The problem with zero waste goals is the word waste

Dołączył: 07 Mar 2024 Posty: 1

The correct term is zero waste . Most industrial systems are linear:

A resource (which can be anything from wood to crude oil) is extracted.
It is transformed into a product (generally without worrying about the waste produced along the way).\

You throw away that product when you are done with it.
A circular system, on the other hand, prioritizes the regeneration of natural systems, the management of waste, and the search for ways to prolong the life of products.

Towards circular thinking
JIm Giles comments in Food Weekly Ecuador Mobile Number List according to GreenBiz that today food and agriculture are beginning to fulfill this first principle of circular thinking through the use of cover crops, rotational grazing and other regenerative techniques which are growing rapidly.

Every week there are agri-food companies that want to highlight their sustainability projects, and very few focus on the idea of redesigning systems to eliminate waste. Because?

The most obvious answer is that it is cheaper to send waste to landfills. That's true in some cases, but there are many examples of companies discovering the value of what was once waste:

A new InnovaFeed plant in Illinois will use crop residue from a neighboring corn processing plant to raise insects for animal feed.
Upward Farms recently raised $15 million to combine fish farming with indoor agriculture: nitrogen-rich wastewater from fish tanks will be used to fertilize leafy greens.
BioEnergy Devco transforms chicken excrement into natural gas.
Zenb pasta and snacks, a new range from Japanese food company Mizkan, are made from plant parts that are normally thrown away, such as stems, seeds and peels.
The problem with zero waste goals is the word waste
These companies are united by more than just innovative systems. Behind its processes and technologies is an innovation in thinking: That all materials are potentially valuable and should never be considered waste. And that's something we need more of.

The industry has a very unclear mindset at the moment, when we talk to companies about the opportunities in waste streams, they tell us they are doing everything they can.

Then we dig in and realize they don't know what's in those streams.

Emma Chow, Food Project Leader at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
That shortsightedness comes in part from something sustainability advocates often celebrate: zero-waste goals.

Chow suggests that these targets have the unintended effect of labeling certain materials as having to be removed:

It is a mentality of considering something as bad instead of saying: What value and opportunities does this have?

Emma Chow, Food Project Leader at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
We have to analyze how widespread this confusing thinking is. Is it present in your company? What value could be unlocked by eliminating the concept of waste.

_________________
Ecuador Mobile Number List