Reconnecting the dots for water and waste management in line with the transition to Circular Economy
According to the European Environmental Agency (link), textiles have on average the fourth highest negative life cycle impact on the environment and climate change, after food, housing and mobility, The yearly quantity of textile wastes generated in the EU amounts to approximately 7 million tons. The graph below (source EEA) present the estimated annual consumption (production + import – export) of of clothing, footwear and household textiles per inhabitant in the EU.
The digital transformation of society and economy is seen by a large majority of waste stakeholders as a pivotal mean to “spur innovation and productivity growth, to transform waste services, and to improve the amenity of cities as information, knowledge and data become more widely available”(see the EEA 2020 report on Digital Waste Management). Despite that the waste management sector is still in an early phase in this development, digital technologies already appear as indispensable to engage the transition to Circular economy which requires a much more efficient management system since the distinction between raw materials, products and waste becomes increasingly unclear,
Continue reading “Blockchain: a tool to support circular economy processes ?”The Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were both adopted in 2015. As illustrated by the Connect4Climate infographic, the implementation timing of the instruments is closely related and there are a lot of synergies between nationally determined contributions to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 under the Paris Agreement and 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals to be reached by 2030.
Infrastructure plays a key role in supporting the achievement of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement since it delivers essential services including energy, water, communications, healthcare and education. At the same time, infrastructure is also part of the problem since it a major source of GHG emissions and will be responsible for the biggest part of adaptation cost as illustrated in the table below (source: UNOPS 2021 report “infrastructure for climate action”)
‘Collection’ is defined by Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC as amended by 2018/851/EC as: ‘the gathering of waste, including the preliminary sorting and preliminary storage of waste for the purposes of transport to a waste treatment facility.’ This is the point where begin any waste management processes which are imposed by law. One of them is the obligation to organize separate collection system for the flowing waste streams:
Composting is a growing global concern for cities who face increasing waste generation and the associated climate impact, especially in developing countries where, even if consumption habits are changing, organic matters still represent more than 50 % of the domestic solid wastes. Here are the usually expected benefits from compositing municipal organic waste in cities.
Circular Economy is fast gaining traction as new model for sustainable growth. However, CE continues to be understood primarily as a waste management and recycling strategy, but the economic opportunities are far broader and more diverse. As outlined in the Chatham House research paper “An inclusive Circular Economy: priorities for developing countries” (link), the goal is to promote a broad range of activities and functions geared at:
The World Bank publication “More growth, less garbage”, estimates waste generation to grow from 2.24 billion tonnes in 2020 to 3.88 billion tonnes by 2050 under a business-as usual scenarios. It will then stand at 1.09 kg of waste per capita per day, on average. This 70 % increase will not be only driven by demographic growth (world population is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050, meaning 25 % increase as compared with 2021) but also by increases in prosperity and urbanization in the developing countries where waste generation is expected to triple. There is indeed a strong positive correlation between waste generation per capita and GDP per capita. Here is some projections from the World Bank on the total waste generation by region.
The global production of plastic has increased, from 1.5 million tons in 1950 to approximately 359 million tons in 2018. Approximately 4% of crude oil production is directly utilized in plastic production. Plastic materials (usually packaging) are the third largest contributor of municipal solid waste (about 12 %). The continuous disposal of plastic wastes is destructive to both terrestrial and marine ecosystem, as they are not readily biodegraded and can take several years to vanish.
Continue reading “How much can waste-to-fuel pyrolysis help to solve the plastic crisis?”Plastic is a recent material (industrial production started at the beginning of the 20th century) that is relatively cheap and combines a set of valuable properties (lightness, strength, durability). These can be further extended with different additives. Since 1950, annual global plastic production has increased from 2 to 380 million tons and is projected to double by 2035 and almost quadruple by 2050. As a matter of fact, modern life is unthinkable without it. The chart below presents the global plastic use by polymer and sector (source: OECD policy paper Improving Plastics Management: Trends, policy responses, and the role of international co-operation and trade).
These were the words of Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director, when presented Europe’s state of the environment 2020 (link). He put strong emphasis on the conclusion that “Europe has a narrow window of opportunity in the next decade to scale up measures to protect nature, lessen the impacts of climate change and radically reduce our consumption of natural resources”.
Continue reading “Europe’s environment is at a tipping point”
Sustainable Synergies 