by kevin, on February 15th, 2010
To understand cradle to cradle concepts, it’s helpful to first get a good feel for how our current cradle to grave industrial system works. This week’s class extended discussions begun during previous classes regarding waste reduction, and was focused on the grave – or what happens to all that trash.
Four weeks ago, the class heard Ray Anderson present an equation first proposed by Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren in 1974 to demonstrate the environmental impact created by increasing population, affluence, and technology. In 2009, the population of North America was 528 million, the population of South and Central America was 423 million, the population of Europe was 731 million, the population of Africa was 1 billion, the population of Australia was 21 million, and the population of Asia was 4 billion. The United Nations has done a number of studies looking at the relationship between wealth and resource depletion. In a recent report, it was shown that 86% of all natural resources are consumed by the wealthiest one fifth of nations. The four fifths of the poorest nations consume just 14% of natural resources. The continents with the largest populations have the lowest use of technology. You can easily imagine how developing nations with large and rapidly growing populations who aspire to higher levels of affluence and technology could have a dramatic impact on the planet if they follow a U.S. model. The United States has just 5% of the global population, but consumes 25% of all resources. If the nations of Brazil, India, and China, who have 40% of the global population and growing, consumed at the same rate they would do so at 200% of the planet’s capacity. Estimates based on current rates suggest that by 2030 China alone will be consuming as much steel as is globally produced today.
Combine the current take-make-waste industrial processes that often accompany increased population, affluence, and technology and one potential significant impact is certain to be vastly increased waste production. In the U.S., 54% of all solid municipal waste – what you see in garbage cans and dumpsters at the curb – ends up at 3,000 landfills throughout the country. In 2008, that amounted to 250 million tons of waste material. 33% is diverted from the landfill and gets recycled. But an amazing 62% of what still goes to the landfill is composed of recyclable material – wood, plastic, metal, paper, and rubber. Of the six most common types of recyclable plastics, only PET (27%) and HDPE (29%) have recycle rates above 1%. And another 25% of the average landfill is food scraps and yard waste that can be composted. 13% of all solid municipal waste gets incinerated, which is low compared to other countries. Although opponents to incineration claim that burning trash releases dangerous toxins into the atmosphere, if that incineration is used to produce energy, the average coal fired power plant releases more per kilowatt hour. However, in addition to potential harmful pollutants, incineration still results in some solid material composed of toxins and environmentally harmful substances that still ends up in a landfill. Since the closure of the Fresh Kills Landfill on Statin Island, the honor of world’s largest facility goes to the Atlas Landfill in Las Vegas. It took in more than 3.7 million tons of waste in 2007.
Other parts of the world are also experiencing issues with how to deal with their solid municipal waste. In Mexico City, it’s estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 people actually live at the city’s landfills. They are known as trash pickers. The average life expectancy in Mexico City is 67 years. The life expectancy of a trash picker is just 39 years. Although some of the world’s largest landfills are in the U.S., some argue that the biggest is actually the Great Pacific Gyre. So remote and difficult to measure, only estimates can be made about actual size. Some suggest it could be as small as the size of Texas, up to twice that size. Imagine that, a landfill that covers Texas. Photographer Chris Jordan spent time last year in remote atolls near Midway Island documenting dead birds and the amount of plastic objects found in their stomachs. His images are heart wrenching. Check out a few here.
It’s difficult to look at the scale of the problem of U.S. trash production since few citizens live near a landfill or have intimate experience with one. We throw away our trash and link little of where it actually goes. But to transition from cradle to grave systems to cradle to cradle, you have to know what the grave currently looks like. Knowing more about waste allows us to face it honestly and contemplate ways to reduce it. We’ll continue this line of discussion for another week while transitioning to strategies that help preserve resources while reducing waste.
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