectively “computers on wheels” and require sophisticated software to work.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312693/original/file-20200129-154350-cz3mkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312693/original/file-20200129-154350-cz3mkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312693/original/file-20200129-154350-cz3mkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312693/original/file-20200129-154350-cz3mkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312693/original/file-20200129-154350-cz3mkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312693/original/file-20200129-154350-cz3mkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312693/original/file-20200129-154350-cz3mkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312693/original/file-20200129-154350-cz3mkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cars also contain complex software difficult to fix.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As one <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-03/does-australia-need-a-right-to-repair/10864852">mechanic</a> told the ABC:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We could spend up to $300 a month on data, just to be able to fix a certain model of car. It’s not cheap and there’s a lot you still can’t get from the dealers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The same mechanic <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-03/does-australia-need-a-right-to-repair/10864852">said</a> he often worked 12-hour days mostly researching how to fix technical equipment in cars.</p>
<p>The Australian government has said it will work toward a <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/consultation/c2019-t358022">mandatory scheme</a> for the sharing of motor vehicle service and repair information, saying the ACCC will enforce it and apply penalties after a transition period.</p>
<p>Change may be coming, albeit somewhat slowly. In 2018, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission brought an action against Apple for telling consumers their warranty would not be honoured if they took their iPhone to a third-party repairer. </p>
<p>This was found to be a breach of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-44529315">consumer law</a> and Apple was fined A$9 million. The finding sent a strong message to the community that manufacturers should not be controlling the aftermarket to the exclusions of others.</p>
<p>Naturally, consumers are also frustrated by the lack of repair options and more people are beginning to realise the environmental damage of a system that preferences replacement over repair. </p>
<p>Economy-wide change is needed. Australia can look abroad for inspiration.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cant-we-fix-our-own-electronic-devices-77601">Why can't we fix our own electronic devices?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312708/original/file-20200130-154288-qicyif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312708/original/file-20200130-154288-qicyif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312708/original/file-20200130-154288-qicyif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312708/original/file-20200130-154288-qicyif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312708/original/file-20200130-154288-qicyif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312708/original/file-20200130-154288-qicyif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312708/original/file-20200130-154288-qicyif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312708/original/file-20200130-154288-qicyif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A global Right to Repair movement is growing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A global groundswell</h2>
<p>Globally, there has been a groundswell of support from motorists, farmers, designers, repairers and environmentalists for a Right to Repair movement. </p>
<p>The US has recognised the right to repair since legislation was <a href="https://massrighttorepair.org/press.html">passed</a> in 2012 giving motorists access to car spare parts and repair services in Massachusetts. The law had a ripple effect across the US, with at least <a href="https://www.ifixit.com/News/14429/california-right-to-repair-in-2019">20 states</a> now proposing or passing Right to Repair legislation.</p>
<p>The EU has a Right to Repair regime through the EU EcoDesign Directive, which comes into force next year and requires manufacturers to create repairable goods and provide spare parts for up to ten years.</p>
<p>In Australia, we have a number of great repair initiatives including the <a href="https://bower.org.au/">Bower Reuse and Repair Centre</a> in Sydney, the Victorian Repair Cafe and many passionate <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mendaussie/">repairers</a>. And Australia’s consumer affairs ministers last year <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-30/smartphone-electronics-right-to-repair-request-ministers/11462572">promised</a> to consider laws allowing the repair of phones. </p>
<p>More broadly, we need a community-wide dialogue with consumers, motorists, farmers, repairers, manufacturers, designers, legislators and policy makers about how an Australian Right to Repair scheme might look.</p>
<p>As resources grow scarce, recycling options wane and our rubbish dumps overflow, there is no time to lose. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Griffith University is hosting a public seminar on the Right to Repair at their Southbank Campus on Wednesday February 5, 2020. Details can be found <a href="https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/events/event/63873">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127323/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Right to Repair laws make it easier for consumers, repairers and tinkerers to fix their broken goods. It’s an attractive alternative to the dangers of overflowing e-waste.Leanne Wiseman, Professor of Law, Griffith University, Associate Director Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA), Griffith UniversityKanchana Kariyawasam, Senior Lecturer, Griffith University, Adjunct Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA), Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263392019-11-04T19:04:09Z2019-11-04T19:04:09ZRecycling plastic bottles is good, but reusing them is better<p>Last week <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/woolworths-to-be-first-in-australia-with-zerowaste-food-delivery-system/news-story/8fb2f4018a2b0d25a63c58ba8b12a19b#.mo33b">Woolworths announced</a> a new food delivery system, in collaboration with US company TerraCycle, that delivers grocery essentials in reusable packaging.</p>
<p>The system, called Loop, lets shoppers buy products from common supermarket brands in reusable packaging.</p>
<p>As Australia works out how to meet the national packaging target for 100% of Australian packaging to be <a href="http://www.joshfrydenberg.com.au/guest/mediaReleasesDetails.aspx?id=562">recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025</a>, programs like this offer an opportunity to overhaul how plastic packaging is produced, used and recycled.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-happens-to-our-plastic-recycling-when-it-goes-offshore-110356">Here's what happens to our plastic recycling when it goes offshore</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Recycling alone is not the silver bullet</h2>
<p>Plastic packaging, most of which is for <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/3f275bb3-218f-4a3d-ae1d-424ff4cc52cd/files/australian-plastics-recycling-survey-report-2017-18.pdf">food and beverages</a>, is the fastest growing category of plastic use. </p>
<p>In Australia <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/3f275bb3-218f-4a3d-ae1d-424ff4cc52cd/files/australian-plastics-recycling-survey-report-2017-18.pdf">less than 10%</a> of this plastic packaging is recycled, compared with 70% for paper and cardboard packaging.</p>
<p>Of the <a href="http://www.sita.com.au/media/publications/02342_Plastics_Identification_Code.pdf">seven categories of plastic</a>, recycling of water bottles (PET) and milk bottles (HDPA) is most effective, yet recycling rates remain relatively low, around 30%. </p>
<p>Other hard plastics (PVC, PS) and soft or flexible plastics, such as clingfilm and plastic bags, present significant challenges for recyclers. In the case of soft plastics, although recycling options are available, the use of additives known as plasticisers – used to make the hard plastic soft and malleable – often make products <a href="https://www.packagingcovenant.org.au/documents/item/2179">recycled out of soft plastics</a> weak, non-durable, and unable to be recycled further. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-recycle-our-way-to-zero-waste-78598">Some researchers</a> argue recycling actually represents a <a href="http://www.greenlifestylemag.com.au/features/2936/disposable-drink-bottles-plastic-vs-glass-vs-aluminium">downgrading process</a>, as plastic packaging is not always recycled into new packaging, owing to contamination or diminished quality. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-recycle-our-way-to-zero-waste-78598">We can't recycle our way to 'zero waste'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Even where single-use plastic packaging can be effectively recycled, it often isn’t. The more single-use plastics that are produced, the higher the chance they will enter the ocean and other environments where their <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-02-27/plastic-and-plastic-waste-explained/8301316">plasticiser chemicals leach out</a>, harming wildlife populations and the humans who depend on them. </p>
<p>Zero Waste Europe recently updated its <a href="https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/your-environment/recycling-and-reuse/warr-strategy/the-waste-hierarchy">Waste Hierarchy</a> to emphasise avoiding packaging in the first instance, and to encourage reuse over recycling. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299986/original/file-20191103-88399-1hlgzdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299986/original/file-20191103-88399-1hlgzdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299986/original/file-20191103-88399-1hlgzdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299986/original/file-20191103-88399-1hlgzdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299986/original/file-20191103-88399-1hlgzdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299986/original/file-20191103-88399-1hlgzdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299986/original/file-20191103-88399-1hlgzdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299986/original/file-20191103-88399-1hlgzdg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The zero waste hierarchy for a circular economy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://zerowasteeurope.eu/2019/05/a-zero-waste-hierarchy-for-europe/">Zero Waste Europe</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Getting reuse right</h2>
<p>For a reusable product to be more environmentally sustainable than a single-use product, it must promote the use of less energy and resources in our daily routines.</p>
<p>Although the uptake of products such as reusable cups and shopping bags have increased, these types of reusable items have attracted criticism. If used correctly, these products represent a positive change. However, <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-many-times-you-actually-need-to-reuse-your-shopping-bags-101097">some research suggests</a> these products can be less sustainable than the single-use items they are replacing if people treat them like disposable items and do not reuse them enough.</p>
<p>For example, if you regularly buy new reusable bags at the supermarket, that potentially has a greater environmental impact than using “single-use” plastic bags.</p>
<p>To really reduce plastic packaging, we need to find ways to alter the routines that involve plastic packaging, rather than directly substituting individual products (such as reusable bags for single-use ones).</p>
<h2>Developing new reusable packaging systems</h2>
<p>Redesigning ubiquitous plastic packaging means understanding why it is so useful. For food packaging, its functions might include:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>allowing food to travel from producer to consumer while maintaining its freshness and form</p></li>
<li><p>enabling the food to be kept on a shelf for an extended period of time without becoming inedible</p></li>
<li><p>allowing the brand to display various nutritional information, branding and other product claims. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>So how might these functions be met without disposable plastic packaging?</p>
<p><a href="https://loopstore.com/how-it-works">TerraCycle Loop</a>, the business model that Woolworths has announced it will partner with, is currently also trialling services in the United States and France. They have partnered with postal services and large food and personal care brands including Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Clorox, Nestlé, Mars, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo. </p>
<p>Customers order products online, from ice-cream to juice and shampoo, with a small container deposit. These items are delivered to their house, and collected again with the next delivery. The containers are washed and taken back to the manufacturers for refill. The major participating brands have all redesigned their packaging to participate in the program.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299987/original/file-20191103-88403-1n63f5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299987/original/file-20191103-88403-1n63f5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299987/original/file-20191103-88403-1n63f5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299987/original/file-20191103-88403-1n63f5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299987/original/file-20191103-88403-1n63f5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299987/original/file-20191103-88403-1n63f5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299987/original/file-20191103-88403-1n63f5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299987/original/file-20191103-88403-1n63f5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">TerraCycle Loop reusable packaging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://loopstore.com/how-it-works">TerraCycle Loop</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This model works because it is not replacing products one-for-one, but creating a new product <em>system</em> to allow people to easily integrate reuse into their daily routines.</p>
<p>We can examine the function of single use plastic packaging in takeaway food in a similar way. The purpose of takeaway food packaging is to let us enjoy a meal at home or on the move without having to cook it ourselves or sit in a restaurant. So how might these functions be achieved without disposable packaging?</p>
<p>Australian company <a href="https://returnr.org/">RETURNR</a> has addressed this with a system in which cafes partner with food delivery services. Customers buy food in a RETURNR container, pay a deposit with the cost of their meal, and then return the container to any cafe in the network.</p>
<p>The Kickstarter campaign <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zeroco/zero-co-win-the-war-on-waste-at-your-place">Zero Co</a>, is offering a similar model for a resuse service that covers kitchen, laundry and bathroom products.</p>
<p>Making reuse <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/research-and-teaching/our-research/institute-sustainable-futures/news/developing-alternatives">easy and convenient</a> is crucial to the success of these systems. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-recycling-ban-throws-australia-into-a-very-messy-waste-crisis-95522">China's recycling 'ban' throws Australia into a very messy waste crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>If Australia is to meet our national packaging targets, we need to prioritise the elimination of unnecessary packaging. Although recycling is likely to remain crucial to keeping plastic waste out of landfill in the near future, it should only be pursued when options higher up the waste hierarchy – such as reuse – have been ruled out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126339/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Wakefield-Rann receives research funding from various government and non-government organisations. She does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would financially benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond her academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Florin receives funding from various government and non-government organisations. Recently this has included NSW, QLD and WA governments, and the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO). He does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would financially benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer (Downes) Macklin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new business is skipping recycling in favour of returning, washing and reusing sturdy containers for common groceries.Rachael Wakefield-Rann, Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyJennifer (Downes) Macklin, Research Fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia (Monash Sustainable Development Institute), Monash UniversityNick Florin, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1212412019-07-31T20:04:39Z2019-07-31T20:04:39ZDon’t just blame government and business for the recycling crisis – it begins with us<p>As the <a href="https://www.standard.net.au/story/6301694/recycling-in-landfill-following-processor-shutdown-council-confirms/">dramatic shutdown</a> of major recycling company SKM this week has illustrated, recycling is not free. </p>
<p>Householders in Australia pay council rates for a recycling and garbage service. This fee is largely based on the costs of collecting, sorting and processing, and – importantly – what returns are likely from selling the end product. </p>
<p>However, since 2017 the price on the open market for mixed plastics has <a href="https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/Business/Investment-facilitation/Recovered-resources-market-bulletin">plummeted</a> from about A$325 per tonne to A$100 per tonne. Mixed glass actually dropped to a negative value, which meant that generators were potentially paying for it to be taken away. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesia-has-sent-australias-recycling-home-its-time-to-clean-up-our-act-120159">Indonesia has sent Australia's recycling home – it's time to clean up our act</a>
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<p>On the other hand, prices for high-quality recycling (not mixed materials or items contaminated with food, for example) largely remained the same or <a href="https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/Business/Investment-facilitation/Recovered-resources-market-bulletin">slightly increased</a>.</p>
<p>This shows the market for low-quality, poorly sorted recycling, which Australia has <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-happens-to-our-plastic-recycling-when-it-goes-offshore-110356">previously</a> offloaded to China and other Southeast Asian countries, is ending. </p>
<p>Unless we improve our recycling industry, we must start sending more recyclable material to landfill – as is <a href="https://www.standard.net.au/story/6301694/recycling-in-landfill-following-processor-shutdown-council-confirms/">happening now in some Victoria councils</a>. </p>
<p>So what can we do about it?</p>
<h2>Reduce first</h2>
<p>Reduction, fundamentally, comes before recycling. We <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-recycle-our-way-to-zero-waste-78598">need to avoid waste to begin with</a>, in our homes and businesses.</p>
<p>As consumers, we should be vocal about seemingly contradictory practices by businesses. For example, supermarkets congratulate themselves on reducing plastic bags, but then use small plastic toys as marketing tools – not even making them out of recycled plastic. These toys are destined for disposal, potentially contaminating recycling streams, and <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/coles-and-woolworths-in-plastic-toy-promo-wars">not all consumers are happy</a>.</p>
<h2>Throw out recycling properly</h2>
<p>It’s tempting, if you don’t know whether something is recyclable, to simply put it in the yellow bin and assume someone on the other end will “sort it out”. But in reality, incorrectly recycled material can contaminate entire loads of otherwise valuable and useful recyclables, diverting it to landfill. </p>
<p>Councils blame the recyclers for this, who blame the councils. Everyone blames state governments, and they in turn blame the recyclers. </p>
<p>Fundamentally though, we as the generators of waste must assume a high degree of responsibility. We are the ones putting contaminants into the recycling system that everyone else in the management structure must deal with.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-recycling-plants-have-no-incentive-to-improve-81336">Australian recycling plants have no incentive to improve</a>
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<p>It’s our job to familiarise ourselves with what can and cannot be recycled – although, to be fair, this can vary widely from council to council, and should be made easier to check.</p>
<p>If we can clean up the recycling streams, markets should increase and prices for these commodities will similarly rise. This encourages those in the sector to <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-recycling-plants-have-no-incentive-to-improve-81336">improve their plant technology</a>, and for others to enter in what would then be a more competitive market.</p>
<h2>Develop the industry</h2>
<p>Clean recycling still requires an established market to be profitable. Governments, as the single largest purchasers in Australia, can play an important role here. </p>
<p>The Victorian government has already <a href="https://www.governmentnews.com.au/victorian-government-moves-on-green-procurement/">committed</a> to helping government agencies increase recycled content in their purchasing requirements. Other governments are doing <a href="https://www.governmentnews.com.au/governments-should-buy-recycled-material-inquiry/">likewise</a> and this is a very positive step. </p>
<p>At a minimum, contracts and tenders should specify a certain level of recycled materials used in products sold to the government, or prefer those suppliers who do have recycled content.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-recycle-our-way-to-zero-waste-78598">We can't recycle our way to 'zero waste'</a>
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<p>One innovative approach where governments can use their purchasing power is with the use of plastic and glass recyclables in roads. Trials have been extremely positive.</p>
<p>In fact, the Australian Council of Recycling has <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/italian/en/article/2019/05/09/call-government-use-recycled-content-build-infrastructure">suggested</a> that using recycled material in construction for the Snowy 2.0 scheme would consume all the recyclables generated in Australia.</p>
<h2>We need to chew and walk gum</h2>
<p>The most important message is, just as there’s no single person or sector to blame for Australia’s dismal recycling situation, there’s no single solution. We all need to take more care with what we put in the bin. Governments around Australia should incentivise local manufacturers to use domestic recycling. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-youre-almost-certainly-wasting-time-rinsing-your-recycling-78189">Why you're almost certainly wasting time rinsing your recycling</a>
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<p>Recycling companies should certainly improve their technology so they can produce higher-quality material, which can be sold at a profit. </p>
<p>And, as the current SKM debacle illustrates, governments need a plan B when the market breaks down. </p>
<p>Even with all of this, a sustainable domestic recycling industry is some way off. We urgently need to start doing the things we already know will work, rather than playing endless rounds of a pointless blame game.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trevor Thornton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s recycling woes belong to everyone, from households to government to business. It’s time to stop pointing fingers and get to work on a solution.Trevor Thornton, Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1201592019-07-10T20:16:01Z2019-07-10T20:16:01ZIndonesia has sent Australia’s recycling home – it’s time to clean up our act<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283437/original/file-20190710-44466-14bk5ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indonesia is not the only country to turn back contaminated waste.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">FULLY HANDOKO/EPA/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Indonesia has returned a container load of recyclables back to Australia, because the material did not meet stringent import requirements.</p>
<p>It is the latest Southeast Asian country to refuse Australia’s recycling waste. In January 2018, China <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-happens-to-our-plastic-recycling-when-it-goes-offshore-110356">stopped buying our recyclables</a> until contamination was reduced significantly.</p>
<p>To achieve this, Australia needed to reduce contamination in commercial and household recycling, and improve our sorting facilities so they can identify and remove the types of materials causing concern.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-happens-to-our-plastic-recycling-when-it-goes-offshore-110356">Here's what happens to our plastic recycling when it goes offshore</a>
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<p>This should have been a wake-up call that we need to improve our recycling industry and take urgent steps to reduce our reliance on overseas destinations for our recyclables. But did we? Clearly, the answer is no.</p>
<h2>Dealing with difficult waste</h2>
<p>In July the Philippines turned away 69 containers (about 1,500 tonnes), of materials <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48455440">incorrectly labelled as plastic</a> and containing unacceptable contaminants. Malaysia has also threatened to send recyclables back to the originating country if the loads <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-22/malaysia-flooded-with-plastic-waste-to-send-scrap-back/11136322">contain contaminants</a>.</p>
<p>Looking at photos of the material rejected by Indonesia, it is clearly a typical load of baled recyclables that could have come from any sorting facility in Australia. It contains recyclables, but also contamination like used nappies, clothing, food scraps, paper and cardboard in the plastic recycling, metals and plastic in the paper recycling and some containers that once had motor oil or detergents in them. </p>
<p>While I personally suspect it’s slightly over the top to call this “hazardous” material, as some news reports have – the same loads are shipped to some facilities in Australia – it is a moot point. Indonesia can set whatever rules they deem necessary to protect the health of their communities and environment.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283434/original/file-20190710-44432-1wwrwdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283434/original/file-20190710-44432-1wwrwdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283434/original/file-20190710-44432-1wwrwdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283434/original/file-20190710-44432-1wwrwdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283434/original/file-20190710-44432-1wwrwdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283434/original/file-20190710-44432-1wwrwdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283434/original/file-20190710-44432-1wwrwdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283434/original/file-20190710-44432-1wwrwdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Indonesia is not the only country to turn back contaminated waste.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">FULLY HANDOKO/EPA/AAP</span></span>
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<p>This continues after strong warnings that unless we provide clean recyclables, we will not have access to these overseas markets.</p>
<h2>So what is contamination?</h2>
<p>Recycling is basically divided into “streams”. Mostly these streams contain one or two types of materials. For example, we have a cardboard stream, plastic stream or in some instances commingled stream which contains plastic, aluminium, steel and glass containers. </p>
<p>“Contamination” refers to materials that are not wanted in that stream because they interfere with the proper treatment of a given load. Plastic in a load of cardboard and paper is contamination; so are clothes in a plastic load. It does not necessarily need to be toxic chemicals or other things that come to mind when we think of “contamination”. </p>
<p>However, containers used for detergents, disinfectants, and the broad range of household chemicals do contain residues. While some of these fluids and powders do get removed (often while materials are being baled), some residues remain and this can also cause issues for those wishing to use the recyclables as their raw materials.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/recycling-why-you-cant-just-throw-anything-in-the-collection-bin-118344">Recycling: why you can't just throw anything in the collection bin</a>
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<p>So it is no wonder Australian businesses are reluctant to use what we currently sort and send out as their raw materials. If the recyclables materials contain contaminants at a high level, then the business who could have used them would have to expend resources to clean up the loads. Apart from that cost, they then have to dispose of the unwanted materials to landfill. </p>
<p>Additionally, due to some uncertainty in the quality of the recyclables, manufacturers are concerned whether their products will be of the required standard and if not, will that affect the customer base. Remember, when recycled paper was first on the market there was some concern about inferior “whitness” and this affected sales. (Ironically, now most business use recycled paper this situation is somewhat reversed.)</p>
<h2>How can we fix it?</h2>
<p>Ultimately, the issue is not how we can get other countries to accept our waste. Australia needs to improve our capacity and willingness to use recycled materials ourselves.</p>
<p>We have seen progress recently with Australian companies using recycled materials in new and innovative ways. Plastics used in road construction or in building materials is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-29/melbourne-company-rubbish-recycling-plastic-bag-road/9812450">just one example</a>.</p>
<p>But unless our recycling is better sorted, it won’t be used by domestic companies. Even products made with recycled material need to be clean, safe and reliable. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-youre-almost-certainly-wasting-time-rinsing-your-recycling-78189">Why you're almost certainly wasting time rinsing your recycling</a>
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<p>So what can we do about it? Of course, the obvious first step is to invest more into recycling facilities so they can sort more efficiently. However, we all need to take responsibility for what we put into the recycling at home or work. Many contaminants can easily be avoided with a little more care, so familiarise yourself with what can be recycled by your home council.</p>
<p>Finally, recycling is not a panacea. We need to seriously reduce the amount of waste we create, as individuals and a society. Without this, the problem will only continue to grow.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-recycle-our-way-to-zero-waste-78598">We can't recycle our way to 'zero waste'</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120159/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trevor Thornton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia doesn’t want to deal with its own recycling waste, so why do we think other countries should do it for us?Trevor Thornton, Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1186652019-06-20T11:21:17Z2019-06-20T11:21:17ZIs burning trash a good way to handle it? Waste incineration in 5 charts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279572/original/file-20190614-158936-12lzmsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Wheelabrator Waste to Energy Plant in Saugus, Massachusetts, has been burning trash to generate electricity since 1975.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wheelabrator_Waste-to-Energy_Plant,_Saugus_MA.jpg">Fletcher6/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Burning trash has a long history in the United States, and municipal solid waste incinerators have sparked resistance in many places. As an <a href="https://www.newschool.edu/public-engagement/ms-environmental-policy-sustainability-management-faculty/?id=4d6a-5535-4e6a-6b79">environmental justice scholar</a> who works directly with low-income and communities of color, I see incineration as a poor waste management option. </p>
<p>Although these plants generate electricity from the heat created by burning trash, their primary purpose is waste disposal. Emissions from burning waste worsen environmental inequalities, create financial risks for host communities and reduce incentives to adopt more sustainable waste practices. </p>
<p>I recently co-authored a <a href="https://tishmancenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CR_GaiaReportFinal_05.21.pdf">report</a> that describes signs of decline in the U.S. waste incineration industry due to many factors. They include a volatile revenue model, aging plants, high operation and maintenance costs, and growing public interest in reducing waste, promoting environmental justice and combating climate change.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, 72 incinerators are still operating today in the U.S. Most of them – 58, or 80% – are sited in environmental justice communities, which we defined as areas where more than 25% of residents are low-income, people of color or both. Incinerators worsen cumulative impacts from multiple pollution sources on these overburdened neighborhoods. </p>
<h2>Environmental justice flashpoints</h2>
<p>Waste incinerators are heavily concentrated in northeast states and Florida – areas with high population densities and limited landfill space. Some of these states also provide favorable economic incentives, such as allowing incinerators to earn renewable energy credits for generating electricity.</p>
<p>In the past year environmental justice advocates have successfully shut down incinerators in Detroit, Michigan, and Commerce, California. The Detroit incinerator was built in the 1980s and received more than US$1 billion in public investment borne by local taxpayers. Groups such as <a href="https://www.ecocenter.org/breathe-free-detroit">Breathe Free Detroit</a> and <a href="http://zerowastedetroit.org/">Zero Waste Detroit</a> rallied residents to oppose the public financing and health burdens that the facility imposed on surrounding environmental justice communities. <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2019/03/27/detroit-renewable-power-incinerator/3289106002/">The plant closed in March 2019</a>. </p>
<p>The California plant closed in June 2018 after a yearlong campaign by two community-based organizations, <a href="http://eycej.org/">East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice</a> and <a href="https://valleyimprovementprojects.org/">Valley Improvement Projects</a>, to prevent incineration from qualifying for state renewable energy subsidies. The facility ultimately closed when a 30-year power purchase agreement with the local utility expired, leaving it <a href="https://www.wastedive.com/news/california-first-wte-facility-closes/529164/">without a sufficient revenue stream</a>. </p>
<p><div>Infographic currently not available</div></p>
<h2>Aging facilities</h2>
<p>Incineration plants’ average life expectancy is 30 years. Three-quarters of operating waste incinerators in the United States are at least 25 years old. </p>
<p>These facilities’ revenues come primarily from tipping fees that waste haulers pay to dump trash, and secondarily from generating electricity. These revenue streams are volatile and can undermine the industry’s financial stability. At least 31 incinerators have closed since 2000 due to issues such as insufficient revenue or inability to afford required upgrades. </p>
<p>Operations and maintenance costs typically increase as plants age and their performance decreases. Upgrades, such as installing new pollution control equipment, can cost tens of millions of dollars, and sometimes more than US$100 million. </p>
<p>These large capital expenditures represent risks for host communities, which often provide public financing through bonds or tax increases. Such measures are risky because the waste service and energy contracts that generate revenue are increasingly shorter term and vulnerable to fluctuating market and regulatory conditions. As plants age, their environmental performance may also degrade over time, posing increasing risks to the environment and public health.</p>
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<h2>What incinerators burn</h2>
<p>The composition of municipal solid waste has changed over the past 50 years. Synthetic materials such as plastics have increased, while biogenic, compostable materials such as paper and yard trimmings have decreased. </p>
<p>Plastics are particularly problematic for waste handling because they are petroleum-based, nonbiogenic materials. They are difficult to decompose and release harmful pollutants such as <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/03/should-we-burn-plastic-waste/">dioxins</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2007.12.019">heavy metals</a> when they are incinerated. </p>
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<h2>Waste management trends</h2>
<p>Today, thanks to the evolution of waste handling options, a majority of the materials in municipal solid waste can be composted or recycled. This reduces impacts on the environment, including air, soil and water contamination and greenhouse gas emissions. As cities like <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/our-work/zero-waste">New York</a> and <a href="https://sfenvironment.org/striving-for-zero-waste">San Francisco</a> adopt zero-waste policies that create incentives for diverting waste from landfills or incinerators, burning trash will increasingly become obsolete. </p>
<p>Many U.S. <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-pledges-to-action-cities-need-to-show-their-climate-progress-with-hard-data-99200">cities</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-blazing-a-low-carbon-path-pay-off-for-california-72168">states</a> are adopting aggressive climate change and sustainability goals. Waste reduction and diversion will play a critical part in meeting these targets. The public is increasingly demanding more upstream solutions in the form of extended producer responsibility bills, plastic bans and less-toxic product redesign. There is also a growing movement for less-consumptive lifestyles that favors zero-waste goals. </p>
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<h2>Heavy polluters</h2>
<p>Incinerators release many air pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides, particulate matter, lead, mercury, dioxins and furans. These substances are known to have <a href="https://www.who.int/airpollution/ambient/health-impacts/en/">serious public health effects</a>, from increased cancer risk to respiratory illness, cardiac disease and reproductive, developmental and neurological problems. According to recent figures from the waste industry, incinerator plants emit <a href="https://cen.acs.org/environment/sustainability/Should-plastics-source-energy/96/i38">more sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide per unit of electricity generated</a> than power plants burning natural gas.</p>
<p>Research on direct health impacts of waste incineration in the United States is limited, but a handful of studies from Asia and Europe, where waste incinerators are prevalent, offer some insights. For example, a 2013 study in Italy analyzed the occurrence of miscarriages in women aged 15-49 years residing near seven incinerators in northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, and found that increased particulate emissions from the incinerators was associated with an <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0b013e3182a712f1">increased risk of miscarriage</a>. </p>
<p>A single incinerator may burn anywhere from <a href="https://www.mass.gov/guides/municipal-waste-combustors">a few hundred tons</a> to <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3056526/this-massive-waste-to-energy-plant-will-be-the-largest-in-the-world">several thousand tons</a> of waste per day. Smaller incinerators typically have lower absolute emissions but can emit more hazardous pollutants for each ton of waste they burn. Plant emissions also can vary widely based on the heterogeneous composition of municipal waste, the age and type of emissions control equipment, and how well the plant is operated and maintained over time. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ana Baptista received funding from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) which received a grant from the JPB Foundation for the preparation of the report "U.S. Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators: An Industry in Decline". She is affiliated with GAIA, the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance and the Ironbound Community Corporation. </span></em></p>Every year the US burns more than 34 million tons of garbage in incinerators. These plants are major pollution sources, and most are clustered in disadvantaged communities.Ana Baptista, Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management, The New SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1183442019-06-07T08:22:10Z2019-06-07T08:22:10ZRecycling: why you can’t just throw anything in the collection bin<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278118/original/file-20190605-40710-11yh0xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/recyclable-rubbish-held-hands-isolated-on-686760625?src=a_f7etguYEOo6NQPtM0Fng-1-31">Photka/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For many years the recycling collected from households in the UK and other Western countries has been exported. This strategy has enabled these countries to carry on without much thought about how consumers purchase goods and dispose of all the unwanted packaging and containers. As long as there are regular collections for recycling paper, metals and plastics, little consideration is given to where this waste goes and what happens to it. But this now has to change. </p>
<p>Several years ago, China woke up to the environmental consequences of having the world’s recycling dumped on it to sort, process and use in manufacturing new goods. Tougher <a href="https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/tomra-tom-eng-china-national-sword-recycling/">Chinese regulations</a> came into place in 2018, aimed at improving the quality of the recycling it imported.</p>
<p>This should have been a wake up call to the Western world to change the way that recycling was collected and processed in order to improve the quality. But nothing changed, apart from <a href="https://www.mrw.co.uk/download?ac=3150674">the destination of the low-quality recycling</a> – instead of exporting to China, the recycling was exported to several Eastern European countries and an assortment of <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/publications/campaigns/toxics/GPEA%20Plastic%20waste%20trade%20-%20research%20briefing-v1.pdf">other Asian countries</a>, including <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/28/asia/malaysia-plastic-waste-return-intl/index.html">Malaysia</a> and the Philippines. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278128/original/file-20190605-40727-4jigos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278128/original/file-20190605-40727-4jigos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278128/original/file-20190605-40727-4jigos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278128/original/file-20190605-40727-4jigos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278128/original/file-20190605-40727-4jigos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278128/original/file-20190605-40727-4jigos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278128/original/file-20190605-40727-4jigos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278128/original/file-20190605-40727-4jigos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recycling collections move around the world but it’s not all hunky dory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/recycle-global-rubbish-environment-garbage-concept-353053700?src=zI3Xab6SafB0gOPR1eSR3A-1-3">Lightspring/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A dispute lasting several years over low-quality recycling that was exported by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48455440">Canada to the Philippines</a> recently saw the waste repatriated, and other countries are also set to follow this example. This solves nothing, though – this recycling has to go somewhere.</p>
<h2>How to collect</h2>
<p>We need to change the way we collect recycling to ensure that the collected items are suitable for use by manufacturers. This means changing the focus towards collecting clean, high-quality recyclable materials, segregated by type. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.isonomia.co.uk/can-we-sort-out-the-contamination-confusion/">Contamination losses</a> – which occur when <a href="https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/News/british-science-week-lifts-the-lid-on-recycling-misconceptions">non-recyclable or non-targeted)</a> materials are included in collection boxes, bags or bins and are then rejected at sorting facilities and now by overseas markets – show that keeping the end point for these materials in mind is essential.</p>
<p>There is often confusion over <a href="http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Recycling%20guidelines%201.9.pdf">what can be recycled at home</a> and this often varies between local authorities because they use different sorting facilities. A huge number of materials are recyclable, but the infrastructure does not exist in all parts of the UK, and sorting methods vary between these sorting facilities and this dictates which materials can be handled. </p>
<p>Collection systems need to be tailored towards the requirements of the reprocessors rather than the householder, collector or sorting facility – and this should guide householders on how and what to actually collect for recycling.</p>
<p>Efficient sorting ensures higher quality materials are collected and <a href="https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/content/new-report-examines-contamination-levels-separately-collected-recyclate">reaps benefits</a> across the recycling chain. The <a href="https://gweddill.gov.wales/docs/desh/publications/160322-review-of-welsh-government-collections-blueprint-technical-report-en.pdf">Welsh Government Collection Blueprint</a>, which works on this principle, secures higher quality recyclable materials with <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41037531">high levels of householder participation</a>. With improved segregation of materials, clean recycling is able to enter the market for secondary materials either closer to home, or in China where it will pass tougher import requirements.</p>
<p>Communicating better should be a priority. Below are three ways that consumers could be helped to recycle better.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Clear and consistent <a href="https://www.oprl.org.uk/get-involved/what-is-the-scheme/">labelling of recyclable packaging</a>. The removal of unhelpful “check locally” labels, which only lead to confusion and incorrect disposal of some items, is a good starting point, along with better communication of local anomalies to recycling collections.</p></li>
<li><p>More information for householders on <a href="https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/30771062/recycling-destinations-01-18.pdf">where recycling goes</a> and what it is used for would improve understanding around the demand for high quality materials. The condition of recycling has an impact on its final use. If recycling is wet <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/31BZJBNHCJh0LmfkgJny8Yb/pizza-boxes">or greasy</a> this often leads to contamination losses with items sticking together during mechanical sorting processes or just being so badly damaged they aren’t suitable for use. </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://resourceassociation.com/node/14355">Better reporting of the end destination</a> of recyclable materials by councils. Publishing this information is <a href="https://www.preston.gov.uk/yourservices/bins-and-recycling/recycling/happens-rubbish-recycling/">currently voluntary</a>. This should be made mandatory and include all waste collected, not just that handled by local authorities. This would ensure consistent, ethical and legal exports. This would expose <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/22/the-guardian-view-on-recycling-exports-stop-the-rubbish-launderers">poor export practices</a> involving low grade and poorly sorted recyclables, which helps to hide <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/07/uk-worst-offender-in-europe-for-electronic-waste-exports-report">illegal exports of post-consumer electronic items</a> which have been hidden by the lack of transparency.</p></li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278127/original/file-20190605-40715-dp85yw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278127/original/file-20190605-40715-dp85yw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278127/original/file-20190605-40715-dp85yw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278127/original/file-20190605-40715-dp85yw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278127/original/file-20190605-40715-dp85yw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278127/original/file-20190605-40715-dp85yw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278127/original/file-20190605-40715-dp85yw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oily pizza box.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/leftover-pepperoni-pizza-slice-delivery-box-1356860603?src=z_iYnnoJTMU8NOeS8U1kCA-1-37">Onajourney/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Other systems</h2>
<p>Deposit and return systems for drinks containers are <a href="https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environment/introducing-a-deposit-return-scheme/">being investigated</a> by the UK government, but will soon be implemented in <a href="https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/scotland-confirms-all-in-deposit-return-scheme/">Scotland</a>, where environmental issues are devolved. These systems, which operate in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/12/can-norway-help-us-solve-the-plastic-crisis-one-bottle-at-a-time">Norway</a> and <a href="http://www.ukgermanconnection.org/kids-bottle-recycling-machines">Germany</a>, add a deposit to the price of drinks containers which consumers redeem when they return the empty drinks containers and can use against future purchases.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278131/original/file-20190605-40758-mycb8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278131/original/file-20190605-40758-mycb8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278131/original/file-20190605-40758-mycb8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278131/original/file-20190605-40758-mycb8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278131/original/file-20190605-40758-mycb8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278131/original/file-20190605-40758-mycb8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278131/original/file-20190605-40758-mycb8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278131/original/file-20190605-40758-mycb8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Returning bottles and cans in Germany.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/meppen-germany-march-2-2016-shoppers-390749152?src=mRiEWiYrIC6EeMQrxrHbsw-1-2">Defotoberg/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These systems collect <a href="https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/content/quality-heart-scotland%E2%80%99s-deposit-return-scheme">higher quality</a>, and there are other potential benefits, such as reducing litter, but there are also arguments against. These include the cost of implementation and the impact on existing local authority household collection schemes where the value of materials collected subsidises the cost of collecting it. But <a href="https://reloopplatform.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Summary-of-studies_impact-of-DRS-on-munis-FINAL-31May2016.pdf">a loss of income</a> for councils may be balanced out by a reduction in collection costs as the volume of recycling goes down. </p>
<p>Improving the quality of the material that is collected must be addressed, and deposit and return systems are seen as a necessary step towards doing this. Ultimately, we need a fundamental shift in the way we look at the waste we produce, which goes well beyond collecting vast quantities of it for faux recycling on the other side of the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118344/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Cole receives funding as part of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 776714 (Activating Circular Services in the Electric and Electronic Sector - C-SERVEES) </span></em></p>Recycling is a messy system at the moment. Here’s how we can clean up our act.Christine Cole, Research associate, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1000162018-08-02T07:53:18Z2018-08-02T07:53:18ZWhy compostable plastics may be no better for the environment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228167/original/file-20180718-142426-1qf5pak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C953%2C5900%2C2967&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Single-use biodegradable plastics include claims that they break down quickly into benign end products, but the reality is more complex. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As companies move to get rid of single-use plastic bags and <a href="http://www.mfe.govt.nz/waste/plastic-microbeads">bans on microbeads</a> are coming into force, new biodegradable or compostable plastic products seem to offer an alternative. But they may be no better for the environment. </p>
<p>Recently, <a href="http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/5/5/171792">European scientists argued</a> that existing international industry standards are insufficient and cannot realistically predict the biodegradability of compostable plastics. New Zealand’s <a href="https://www.pce.parliament.nz/">Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment</a> (PCE), Simon Upton, <a href="https://www.pce.parliament.nz/publications/biodegradable-and-compostable-plastics-in-the-environment">weighed into the debate</a>, questioning the merit of biodegradable plastics and urging the New Zealand government to deal with the confusion surrounding their labelling. </p>
<p>The key concerns include the terminology itself, the lack of appropriate recycling or composting infrastructure and toxicity of degradable plastics. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-clean-up-our-universal-plastic-tragedy-98565">How to clean up our universal plastic tragedy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Confusion over terms</h2>
<p>We know that plastics hang around in the environment for a very long time.
Recent <a href="http://www.lgnz.co.nz/news-and-media/2017-media-releases/huge-support-for-levy-on-single-use-plastic-bags/">surveys show significant support</a> among New Zealanders for initiatives to reduce single-use plastics. </p>
<p>Newly marketed single-use plastics that claim to be biodegradable suggest that they will break down quickly into benign end products, but the reality is more complex. A degradable or compostable plastic item may indeed deteriorate slightly faster than a conventional product, but only if the conditions are right. </p>
<p>The current industry standards are not taking into account real-life conditions and are therefore underestimating the breakdown times. The standards are also not accounting for the damage to marine life that ingest breakdown particles before a product is completely degraded. </p>
<p>The PCE highlights that biodegradation should not be confused with other natural processes, such as weathering. For a plastic polymer to biodegrade, it needs to be broken down through the action of living cells (mostly fungi and bacteria) into simple chemical elements.</p>
<p>However, as the graphic below shows, the speed of biodegradation can vary greatly, depending on the original material and whether the plastic ends up in a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004565351200639X?via%3Dihub">commercial composting facility or a backyard compost heap or the ocean</a>. Differences in materials, labelling and capabilities of composting facilities are making it difficult for the system to function properly. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228127/original/file-20180717-44103-mh3h7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228127/original/file-20180717-44103-mh3h7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228127/original/file-20180717-44103-mh3h7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228127/original/file-20180717-44103-mh3h7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228127/original/file-20180717-44103-mh3h7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228127/original/file-20180717-44103-mh3h7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228127/original/file-20180717-44103-mh3h7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pce.parliament.nz/media/196468/pce-infographic-2-web.jpg">Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Avoidance is best</h2>
<p>Considering the New Zealand government’s intention to <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-zero-carbon-bill-much-ado-about-methane-99842">transition to a low-carbon economy</a> and zero waste initiatives, the best answer to the problem is avoidance. Under the premise of convenience, we got used to a bag for everything, a plastic sleeve for a single slice of cheese or teabag, and a single-use plastic bottle for water. The production of all these containers contributes to carbon emissions as well as the later disposal.</p>
<p>In many cases, biodegradable plastic bags are made from crude oil, requiring carbon-based production processes and emitting carbon dioxide or methane when degrading. If we switch to no extra packaging, reusable containers made from metals or ceramics, and buy in bulk, then crude oil and gas can stay in the ground for a potential safe use by future generations. </p>
<p>Failing this, a second best option are products made from renewable materials. Here and in general, we have to insist on meaningful labelling with a clear pathway to deposition or recycling. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-plastics-reusing-the-bad-and-encouraging-the-good-87001">The future of plastics: reusing the bad and encouraging the good</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Toxic components</h2>
<p>Many degradable plastics include additives, designed to make the product less durable. At the moment, the various additives and fillers are leading to <a href="http://www.plastics.org.nz/environment/bioplastics-degradables">contamination of waste streams</a>. Expensive sorting or subsequent landfill might be the only alternative. Adequate recycling or re-manufacturing facilities would need to be created in New Zealand.</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.pce.parliament.nz/media/196469/pce-letter-to-hon-eugenie-sage-biodegradable-and-compostable-plastics.pdf">letter</a> to Eugenie Sage, the associate minister for the environment, the PCE also refers to toxicity of plastics. More independent research is required in this area and the principle of caution should be applied in the meantime. In this day and age, there is no need to release a new material into general circulation, where the harmlessness is not investigated beyond doubt. </p>
<p>In some cases, a material may be banned in Europe but still readily available in the United States and Australasia. One example is BPA (bisphenol-A), which was banned in parts of Europe and some US states, but Australia announced a <a href="http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/chemicals/bpa/Pages/default.aspx">voluntary phase-out in baby bottles</a>. </p>
<p>The banning of cosmetic products containing microbeads is another case in point. In the last few years, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/02/australia/australia-plastic-bag-ban-intl/index.html">some countries</a>, including the US, UK, France, Canada, Taiwan and Sweden, have proposed or implemented microbead bans. The US ban on microbeads in rinse-off cosmetics has been in place since July 2017, but while the Australian government endorsed a <a href="https://chemicalwatch.com/63983/australian-government-expects-voluntary-microbead-ban-to-meet-deadline">voluntary phase-out in 2016</a>, there is no official ban. New Zealand <a href="http://www.mfe.govt.nz/waste/plastic-microbeads">implement its ban this June</a>.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Consumer action and demand is a good start, with more and more of us <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/97740917/plastic-bag-ban-means-boom-for-sustainable-bag-initiative">changing our behaviour</a>, leading by example, and asking industry to do likewise. A robust debate led by independent scientist should inform the public and authorities. Experiences like the ban of CFCs in the 1990s and New Zealand’s <a href="http://www.mfe.govt.nz/waste/plastic-microbeads">ban of microbeads</a> are revealing to be ultimately successful. But they require regulatory intervention. </p>
<p>This can take the form of a ban of single-use plastics, which many countries have decided to exercise. Strengthening the standards framework is also required. At the moment, there is no overarching approach. Degradation in public waste facilities, in composting plants or in the sea is considered separately, as is toxicity.</p>
<p>A material should be assessed fully in all relevant environments and then appropriately labelled. The New Zealand government should work with industry towards product stewardship, where the whole product life cycle is taken into account in the design phase. This will bring us closer to a circular economy, in which we reuse and recycle far more products.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Neitzert is currently the President of Engineers for Social Responsibility Inc. </span></em></p>New types of biodegradable or compostable plastic products seem to offer an alternative to conventional plastics. But they may be no better for the environment.Thomas Neitzert, Professor emeritus, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/952312018-04-19T04:23:07Z2018-04-19T04:23:07ZThe recycling crisis in Australia: easy solutions to a hard problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215507/original/file-20180419-163995-9q039a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C2891%2C1933&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The amount of landfill in Australia is expected to rise since China is no longer buying our recycling waste. But there are easy solutions to this big problem.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/faircompanies/2201069031/">Nicolás Boullosa/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ipswich residents have been told their recycling waste will now be <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-18/ipswich-recycling-all-being-dumped-in-landfill/9672064">dumped into landfill</a> because it is too expensive for the local council to recycle. </p>
<p>This is a result of Australia’s recycling industry crisis. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-08/the-demise-of-kerb-side-recycling/9407650">China’s recent ban</a> on imported solid waste means that most of our waste has been stockpiled domestically and is not being recycled.</p>
<p>Last year alone we exported more than <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-10/china-ban-on-foreign-rubbish-leaves-recycling-industry-in-a-mess/9243184">600,000 tonnes of waste</a> to China. Australia does not currently have the capacity to handle this volume. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-where-do-my-recycled-items-go-86135">Curious Kids: Where do my recycled items go?</a>
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<p>In Queensland, this could not be happening at a worse time, given that the state will soon launch its own <a href="https://theconversation.com/plastic-fantastic-how-lotteries-could-revolutionise-recycling-74931">container refund scheme</a> in a bid to boost recycling rates.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the case of Ipswich Council is likely to be repeated around Australia. Many local councils will be feeling the strain and considering their options as they face their own recycling mess.</p>
<h2>Use a stick</h2>
<p>A crude, but ultimately effective, strategy would be to increase landfill levies to make this option more expensive. </p>
<p>This would create a clear and immediate incentive for businesses to consider exactly how much material they need to send to landfill. Until recently, Queensland had no levy on landfill. This prompted many New South Wales businesses to send their waste across the border for cheaper dumping. </p>
<p>Queensland recently <a href="https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/waste/qld-waste-strategy.html">re-introduced a levy</a> to deter this practice, which will presumably normalise the amount of waste going into its landfills.</p>
<p>Increasing levies will mean a movement towards the correct cost of landfill while at the same time generating revenue than can be used to improve recycling infrastructure or, fingers crossed, even cut council tax rates.</p>
<h2>Use a carrot</h2>
<p>It’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-recycling-plants-have-no-incentive-to-improve-81336">hard to say</a> exactly how much recycling is processed in Australia, as there’s no coherent national database of facilities. But, according to a <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/national-waste-policy/publications/waste-and-recycling-australia-2011">2011 government report</a>, Australia generates roughly 50 million tonnes of waste a year, around 50-60% of which is recycled.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-recycling-plants-have-no-incentive-to-improve-81336">Australian recycling plants have no incentive to improve</a>
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<p>It is clear the domestic market is currently too small to increase the percentage of recycling it handles. To solve this, another simple solution would be to subsidise the cost of recycling this waste.</p>
<p>Subsidies would provide immediate incentives for local recycling plants to increase their processing of this material. In the long run, this may result in more investment in local recycling infrastructure that will be essential to cope with the volume of waste.</p>
<p>Subsidies are not new for Australian environmental policy. Indeed, we subsidise the reduction of greenhouse gases using the A$2.5 billion <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-emissions-reduction-fund-is-almost-empty-it-shouldnt-be-refilled-92283">Emissions Reduction Fund</a>. The same logic could be used for recycling.</p>
<p>A savvy policymaker could implement a recycling subsidy that is fully funded by the revenue generated by a waste levy, thus requiring no additional taxpayer funding.</p>
<h2>Use a second, different, stick</h2>
<p>So far the proposed polices have focused on the existing problems within the landfill and recycling industries, but we need to look more closely at the root of the problem: the generation of waste.</p>
<p>Effective policies could reduce excessive packaging by encouraging companies to rethink their product delivery.</p>
<p>One could tax product packaging, just as policymakers have done with the use of successful plastic bag taxes. In 2015 England adopted a 5p charge for plastic bags and their use fell by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/30/england-plastic-bag-usage-drops-85-per-cent-since-5p-charged-introduced">85%</a> in just six months.</p>
<h2>Use a mirror</h2>
<p>Understandably, implementing tax and subsidy policies may not please everyone. Luckily, changing patterns of behaviour to reduce waste without levies and subsidies is often quite easy and relatively cheap.</p>
<p>Some councils are taking the step of monitoring the contents of bins. This is done either by sending employees to <a href="https://www.standard.net.au/story/5177762/keeping-a-close-eye-on-waste-loads-in-moyne-shire/">physically inspect wheelie bins</a>, or fitting garbage trucks with <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/east/manningham-councils-new-bins-fitted-with-microchips-to-monitor-waste/news-story/1fa4e76b0a82a347df0383c9c3214186">cameras</a> to check what’s dumped into their trays. Some parts of Perth are trialling <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-19/council-to-issue-transparent-wheelie-bins-to-spark-waste-rethink/9667960">clear wheelie bins</a> to encourage homeowners to reflect on what they’re putting in them.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-youre-almost-certainly-wasting-time-rinsing-your-recycling-78189">Why you're almost certainly wasting time rinsing your recycling</a>
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<p>We may instinctively object to being named and shamed for poor waste disposal habits, but it’s certainly a relatively cheap and effective way of changing community habits.</p>
<p>In a similar approach on the ABC’s <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/collection/war-on-waste">War on Waste</a>, a street of neighbours communally exposed the amount of rubbish they each generated, then pledged to reduce it. </p>
<p>Taking ownership of – and responsibility for – your own waste may prove an unlikely yet effective policy.</p>
<h2>Don’t panic! We have options</h2>
<p>All in all, we have plenty of options for dealing with our recycling. Now that China is no longer offering a cheap and convenient option to push our waste problems offshore, we have an opportunity to make positive and long-lasting change.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-recycle-our-way-to-zero-waste-78598">We can't recycle our way to 'zero waste'</a>
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<p>Using sensible policies, most effectively in combination, could make this a defining opportunity for our local recycling industry with great benefits for the Australian environment.</p>
<p>What we need most is strong and consistent leadership from policymakers who can imagine a low-waste Australian society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian A. MacKenzie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ipswich Council has stopped recycling and it’s likely that others around Australia will follow suit.Ian A. MacKenzie, Senior Lecturer in Economics, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/909902018-02-08T22:41:02Z2018-02-08T22:41:02ZAn international plastics treaty could avert a ‘Silent Spring’ for our seas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205569/original/file-20180208-180841-sxk7nf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A seal trapped in a mat of plastic pollution.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nels Israelson/Flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Global problems — like our <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111913">plastic-choked seas</a> — need global solutions.</p>
<p>It was welcome news when <a href="https://ipolitics.ca/2018/01/25/canada-will-push-g7-partners-sign-no-plastics-pledge-save-oceans/">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced</a> that Canada will use its year-long G7 presidency to turn the global spotlight on ocean plastics and pollution. </p>
<p>Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has said plastics will be a main theme of June’s summit when leaders from Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States join Trudeau in Charlevoix, Quebec.</p>
<p>But can Canada move these nations to establish enforceable rules?</p>
<p>The G7 has raised the plastics issue before. The Germans launched an action plan to combat marine litter in 2015 and Japan <a href="http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/summit/2016shima/ise-shima-declaration-en.html#resource">reaffirmed the commitment</a> to address the problem in 2016. </p>
<p>During the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos later that year, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/19/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-sea-by-2050-warns-ellen-macarthur">headlines blared</a> “More Plastic than Fish in the Sea by 2050” after the <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/the-new-plastics-economy-rethinking-the-future-of-plastics">release of a report</a> on global plastic waste. In 2017, Italy held a workshop on marine litter during its G7 presidency.</p>
<h2>Promises proliferate while plastic waste piles up</h2>
<p>But despite these promises, plastic production and waste <a href="http://wormlab.biology.dal.ca/publication/view/worm-b-et-al-2017-plastic-as-persistent-marine-pollutant/">continues to grow</a>. </p>
<p>Globally, millions of metric tonnes of plastic waste enter the ocean each year. In 2010, for example, between 4.8 million and 12.7 million metric tonnes of plastic hit the water. That’s equivalent to dumping a garbage truck of plastic into marine waters every minute.</p>
<p>Alarmingly, production of single-use plastic, like grocery bags, contributed nearly 40 per cent of total plastic production in 2015. Many end up in our oceans.</p>
<p>Boris Worm, a marine scientist at the Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has warned that if current trends continue, we’ll face a <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/38/11752">new “Silent Spring”</a> of the seas. Today, close to 90 per cent of seabirds have plastics in their guts, similar to the ubiquitous presence of the toxic chemical DDT in the 1960s, the focus of Rachel Carson’s book <em>Silent Spring</em>. </p>
<p>These voluntary international pledges are failing to stem the plastic tide. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205572/original/file-20180208-180829-1q1zybf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205572/original/file-20180208-180829-1q1zybf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205572/original/file-20180208-180829-1q1zybf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205572/original/file-20180208-180829-1q1zybf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205572/original/file-20180208-180829-1q1zybf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205572/original/file-20180208-180829-1q1zybf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205572/original/file-20180208-180829-1q1zybf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Controlling plastic pollution on land could limit what ends up in the sea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ingrid Taylar/Flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Most of the plastic in the sea comes from land. Most of it is not abandoned fishing gear, but plastic bags, milk and water bottles, and consumer goods like flip-flops dumped into waterways and washed out to sea. We’ve recognized this for years — more than 100 countries have <a href="http://web.unep.org/gpa/">endorsed efforts to reduce the impacts of marine litter worldwide</a> since 1995. But that was also a non-binding agreement.</p>
<p>Since then, promises to cut ocean plastics have proliferated, including the 2011 <a href="https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/solutions/honolulu-strategy">Honolulu Strategy</a> and “The Future We Want” <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/unsystem/index.php?page=view&type=5007&menu=32&nr=81&template=924">agreement</a> at the 2012 Rio+20 conference.</p>
<p>The 2015 <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg14">Oceans Goal</a>, one of the UN’s 20 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), repeats the target of significant marine pollution reduction. </p>
<p>And last year, the United Nations Environmental Programme launched its “war on plastic” with the <a href="http://www.cleanseas.org/">Clean Seas</a> campaign, which aims to eliminate microplastics in cosmetics and the wasteful usage of single-use plastic by the year 2022.</p>
<h2>Law rules</h2>
<p>What we lack are binding rules for land-based sources of plastic pollution that apply to countries around the world. As the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) <a href="http://www.ciel.org/countries-tackle-pollution-source-unea-3/">noted</a>: “Current initiatives to tackle plastic pollution focus on the symptoms but not the root of the problem.”</p>
<p>At home, Trudeau can support the development of a coordinated national strategy to combat plastics pollution, backed up by law.</p>
<p>There’s plenty of evidence that voluntary actions aren’t enough. In 2000, Canada was the first country to act with a <a href="http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/En21-204-2000-1E.pdf">National Plan of Action on land-based sources of marine pollution</a>. But with no legal mechanism to compel action, the national plan to keep plastic pollution from entering the sea has languished. </p>
<p>It would be a step forward even if the G7 only acknowledged the need for binding laws.</p>
<h2>G7 to the rescue?</h2>
<p>Still more can be done. Canada can start a race to the top to see who can put the best laws in place, and who can reap the gains from a new plastic economy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205573/original/file-20180208-180816-13cvo6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205573/original/file-20180208-180816-13cvo6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205573/original/file-20180208-180816-13cvo6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205573/original/file-20180208-180816-13cvo6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205573/original/file-20180208-180816-13cvo6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205573/original/file-20180208-180816-13cvo6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205573/original/file-20180208-180816-13cvo6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Plastic collected from the Pacific Ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Chris Jordan/flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Trudeau can convince his fellow G7 leaders to emulate Canada’s <a href="https://www.ec.gc.ca/lcpe-cepa/eng/regulations/detailReg.cfm?intReg=238">new regulations</a> that prohibit the manufacture, import and sale of personal toiletry products that contain plastic microbeads. The G7 leaders can share their experiences on what’s worked well for them, whether it’s the European Union’s new <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/pdf/plastics-strategy.pdf">Plastics Strategy</a> and legislative initiative on single-use plastics, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/19/europe/france-bans-plastic-cups-plates/index.html">France’s ban</a> on plastic cups and plates, or the U.S. initiative called <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/756?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22s756%22%5D%7D&r=1">Save Our Seas Act</a>.</p>
<p>Canada could plan a “Plastic-Free Day” during the meeting, or host an ocean plastics art competition at the Charlevoix venue with entries from all G7 nations. It could help to bring industry on side by showcasing promising initiatives like the <a href="https://newplasticseconomy.org/">New Plastics Economy</a>, focused on increasing recapture, reuse and recycling of plastics. And it could screen a heart-wrenching film like <a href="https://bluethefilm.org/">Blue</a> for the world leaders. </p>
<p>A bold step forward would be a G7 agreement to fast-track an international plastics treaty.</p>
<h2>End game: A plastic pollution treaty</h2>
<p>Canada can build on its past leadership on environmental treaties, such as the <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/canada-celebrates-30th-anniversary-of-the-montreal-protocol-644711343.html">Montreal Protocol</a> that eliminated more than 99 per cent of ozone-depleting substances globally, to tackle marine plastic pollution. </p>
<p>During the G7 presidency, Trudeau can take the lead to initiate an international treaty that sets global reduction targets for the production and consumption of plastics, and regulates their production, consumption, disposal and clean-up.</p>
<p>At the <a href="http://web.unep.org/environmentassembly/">U.N. Environment Assembly</a> in December, nations failed to include any reductions targets or a timetable in their resolution on marine litter and microplastics. They did, however, establish a group to “further examine the barriers to, and options for, combating marine plastic litter and microplastics from all sources, especially land-based sources.” </p>
<p>This group can recommend the formation of a treaty. If the G7 were to endorse this idea, it might get the international treaty-making machinery moving even more quickly.</p>
<p>There are many proposals at hand. </p>
<p>One based on the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X16307096">Montreal Protocol</a> — widely regarded as one of the world’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/saving-the-ozone-layer-why-the-montreal-protocol-worked-9249">most successful</a> environmental agreements — would impose caps on plastics production and trade bans.</p>
<p>Another <a href="https://ensia.com/voices/we-need-a-global-treaty-on-plastics-heres-what-it-should-look-like/">points to the climate treaty</a>, with countries setting a binding plastics goal and then developing national action plans.</p>
<p>Alternatively, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5617320/">others call</a> for an agreement that institutes a waste hierarchy, where plastics are first reduced, then reused, re-purposed and finally recycled, and creates a global fund to help pay for better waste management practices and infrastructure. </p>
<p>But successful treaties need industry involvement — and commitment to change. A recent <a href="http://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Fueling-Plastics-Plastic-Industry-Awareness-of-the-Ocean-Plastics-Problem.pdf">CIEL report</a> traces industry awareness of the ocean plastics problem back to the 1970s. There is no time for the kind of industry denial we’ve seen regarding climate change. </p>
<p>It’s an opportune time for Canada to use its G7 leadership to avert another Silent Spring and begin tackling the problem of plastics in the oceans.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90990/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span> Linda Nowlan receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Oceans5, a a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc. She works for West Coast Environmental Law. </span></em></p>Millions of tonnes of plastic garbage winds up in our oceans each year. Voluntary pledges haven’t worked. It’s time for Canada to advocate for an international plastics treaty.Linda Nowlan, Adjunct Professor, Allard School of Law, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/786732017-08-15T20:14:48Z2017-08-15T20:14:48ZFor a true war on waste, the fashion industry must spend more on research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180496/original/file-20170801-14795-roc1jr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A model wears one of the author's original zero waste designs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The rise of fast fashion in Australia means 6000 kg of clothing is dumped in landfill every 10 minutes. The <a href="http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/war-on-waste-stories/DC1624H013S00#playing">ABC’s War On Waste </a> visualised this statistic by piling a giant mound of clothing waste in the middle of the city. So what to do about it?</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180638/original/file-20170801-29110-1qg9jks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180638/original/file-20170801-29110-1qg9jks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180638/original/file-20170801-29110-1qg9jks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180638/original/file-20170801-29110-1qg9jks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180638/original/file-20170801-29110-1qg9jks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180638/original/file-20170801-29110-1qg9jks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180638/original/file-20170801-29110-1qg9jks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180638/original/file-20170801-29110-1qg9jks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A scene from the ABC’s War on Waste.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sustainable fashion experts advocate abstaining from buying fast fashion, promoting clothing swaps and repairing old clothing. Others suggest buying organic and ethically-sourced clothes or designing clothing using zero waste techniques. The hope is that greater transparency in supply chains will lead to an end to sweatshops and unsustainable fashion practices. </p>
<p>These are admirable initiatives, but they only reduce wastage or delay garments from ending up in landfill. They do not address the fact that the scale of fast fashion is so massive it can easily eclipse other sustainability initiatives.
Nor do they address the wastefulness of existing technologies and the urgent need to research new ones. </p>
<p>Even if we could magically stop the global production of all garments, we would still need new, green technology to clean up the waste we have already created. There are long-term strategies for green technologies such as electric cars, but where are the major companies and research institutes developing the next generation of sustainable fashion technologies? The development of new synthetic biology technologies may be the key. </p>
<h2>From catwalk to research</h2>
<p>I would like to share my journey from zero waste fashion design pioneer to trans-disciplinary fashion researcher to highlight the challenges faced by sustainable fashion and the need for more research.</p>
<p>Ten years ago, I presented my <a href="http://www.drmarkliu.com/zerowaste-fashion-1/">“Zero-Waste” Fashion collection</a> at London Fashion Week. I and other sustainable designers at the time took the waste streams of other industries such as scrap materials and leftover fabric and created our collections from them. I was selected for “Estethica”, a new initiative created by sustainable fashion gurus <a href="http://fashionrevolution.org/interview-with-orsola-de-castro-co-founder-of-fashion-revolution-day/">Orsola De Castro</a>, Filippo Ricci and Anna Orsini from the British Fashion Council. Sustainable fashion was shown on London catwalks next to luxury fashion - a revolutionary step for the time.</p>
<p>I pioneered a way of creating tailored, high fashion garments so that all the pieces of a garment fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle and no waste was created. Conventional pattern cutting creates about 15% wastage of material, even if the pattern has been optimised by a computer. I wanted to systemically change the way clothing was made.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180637/original/file-20170801-29110-sxmdyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180637/original/file-20170801-29110-sxmdyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180637/original/file-20170801-29110-sxmdyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=230&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180637/original/file-20170801-29110-sxmdyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=230&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180637/original/file-20170801-29110-sxmdyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=230&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180637/original/file-20170801-29110-sxmdyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180637/original/file-20170801-29110-sxmdyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180637/original/file-20170801-29110-sxmdyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To design a garment with zero waste requires new patternmaking techniques, based on advanced mathematics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the problem with zero-waste design is that it is very difficult to create. It requires a skilled designer to simultaneously imagine the garment as a 3D item and a flat pattern, while trying to fit the pieces together like a jigsaw. It is easy to make an unfitted or baggy garment, but creating something that looks good and fits the body was a real challenge.</p>
<p>Even after all these years, most contemporary zero-waste fashion is still not tailored to the body. I practised this technique for years to master it. It required breaking all the rules of conventional pattern-making and creating new techniques based on advanced mathematics. </p>
<p>These were exciting times. Our fabrics were organic, we made everything locally and ensured everyone was paid an ethical wage. The press loved our story. But problems started to emerge when it came to sales. We had to sell more expensive garments, using a smaller range of fabrics - our materials and labour costs were higher than those of companies that produced overseas. Often fashion buyers would say they loved what we did, but after looking at the price tag would politely take their business elsewhere. </p>
<p>As a sustainable fashion designer, my impact was limited. It was also impossible to teach zero-waste fashion design without explaining how advanced mathematics applied to it. It was time to try a new approach, so I decided to apply science and maths to traditional fashion techniques. </p>
<p><a href="http://newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2016/08/disruptive-fashion">My PhD research explored the underlying geometry of fashion pattern-making.</a> Combining fashion with science allowed the traditional techniques and artistry of making garments to be explained and communicated to scientist and engineers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180644/original/file-20170802-11377-1rgs3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180644/original/file-20170802-11377-1rgs3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180644/original/file-20170802-11377-1rgs3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180644/original/file-20170802-11377-1rgs3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180644/original/file-20170802-11377-1rgs3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180644/original/file-20170802-11377-1rgs3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180644/original/file-20170802-11377-1rgs3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180644/original/file-20170802-11377-1rgs3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Consumers have embraced fast fashion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the meantime, fast fashion companies rapidly expanded, with Zara, Topshop and H&M reaching Australia by 2011. <a href="http://www.thefashionlaw.com/learn/fast-fashions-green-initiatives-dont-believe-the-hype">They produced massive amounts of cheap products making low margins on each garment.</a> Consumers quickly became addicted to the instant gratification of this retail experience. The size and scale of their production produced hundreds of tonnes of garments every day. </p>
<h2>The limits of fashion technology</h2>
<p>Fast fashion companies such as H&M have developed recycling initiatives in which <a href="https://about.hm.com/en/sustainability/get-involved/recycle-your-clothes.html">consumers can exchange old clothing for discount vouchers.</a> This is supposed to prevent clothing from going to landfill, instead recycling it into new clothing.</p>
<p>However, there are those who are sceptical of H&M’s recycling process. In 2016, investigative journalist Lucy Siegle crunched the numbers and concluded that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/03/rana-plaza-campaign-handm-recycling#comments">“it appears it would take 12 years for H&M to use up 1,000 tons of fashion waste”</a>. This, she said, was the amount of clothing they produce in about 48 hours. </p>
<p><a href="http://sustainability.hm.com/content/dam/hm/about/documents/en/CSR/2016%20Sustainability%20report/HM_group_SustainabilityReport_2016_FullReport_en.pdf">A 2016 H&M sustainability report reveals that only 0.7%</a> of their clothes are actually made from recycled or other sustainably-sourced materials. In the report, <a href="http://sustainability.hm.com/content/dam/hm/about/documents/en/CSR/2016%20Sustainability%20report/HM_group_SustainabilityReport_2016_FullReport_en.pdf">H&M acknowledges</a> :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Today, this is not possible because the technology for recycling is limited. For this reason, the share of recycled materials in our products is still relatively small.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In fact, their 2016 annual <a href="https://about.hm.com/content/dam/hmgroup/groupsite/documents/masterlanguage/Annual%20Report/Annual%20Report%202016.pdf">report states</a> that more research is needed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>if a greater proportion of recycled fibres is to be added to the garments without compromising quality, and also to be able to separate fibres contained in mixed materials. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sustainable technologies strive for a “circular economy”, in which materials can be infinitely recycled. Yet this technology is only in its infancy and needs much more research funding. <a href="https://globalchangeaward.com/">H&M’s Global Change Award</a> funds five start-up companies with a total of 1 million Euros for new solutions. Contrast this with the millions required by the most basic Silicon Valley start-ups or billions for major green technology companies such as <a href="https://www.tesla.com">Tesla</a> or <a href="http://www.solarcity.com/">SolarCity</a>. There is a dire need for disruptive new fashion technology. </p>
<p>Many of the promising new technologies require getting <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6278/1196">bacteria</a> or fungi to grow or biodegrade the fabrics for us - this is a shift to researching the fundamental technologies behind fashion items.</p>
<p>For example, it takes 2700L of water and over 120 days to grow enough cotton to make a T-shirt. However, in nature, bacteria such as “acetobacter xylinum” can grow a sheet of cellulose in hours. Clothing grown from bacteria has been pioneered by <a href="http://www.biofabricate.co/">Dr Suzanne Lee</a>. If a breakthrough can be made so that commercially grown cotton can be grown from bacteria, it may be possible to replace cotton fields with more efficient bacteria vats. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UQBhwVD5rAE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But why just stick with cotton? Fabrics can be generated from milk, seaweed, crab shells, banana waste or coconut waste. Companies such as <a href="https://www.ecovativedesign.com/">Ecovate</a> can feed fabric fibres to mushroom spore called mycelium to create bioplastics or biodegradable packaging for companies such as Dell. Adidas has 3D printed a <a href="http://news.adidas.com/us/Latest-News/adidas-unveils-world-s-first-performance-shoe--made-from-biosteel--fiber/s/88ed218c-68a0-43ba-9ce2-4e87bce30652">biodegradable shoe from spider silk developed by AM silk</a>. </p>
<p>Although I began my journey as a fashion designer, a new generation of materials and technologies has pulled me from the catwalk into the science lab. To address these complex issues, collaboration between designers, scientist, engineers and business people has become essential.</p>
<p>To clean up the past and address the waste problems of the future, further investment in fashion technology is urgently needed. </p>
<p><em>Mark Liu’s podcast interview for the ABC’s War on Waste series will be published on the ABC online tomorrow.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78673/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Liu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The scale of fast fashion is so massive it can easily eclipse sustainability initiatives. We need investment in new technologies to revolutionise the industry.Mark Liu, Chancellors Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Fashion and Textiles Designer, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/806732017-07-12T02:30:50Z2017-07-12T02:30:50ZWhat ethical business can do to help make ecocities a reality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177478/original/file-20170710-29734-2tygww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Soft Landing recycles the materials of mattresses that otherwise get dumped in landfill.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanstanton/8587046271">Alan Stanton/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is one of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/ecocity-summit-40496">series</a> of articles to coincide with the 2017 <a href="https://www.ecocity2017.com/">Ecocity World Summit</a> in Melbourne.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Cities have always been eco(nomic)cities but rarely eco(logical)cities. Today, growing inequality and environmental degradation undermine the very conditions of life as we have known it. Continuing business and urbanisation as usual will make this problem worse.</p>
<p>Economic growth must become synonymous with ecological and social sustainability. If we forget this we are doomed. Cities, where <a href="https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf">more than half of the world’s people live</a>, must lead the way.</p>
<p>Many city dwellers are heeding the call to change ways of being and reshape livelihoods. They are modifying their behaviours as much as they can to reduce, reuse and recycle. </p>
<p>They are becoming renewable energy producers in the face of a political system that as yet, in Australia at least, <a href="https://theconversation.com/attacks-on-renewable-energy-policy-are-older-than-the-climate-issue-itself-65434">refuses to help very much</a>. They are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-20/clay-millennials-are-driving-the-shift-away-from-cars/5906406">reducing car use</a> and are interested in <a href="http://www.locallysourced.com.au/">sourcing food</a> more locally. </p>
<p>But citizens can only so do much. One hope for our cities, identified in <a href="http://www.westernsydney.edu.au/ics/research/projects/reconfiguring_the_enterprise_shifting_manufacturing_culture_in_australia">my research</a>, is that more and more businesses put ecological and social sustainability at the core of their performance model. </p>
<h2>Companies that lead the way</h2>
<p>Companies like commercial carpet tile manufacturer Interface Carpets did this a generation ago when it abandoned the linear “take-make-waste” model of production. Instead, it embraced a commitment to eliminating any negative impact on the environment. </p>
<p>With the input of an “eco dream team” made up of pragmatic philosophers and biomimicry experts, the company adopted a visionary plan, “<a href="http://www.interface.com/EU/en-GB/about/index/Mission-Zero-en_GB">Mission Zero</a>”. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177482/original/file-20170710-29699-13nije.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177482/original/file-20170710-29699-13nije.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177482/original/file-20170710-29699-13nije.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177482/original/file-20170710-29699-13nije.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177482/original/file-20170710-29699-13nije.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177482/original/file-20170710-29699-13nije.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177482/original/file-20170710-29699-13nije.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carpet takes over 50 years to break down in landfill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://wastezero.com/2014/03/recycle-textiles/">WasteZero</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Interface business was redesigned along circular economy lines to eliminate oil from the production of synthetic carpet tiles. This achievement will be largely completed by Interface’s target year 2020. At the same time, the business has eliminated waste, is powered by 100% renewable energy and uses efficient transportation. </p>
<p>But environmental wellbeing is not all Interface is committed to. Social equity is also a company goal. </p>
<p>Interface’s Netherlands plant is pioneering collaboration with a social enterprise that employs people at a distance from the labour market. This enterprise is organising the cleaning and reuse of carpet tiles, large proportions of which are replaced before their product expiry date. </p>
<p>Interface’s Minto plant, on the outskirts of Sydney, has taken the corporate lead internationally to refashion the “factory as a forest” as part of the new <a href="http://www.interface.com/US/en-US/campaign/negative-to-positive/Climate-Take-Back">Climate Take Back</a> strategy.</p>
<p>The goal is not only to reduce the negative impact on the environment but to have a positive impact through restorative action. How this will be done is still to be determined, but it is objectives like Mission Zero that have driven innovation in the past. </p>
<p>The Australian social enterprise <a href="http://www.softlanding.com.au/">Soft Landing</a> first established just north of Wollongong provides jobs for people experiencing disadvantage. They disassemble and recycle the materials of mattresses that otherwise get dumped in landfill.</p>
<p>Just like Interface, Soft Landing is exploring new interdependencies between for-profit firms with a commitment to environmental sustainability and for-purpose social enterprise. </p>
<p>Having worked with key industry partners over many years, Soft Landing is co-ordinating a product stewardship scheme that enrols firms in voluntarily adopting sustainability protocols for mattress making and unmaking. </p>
<p>Mattresses are a problem waste stream, and this initiative will help roll out Soft Landing’s innovative “<a href="http://www.communityrecycling.com.au/blog/social-enterprise-wins-top-sustainability-award-for-recycling-mattresses">waste to wages</a>” model, significantly reducing landfill while also creating jobs. </p>
<p>A carpet manufacturer and mattress recycler are showing the way toward repairing and restoring the social and environmental fabric, and pushing policy along as they do so. This is jobs and growth in a new register. If they can do it, so can others. </p>
<h2>Now for the construction sector…</h2>
<p>Now we need the urban building sector to take notice and attend to the context in which carpet and mattresses are housed. </p>
<p>Rather than catering to demand for the cheapest housing that conforms to the most basic of <a href="https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/planning-tools/basix%20requirements">BASIX</a>, we need to see some leadership with housing that truly contributes to environmental and social restoration and repair. </p>
<p>Housing developers could race to the top by experimenting with:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/600567/Australian_CLT_Manual.pdf">community land trusts</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-co-housing-could-make-homes-cheaper-and-greener-39235">co-housing</a>;</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/incrementalhousing/">incremental housing</a> that starts on a solid ecological footing and allows residents to add on when needed;</p></li>
<li><p>buildings that incorporate more <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-comprehensive-housing-approach-to-deal-with-heatwaves-72800">passive cooling and heating</a> capacities; and</p></li>
<li><p>housing at density that provides <a href="https://theconversation.com/co-housing-works-well-for-older-people-once-they-get-past-the-image-problem-79907">spaces for conviviality and connection</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Interface and Soft Landing are successful businesses that show what can happen when commitments to building a better world become central to their brand. If we can’t rely on our politicians to listen to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/anthropocene-raises-risks-of-earth-without-democracy-and-without-us-38911">warnings of the Anthropocene</a>, we can at least turn to ethically attuned business to help make ecological cities a reality. </p>
<p>Working with a reparative ecological approach and a commitment to socio-economic inclusion, everyone can be part of a solution. Overcoming inequality and environmental degradation is key to ensuring that ecocities are not another excuse for business as usual in a new guise.</p>
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<p><em>You can read other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/ecocity-summit-40496">here</a>. The <a href="https://www.ecocity2017.com/">Ecocity World Summit</a> is being hosted by the University of Melbourne, Western Sydney University, the Victorian government and the City of Melbourne in Melbourne from July 12-14.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80673/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Gibson receives funding from the Australian Research Council, which supported research for this article.</span></em></p>City dwellers are individually starting to do their bit to live sustainably. Now pioneering businesses are aiming to make ecological and social sustainability part of their bottom line.Katherine Gibson, Professor of Economic Geography, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/785982017-06-04T20:22:13Z2017-06-04T20:22:13ZWe can’t recycle our way to ‘zero waste’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171971/original/file-20170602-31398-kver89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Recycling should be seen as a last defence against landfill.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/degilbo_on_flickr/8702487373/">Lance/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of the final episode of the ABC’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/ourfocus/waronwaste/">War on Waste</a>, in which a dismayed Craig Reucassel canvasses Australia’s rubbish-related sins, the idea of “zero waste” is pretty hot right now. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171985/original/file-20170602-8001-nsk3nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171985/original/file-20170602-8001-nsk3nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171985/original/file-20170602-8001-nsk3nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171985/original/file-20170602-8001-nsk3nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171985/original/file-20170602-8001-nsk3nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171985/original/file-20170602-8001-nsk3nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171985/original/file-20170602-8001-nsk3nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The City of Sydney’s Zero Waste campaign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">City of Sydney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But often when we hear of zero waste movements, or <a href="http://saplan.org.au/targets/67-zero-waste">civic</a> and <a href="http://www.1degree.com.au/our-steps/reduce/">corporate</a> zero waste commitments, they are actually “zero waste to landfill” campaigns. They’re not aiming for zero waste to be produced, just for all waste to be managed somehow – usually, relying heavily on recycling.</p>
<p>In fact most of us have probably said, or at least heard, the statement: “It’s not waste – it gets recycled!” or for food, “it goes to compost!”</p>
<p>Certainly it’s old news to the waste recovery industry that one person’s trash is another’s treasure. High-quality, well-sorted waste isn’t just usable, it’s desirable – either for recycling or <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-we-should-be-turning-waste-into-fuel-77463">conversion into fuel</a>. </p>
<p>The Australian recycling industry is doing a good job of repurposing most of our collected recyclable material. This contributes to developing <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-circular-economy-23298">circular economy</a>, in which recycled waste displaces virgin material in production.</p>
<p>But, like many words, there’s a crucial difference between the common and technical definition of waste. Conversationally, “waste” is understood as something unwanted or unusable, that has no value. In technical terms, it’s a classification of a resource or product at a certain point in its value chain.</p>
<p>It might seem like a pedantic distinction. But language shapes our understanding and behaviour, and our conception of what is possible and important. </p>
<p>Albert Shamess, Vancouver’s director of waste management <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig0fwRrQapM&feature=youtu.be">said recently</a>, “we can’t recycle our way to zero waste”. It goes to the heart of the question: is waste still waste if it gets recycled? </p>
<p>The standard waste hierarchy generally demarcates between waste avoidance and waste management, with recycling squarely in the waste management zone. In this sense, recycling is something we do to waste, not a way to avoid it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171572/original/file-20170531-25700-wb9ez1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171572/original/file-20170531-25700-wb9ez1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171572/original/file-20170531-25700-wb9ez1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171572/original/file-20170531-25700-wb9ez1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171572/original/file-20170531-25700-wb9ez1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171572/original/file-20170531-25700-wb9ez1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171572/original/file-20170531-25700-wb9ez1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ‘waste hierarchy’ prioritises actions by those with the greatest environmental benefit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UTS: Institute for Sustainable Futures</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These days, recycling is standard practice in most Australian households and <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-golden-rules-to-help-solve-your-recycling-dilemmas-65552">in general is fairly simple</a>. It’s not that hard to place an item in a recycling bin instead of the rubbish when they’re side by side in the kitchen (or in an office, or public space). </p>
<p>But recycling sits fairly low down the waste hierarchy. When we say “it’s not waste if it gets recycled”, it makes it easier to avoid more important actions with greater potential impact. </p>
<p>Similarly, when zero waste commitments are defined as “not going to landfill”, it’s too easy for companies or cities to set a <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-much-landfill-does-australia-have-78404">diversion target</a> and focus on recycling and recovery, rather than setting targets for the more complicated task of waste minimisation.</p>
<p>But while recycling (and recovery) is a great last line of defence, it’s nowhere near as effective as avoiding the waste in the first place.</p>
<h2>Why is recycling low on the waste hierarchy?</h2>
<p>The waste hierarchy prioritises actions based on how much they benefit the environment. Recycling is certainly magnitudes better than landfill, because it replaces virgin materials in the manufacturing process. For example, <a href="http://getitrightbinnight.vic.gov.au/why-recycle/">recycling aluminium is 95% more efficient than using virgin aluminium, recycling plastic is 85% more efficient, paper 50%, and glass 40%</a>. </p>
<p>But the recycling process still consumes energy (and other resources), and costs money. And for many materials, particularly plastic and to some extent paper, recycling is also a <a href="http://www.greenlifestylemag.com.au/features/2936/disposable-drink-bottles-plastic-vs-glass-vs-aluminium">downgrading process</a>. </p>
<p>These materials can only be recycled a certain number of times before they degrade beyond all use, and generally then end up in landfill. At this point, they can’t be recovered for <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-we-should-be-turning-waste-into-fuel-77463">waste to energy</a>.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if we could reduce the amount of material that needs to be recycled, or better yet, the amount that needs to be produced in the first place, these costs would disappear altogether. <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/sustainable-shopping-38407">Better consumer choices</a> can play a role, but more significant are improved <a href="https://theconversation.com/resource-productivity-four-ways-australia-can-keep-the-good-times-rolling-44087">resource management</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-recycling-making-waste-obsolete-5368">smarter product design</a>.</p>
<p>In our transition to a circular economy, the way we characterise things may shift to emphasise the that objects have value <a href="https://theconversation.com/kintsugi-and-the-art-of-ceramic-maintenance-64223">beyond the end of their intended life</a>. But it’s essential we still call a spade a spade.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether something is “waste” if it gets recycled, recycling (and recovery) needs to be seen as what is is – a last line of defence. Minimising waste is more important than managing it, and we need to keep our focus there.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78598/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer (Downes) Macklin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the rush to increase recycling, we should remember that reducing waste in the first place is a much a higher priority.Jennifer (Downes) Macklin, Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.