CAPITALI$M MERDE
Human waste turned into energy and cryptocurrency
A South Korean toilet converts human waste into biogas and cryptocurrency.
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An eco-friendly South Korean toilet transforms excrement into methane and fertiliser.
Called the Beevi toilet- a compound of the words ‘bee’ and ‘vision’-it uses a vacuum pump to send faeces to an underground tank. This eliminates the need for flushing, thereby saving water. Said toilet is attached to a laboratory, where the human waste is used to power a building. Methane created in this way also helps power a gas stove, a hot water boiler as well as a solid oxide fuel cell.
On average, a person defecates about 500g a day which can be converted to 50 litres of methane. Said amount can generate 0,5kWh of electricity or be used to drive a car for 1,2 km.
The excrement derived, renewable natural gas (RNG) produced in this way is also considered a low carbon biofuel and can fuel anything that runs on natural gas. The EU is the global market leader when it comes to the implementation of RNG, with Germany leading in terms of production. As of now, there are 282 RNG plants across Europe with a total production of 1.375bn cubic meters. Uses within a European context relate predominantly to heat and power though the transportation fuel market is on the rise.
On a global scale, using human waste for biogas generation represents an untapped opportunity. According to UN calculations, said waste would be enough to supply electricity to 138 million households-the equivalent of Indonesia, Brazil and Ethiopia combined.
Despite its economic and ecological potential, faeces as an energy source still hasn’t caught on. This is often on account of cultural barriers, leading to relevant stakeholders being unwilling to finance RNG facilities that make use of human waste.
Cho Jae-won, the urban and environmental engineering professor at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) who designed the Beevi toilet, however, stresses the importance of ‘out of the box thinking’ when it comes to designing sustainable energy solutions.
"If we think out of the box, faeces has precious value to make energy and manure. I have put this value into ecological circulation," Cho said.
The way in which the scientist assigns value to human waste is through a merit-based system. As such, every time someone uses the toilet located at UNIST, they can earn 10 Ggool (a form of cryptocurrency).
Students trying the Beevi can use their digital currency to buy goods on campus, ranging from freshly brewed coffee and fruits to books.
"I had only ever thought that faeces are dirty, but now it is a treasure of great value to me," postgraduate student Heo Hui-jin said at the Ggool market. "I even talk about faeces during mealtimes to think about buying any book I want."
Canada to support sustainable waste management in Mi’kmaq confederacy
Canada wants to improve the quality of life amongst First Nation communities by investing in waste management systems.
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The Canadian government is seeking to improve waste management in Mi'kmaq territory.
By investing in infrastructure, training as well as partnerships, the government intends to render waste management both sustainable as well as efficient for First Nation communities.
$1,1 million will be allocated to the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq's Mi'kmawey Green Communities Program (MGCP), as announced by Minister of Indigenous Services Mark Miller.
The outlined budget will serve to support the eight indigenous member communities that fall under the umbrella of the Mi’kmaq Confederacy.
As such, the money will help develop sustainable waste management systems, boost community awareness campaigns, support waste diversion schemes and organic composting innovations, strengthen partnerships with neighbouring municipalities, improve household hazardous waste collection as well as finance preliminary infrastructure work.
"As the Government of Canada continues to take strides to protect the environment, it is critical that we are ready to support Indigenous communities in those same efforts. That is why we are pleased to support the important work of the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq's Mi'kmawey Green Communities Program. Not only is this investment helping First Nations become greener, cleaner and more sustainable, but it is also helping enable communities to design and deliver high-quality services for their members", Minister Miller said.
The Mi’kmaq commitment to environmental sustainability is grounded in their belief ‘that whatever you do today impacts seven generations down the line’, as expressed by Randy Angus, Director of Integrated Resource Management at the Confederacy in an interview with CBS back in 2019.
"So one of the social responsibilities that we want to do within the communities is to make sure that we're dealing with waste in the most efficient, best manner to serve the needs of our great great great great-grandchildren," he said.
Angie Gillis, Mi’kmaq Confederacy Associate Executive Director, points out that MGCP has helped render existing communities ‘greener, cleaner and more sustainable’.
This $1.1 million investment will ensure the continuation of core programming, support community requests for future projects promptly and continue to enhance capacity building. This will benefit all of our communities for years to come," she concludes.
Funding, as such, will flow through the First Nations Waste Management Initiative.
In the past 5 years, Canada has invested more than $409 million in solid waste management projects for First Nation communities.
$1,3 trillion in global circular economy spend proves insufficient
The $1,3 trillion a year spent by companies, private financial institutes and governments on the circular economy is not enough.
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Each year, investors, businesses and governments spend over $1,3 trillion on waste reduction as well as on repair and reuse schemes. The sum in question is inadequate for the purpose of establishing a sustainable and circular economy across borders, a new study finds.
Conducted by UK think tank Chatham House and research specialists Just Economics, the study established that governments allocate $510 billion, companies $800 billion and financial institutions and investors $46 billion to circular economy initiatives.
Taken on their own, these numbers appear remarkable yet compared to annual investments in conventional ‘linear economy models’, that is, to markets where products and resources are conceived of for single rather than multiple use, the figures seem negligible.
Analysis proved that the governmental budget of $510 billion only comprised around 4% of a total spend of $13 trillion while the $800 billion a year allocated by companies only represented 2% of a total of $35 trillion.
The global fashion industry, worth $1,5 trillion, only saw circular investment accounting for 0,05% ($7 billion for the resale and $1,26 billion for the rental of clothing in 2019) of that amount-despite predicted consumer demand for sustainable economy practices. Similarly, circularity centred measures around e-waste, considered a crucial revenue source for businesses, only made up for as little as 17% of global e-waste recycling.
Findings in this sense also showed that the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to the circular economy are the least well-funded. Said objectives- which relate to sustainable consumption and production-attracted just 1-2% of official development assistance spending between 2021-2017.
"Recycling, reusing materials and reducing waste makes clear business sense, which is why spending on the circular economy is rising rapidly," explained Patrick Schröder, senior research fellow at Chatham House. "However, funding remains far below where it needs to be to reap the full investment rewards. Moving from a linear ‘take-make-throw away' economy to circular, sustainable business models will create jobs, promote investment and protect the planet."
“As economies build back from Covid-19, we must use this moment to break into a profitable, future-proof and circular economy.
“To get there, governments should use circular finance to support sustainable development, regulators should incentivise investment in the circular economy, and more companies and investors must realise that resource-intensive investments are unsustainable – and therefore unprofitable in the long-term. Only then will we have a global economy that works for all”, he concluded.
Advance Denim BioBlue eliminates chemicals from dyeing process
The denim manufacturer has developed a sustainable dyeing process that cuts toxic pollutants from its production process.
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The denim manufacturer has developed a sustainable dyeing process that cuts toxic pollutants from its production process.
BioBlue Indigo slashes chemicals that contaminate wastewater from its denim dyeing process. The company does this by exluding Sodium hydrosulfite from the process, a difficult to transport, unstable and flammable chemical used to help infuse yarns with pigment.
Sodium hydrosulfite has long been used to convert indigo into its dye-friendly form yet it has also garnered criticism for being less than environment friendly. During the denim manufacturing process, it produces high concentrations of salt which are difficult to remove from wastewater and serve to further pollute the environment.
BioBlue is Advance Denim’s most recent investment in sustainable production.
The company managed to reduce energy consumption by 42% per yard of fabric as well as cut water consumption by 58%. The denim manufacturer succeeded in the latter through investment in a new reverse osmosis recycling system, allowing it to recycle 100% of wastewater generated in the denim finishing process.
Saving water in the manufacturing process is a key concern for Advance Denim. In 2020, the company launched Big Box dyeing. This revolutionary indigo dye process reduces water consumption by 85%, eliminates wastewater as well as decreases energy consumption by 25%.
The denim manufacturer originally committed itself to using less water, energy and chemicals in the dyeing process as well as to using recycled fibres, Tencel and organic cotton. After adopting the latter sustainable materials, dunking them in hazardous chemicals appeared counter-productive, which is why BioBlue Denim was launched.
“It is no secret that sodium hydrosulfite is environmentally unfavourable because it produces hazardous effluent that must be treated prior to discharge,” sustainability and textile chemical management expert Amanda Cattermole said. “Some of the compounds, including salts, coupled with the high PH required in dyeing, contaminate the environment if the effluent is not treated.”
The BioBlue process lessened chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 71% in the dye bath and by 34% in the first wash bath. BOD levels were slashed by 60% in the dye bath and 46% in the first wash. (COD measures the total amount of chemicals in wastewater while BOD calculates the oxygen levels needed for bacteria to break down organic chemicals in the water.)
Advanced Denim intends to continue investing in renewable technologies. The manufacturer hopes that 90% of its generated fibres will be sustainable by 2023.
Recycling won’t solve plastic crisis, report finds
A new report says that recycling methods alone won’t eradicate plastic pollution.
Published by Filipino public interest network Eco Waste Coalition on Wednesday, July 21, the review outlines how ineffective advanced recycling methods such as chemical recycling, waste-to-energy and pyrolysis prove in tackling the plastic waste problem.
‘Plastic Waste Management Hazards: Waste-to-Energy, Chemical Recycling and Plastic Fuels’ argues that the previously mentioned ‘solutions’ to the plastic crisis come with their own environmental drawbacks, as the technologies in question result in the production of hazardous chemicals.
As such, the Coalition advocates for a reduction in plastic production, urging the manufacturing industry to limit the use of plastic where not absolutely necessary.
Lee Bell, a co-author of the report as well as Policy Adviser on Persistent Organic Pollutants for International Pellet Watch (IPEN), said: “No current management method for plastic waste is capable of alleviating the world’s expanding plastic pollution crisis. All methods generate significant toxic hazards because of the toxic additives that are a component of most plastic products. Industry’s championing of various recycling schemes is a marketing ploy designed to fend off plastic regulation and efforts to curb an escalating plastic pollution problem.”
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“The only solution to the plastic waste piling up in our communities and oceans is to limit plastic production to essential uses and eliminate the use of toxic chemicals in plastics,” he emphasized.
One recycling method touted as a potential solution to plastic waste is chemical recycling. This approach, however, can be very polluting. For every tonne of plastic treated via this method, three tonnes of CO2 are released into the atmosphere. The toxicants produced through said form of recycling also include cancer-causing, endocrine- and immune disrupting dioxins and furans. Noteworthy in this sense is also the fact that chemical recycling can’t tackle the microplastic problem, the term referring to plastics either intentionally manufactured on a small scale such as pellets or weathered down into smaller pieces from larger plastic products. Here, again, the report advocates for possible production restrictions.
Eco Waste Coalition posits sustainable design that takes a product’s life cycle into consideration as a way to counteract plastic proliferation, with recycling not meant to substitute but supplement said process, enforced by a functional political and regulatory system.
By 2050, on a global scale, 1800 million tonnes of plastic will be produced while 900 million tonnes of plastic will be incinerated.
More food is wasted on farms than in retail
A study found that the volume of farm-level food waste is much higher than that of post-consumer food waste.
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1,2 billion tonnes of food are lost on farms alone, a report finds.
Conducted by WWF and UK retailer Tesco, the Driven to Waste report shows that farm level waste- the mentioned figure being equivalent to the weight of 10 million blue whales-accounts for the staggering amounts of food being wasted on a global basis. (In comparison, households coupled with the retail and food service sector contributed to the lesser sum of 931 million tonnes of food waste.)
Yet, it’s the common perception that consumers and retailers are primarily responsible for food loss. This is because ‘food loss’ as a term is conceived as being caused by ‘negligence or a conscious decision to discard food’. Yet the described phenomenon can be attributed to a variety of factors, ranging from pests, disease and natural disasters to poor infrastructure and unfavourable market conditions.
The Driven to Waste report highlights the fact that food waste is just as predominant in the food pre-production stage, specifically pre-as well as mid-harvest and slaughter. Beyond uncontrollable factors such as weather, transport conditions or processing, human decisions that affect the proliferation of food loss at an early stage of the supply chain relate to issues such as direct governance or cultural factors. One example for this would be farmers who are unable to afford clean technologies or (re-)training. With farmers in developing countries often unable to dictate prices or apply sustainable technologies to render food waste sustainable, particularly when faced with unexpected food order cancellation, the generation of food waste at early stages in the production cycle should come as no surprise.
Yet, internationally, statistics on food loss as well as food waste remain skewered. As such, the Sustainability Development Goals issued by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization only demands a slash of post-retail global food waste by 50% by 2030, failing to account for the vast volume of food waste generated at other stages of the supply chain.
Pete Pearson, Global Food Loss and Waste Initiative Lead at WWF, champions a holistic approach to the problem. According to him, national governments and market actors across the world are called to support farmers in order to reduce food waste. In order to address the relative power imbalances between farmers and retailers as well as change the rigid market structures that stringently separate customers from farmers, a multi-stakeholder policy needs to be adopted, Pearson argues.
“NGOs and multilateral organisations, market and supply chain actors, governments and citizens can all play a role in tackling the direct drivers of food waste on farms,” he concludes
US: EPA says 50% national recycling target within reach
The EPA believes that a US national recycling strategy is feasible under current political and industrial conditions.
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In October 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called for a 50% recycling rate by 2030.
This target was outlined in a draft version of the governmental body’s National Recycling Strategy.
Achieving said objective could be considered a watershed moment of sorts, seeing as the US recycling rate has been stuck in the mid-30% range since the 1990’s.
Yet, based on the current political climate, the US stands a good chance of sticking to its recycling commitment, according to Nena Shaw, acting division director of the EPA’s Resource Conservation and Sustainability Division.
"We are at a unique moment where there are so many policy drivers coming into alignment to positively impact our work," Shaw explained. "Congress, industry non-profits, the international community and the American public all want to see an improved recycling sector."
She stressed the fact that the country is ramping up, both on a state legislative as well as congressional level, being perfectly placed to meet the Biden administration’s demands for environmental justice and sustainable investment. Policies in this sense relate to the provision of new jobs, the improvement of public health as well as the minimization of climate change effects.
The EPA has petitioned Congress for funds going up to $10 million. The grant will be used to enhance the functionality of existing waste infrastructure by establishing a recycling pilot program. Said plan is intended to boost job security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while extending the lifecycle of sustainable raw materials.
"The connections between materials usage, the economy and the environment underscored by sustainable materials management is critical to our nation's health and prosperity," Shaw said.
Placing more emphasis on material repair and reuse as well as easing down on excess product consumption are two examples for how the recycling market may take further hold in the US. According to Shaw, this process may be facilitated by the adoption of a waste conscious product design mentality by companies and innovators.
"When governments and organizations purchase materials made from recycled content, we drive demand for recycled materials, and we make the system more economically viable," she commented.
A thriving circular economy, however, is dependent on a universal standardized methodology to measure recycling rates. Global figures on recycling are often estimates as there is a lot of variation in defining the term ‘recycling’ as well as the activities that fall under it-in a country as vast as the US, these discrepancies at state level render comparison of recycling rates impossible. In recognition of this, the EPA is slated to release a national recycling methodology, coupled with a recycling measurement guide to help local and state governments track progress against the national recycling goal.
Shaw calls for a holistic approach to achieve this level of ‘transformational change’. She proposes an active collaboration of federal state and local government, trade associations and private industry actors, stating that the multiple stakeholder approach is what will ‘help create a more viable recycling system’ that will help reduce the country’s ecological footprint.
Repairing, not recycling is the way to tackle the smartphone e-waste explosion
Smartphone e-waste continues to proliferate. Extending a smartphone’s lifespan can help lessen carbon emissions as well as avoid the massive energy loss and toxicant proliferation tied to conventional recycling processes.
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In 2021, 3,8 billion people across the world own a smartphone.
This corresponds to 48,33% of the world’s population. Considering that in 2016, the number of smartphone owners was limited to 2,5 billion or 33,58% of the global population, the increase appears staggering.
With smartphone sales expected to skyrocket, mobile phone waste streams are equally set to explode.
Smartphones are responsible for 10% of the world’s annual e-waste rate, which, in 2019, translated to 50 million tonnes. In weight, said waste stream corresponds to 300,000 double decker buses.
Beyond its pollution potential, smartphone e-waste represents a missed economic opportunity. Globally, only 17, 4% of e-waste gets recycled, resulting in a general raw material loss equivalent to the material value of $10 billion. With demand for mobile phones at an all-time high, the internationally fast dwindling supply of critical raw materials needed for their production has begun to take its toll on production. The Royal Society of Chemistry estimates that 6 key components needed for smartphone production will run out in the next 100 years. As of now, the microchip shortage currently affecting the car industry is predicted to similarly inconvenience smartphone manufacturers.
This is why extending the existing lifecycle of phones is crucial to the industry.
Using smartphones for longer will not only save on raw materials but also lessen e-waste streams as well as save on energy needed for recycling. By keeping smartphones for four years rather than the customary three, the number of phones sent to waste could be reduced by as much as 25%.
Reuse challenges
Extending smartphone usage is also dependent on phone manufacturers.
As consumers are not only wont to discard phones when a new model comes out but also when there are no more software updates available or functionality becomes compromised, manufacturers need to move away from built in obsolescence, that is, the tendency to create a product for a finite life span so as to induce future sales along the line.
For repair to be feasible on the consumer end, phone manufacturers are also tasked with making spare parts available to third party repair services as well as affordable to consumers looking to fix their phones.
Repair Initiatives
With Right-to-Repair legislation on the rise in Europe, attitudes to phone repair are slowly shifting.
As such, the EU has incorporated ‘Right to repair’ within its circular economy plan whilst France released a repairability index in 2021, providing insight on malfunctioning devices and informing customers on how easy phone repair can be.
Financial measures to incentivise phone reuse are also becoming more popular. In Sweden, tax incentives worth up to almost 2500 EUR exist for appliance repairs, and similar (albeit less lucrative) schemes exist in Austria.
Ideas to render the approach profitable to manufacturers are diverse. Re-modelling existing phone contracts-which have consumers purchase phones in a time span going anywhere from 18-24 months- into ‘phone lease contracts’ is one prominent suggestion. This would see the user pay for the phone as a service, returning it to the manufacturer when it malfunctions. The producer then gets to mine the precious raw materials contained within the phone whilst also refurbishing and returning the product to its user.
Restricting the number of phones owned by individuals has also been posited as a solution to the smartphone e-waste crisis. Getting white collar workers to stop using a personal as well as a business phone alone could slash smartphone usage by half a billion.
Beyond the measures introduced, eliminating smartphone e-waste is dependent on changing consumer mindset. With phones having become a status symbol with a waste factor equivalent to that of high fashion, affixing recycled products with greater inherent value needs to take centre stage if smartphone repair is to have a beneficial impact on the environment.
Tokyo 2020: Olympic medals made from old smartphones, laptops
Used electronic devices have been recycled in a nationwide effort to produce the Olympic medals for the Tokyo 2020 Games. The project plans to set a precedent for future Olympic Games.
As the athletes take the podium and, with a slight bow, have their medals placed around their necks, they will be happy to have landed in the top three. For the people behind the Tokyo Medal Project, they'll be happy that those Olympic medals are there in the first place.
The project recycled old electronic gadgets such as smartphones and laptops to produce the Olympic Medals that are being awarded at the Tokyo Games.
For the people of Japan, the project offered a unique opportunity to be a part of the Games.
"The campaign called on the public to donate obsolete electronic devices for the project," Toyko 2020 spokesperson Hitomi Kamizawa told DW. "We are grateful for everyone's cooperation."
The project capitalized on the fact that billions worth of precious metals such as gold and silver, which are used in electronic devices, get discarded each year globally thanks to people simply dumping or burning their gadgets instead of ensuring they are properly collected and recycled.
A recycling supply chain
There was a two-year national effort in Japan to collect enough recycled material to produce about 5,000 bronze, silver, and gold medals for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Up to 90% of Japanese cities, towns, and villages participated by setting up donation pick-up sites where hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens donated their old electronic devices.
The recycling campaign produced 70 pounds (32 kilograms) of gold, 7,700 pounds of silver and 4,850 pounds of bronze. All from nearly 80 tons of small electrical devices such as old phones and laptops, said Kamizawa.
Although recycling efforts like these often seem straightforward, the medal project had to engage the national government, thousands of municipalities, companies, schools and other local communities.
One of the primary companies involved was Renet Japan Group whose business philosophy revolves around sustainability.
"We developed a waste management movement for the medal project with the cooperation of many stakeholders, from the Japanese government to local communities," Toshio Kamakura, director of Renet Japan Group, told DW.
When the project was launched in April 2017, there were just about 600 municipalities on board. By the end of the project in March 2019, that figure had risen to more than 1,600. There was a major public relations campaign, and collection points were set up to make it easier for the people to contribute, Kamakura said.
Aproximately 6.2 million phones were collected by the Japanese phone operator NTT DoCoMo
Collecting the used devices was just the first step. Following a process of dismantling, extracting and refining by contractors, the recycled material was then molded into Junichi Kawnishi's design concept — a design that beat out 400 other entries in a competition held by Tokyo 2020.
The bigger picture
While the Japanese will be the first to have all of the Olympic medals made out of recycled material, the concept is not new. In the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, 30% of the sterling silver to make the gold and silver medals were obtained from recycled materials such as car parts and mirror surfaces.
Looking ahead to the Paris Games in 2024, where social change and enhancing the environment are among the main themes, there are hopes that the Tokyo 2020 Medal Project will set a precedent.
When it comes to the environmental aspect Kamakura thinks it is necessary to continue in order to build a more sustainable material society.
A record 53.6 million tons (Mt), or 7.3 kilograms per person of electronic waste — equivalent to 350 cruise ships the size of the Queen Mary 2 — was produced globally in 2019, making it the world's fastest-growing domestic waste stream, according to the United Nations. E-waste has surged by more than a fifth in the past five years amid growing demand for electronic gadgets, mostly with short life cycles and few options for repair.
Less than a fifth of the scrap ends up being properly collected and recycled, posing serious environmental and health risks.
UK: Calls grow loud for Amazon ‘anti-waste law’
The global online retailer has been accused of destroying in-date groceries as well as electronic goods such as laptops and TV’s.
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British charities have urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to issue an ‘Amazon law’ after allegations against the online giant’s wasteful practices came to light recently.
Boxes of groceries containing crisps, tinned food and soft drinks appear to be earmarked as waste in photos and footage taken by an Amazon worker at the retailers Dunfermline depot in Fife.
Amazon previously came under fire for disposing of non-food items such as books, laptops and TV’s, relevant footage showing sealed face masks, computer equipment and sealed face masks placed into boxes called ‘destroy’.
The scope of new and unused good being binned in the UK by Amazon can be considered massive, with eight workers from eight different warehouses testifying to having witnessed the destruction of returned items in impeccable condition.
A former Amazon employee at a Hertfordshire centre concurred, stating that he believes that the practice ‘happens in every facility’.
Amazon denied throwing away edible food prior to its expiry date, stressing that it supplied 23 food banks and charities with 2,9 million food and drink products.
The online shopping giant also pointed out that it does not send any products to landfill in the UK.
“Our priority is to resell, donate or recycle any unsold products. We recognise that confusion may have stemmed from our use of the word “destroy”. We are in the process of replacing it with terms that more accurately reflect our longstanding business practices.”
Yet recent investigations showed that 124,000 items were sent to landfill from the Dunfermline warehouse.
"Really it does sound like an extraordinary approach just to be disposing of goods which are perfectly good but just don't have a home and they can't be bothered to store them," Environment Secretary George Eustice told MPs before a House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee.
"Obviously that is a chronic waste and we are looking at things like the WEEE [waste electrical and electronic equipment] regulations that we have on electronic goods that are there in retained EU law.
A letter signed by representatives of six of the largest UK environmental organisations including Greenpeace, the Environmental Investigation Agency as well as Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland petitions the government to adopt an anti-waste law that will require companies to reuse or donate unsold items.
