Diamond Jubilee Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

1. Diamond JubileeYesterday, Today and Tomorrow Waste Streams of the 21st Century EPA Workshop #1 June 6, 2011

2. Overview • US Waste and Recycling Overview • New England Comparisons • It isn’t just about Recycling Anymore (Sustainable Materials Management Preview) • Unsustainable Future • Life Cycle Analysis & Systems Thinking • Climate Waste Connection • Jobs

4. How Waste is Managed • Land Disposal 54.3% • Combustion 11.9% • Recovery 33.8% MSW Management in the U.S. Recovery 33.8% Combustion 11.9% Land Disposal 54.3%

5. Municipal Solid Waste Generation in 2009 243 Million Tons Food Scraps 14.1% Yard Trimmings 13.7 % Other 3.5% Wood 6.5% Rubber, leather, and textiles 8.3% Paper & Paperboard 28.2% Plastics 12.3% Metals 8.6% Glass 4.8% EPA 2009 Facts and Figures

6. Products Generated in MSW, 2009 Containers & Packaging 29.5% Food Scraps 14.1% Yard Trimmings 13.7% Nondurable Goods 22.0% Other Wastes 1.5% Durable Goods 19.2% 243 million tons before recycling

7. MSW Recycling Rates

8. Product Recycling Rates 2009

9. Commodity Recycling Trends Neg. = less than 5,000 tons or 0.05 percent.

10. What is the existing system? Source: American Beverage Association’s RW Beck 2008 ABA Community Survey http://www.recycletogether.com/sites/default/files/ABA%20Final%20Report09-28-09.pdf

11. New England Smallest % landfilled 31% Highest % waste to energy 39% 2nd Highest % recycled 22%

12. New England- leading with lower waste generation per capita Connecticut 1.00 Maine 0.90 Massachusetts 1.29 New Hampshire 0.95 Rhode Island 0.97 Vermont 0.94 National Average: 4.34

13. Unsustainable Future • Growth projections for 2050: • world population growth of 50% • global economic activity growth of 500% • global energy and materials use of 300% • All from 2000 baseline • Environmental implications • About 42% of U.S. GHG emissions are associated with materials extraction and the production, transportation and disposal of goods • Resource demands (and associated GHG emissions) will only increase as developing nations industrialize and increase their consumption

14. Materials & Land Management GHGs Land Management (16%) Materials Management (42%) Economic sectors Systems / End-uses

15. Figure : Materials Consumption in the United States by Sector of Origin, 1975–2000 Source: WRI Material Flows Database 2005 Unsustainable Resource Consumption

16. Unsustainable Trajectory • In past 50 yrs, humans consumed more resources than in all past history • In 2000, U.S. consumed 57% more materials than in 1975; global consumption increase was even greater • U.S. has < 5% of world’s population but is responsible for about 1/3 of world’s total materials consumption in 1970-1995 • Our reliance on minerals as fundamental ingredients in manufactured products used in U.S. (e.g., cell phones, paint, toothpaste) requires extraction of >25,000 lbs of new nonfuel minerals per capita each year • 1992 Earth Summit world leaders declared that “a principal cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the steady increase in materials production, consumption and disposal”

17. A Different Future is Needed • Independently, EPA’s “Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead” report and the WBCSD’s “Vision 2050” report concluded: • “Business as usual” cannot continue • A systems approach is needed • We must start now to achieve the necessary changes to minimize negative environmental impacts or unintended consequences of actions

18. A Different Future is Needed • “Materials management” means targeting and coordinating interventions throughout the life cycle of materials, products and services. • Which materials to use • How to use less (materials, energy, water) • Reduce hazardous inputs • Design for longer life, reuse, refurbishability, recyclability To achieve EPA’s 2020 Vision, more powerful upstream efforts to reduce and change material use throughout the life cycle is needed.

19. What is Sustainable Materials Management? • What we currently call “waste” is really a stream of valuable materials, with environmental investments and impacts at all stages of the lifecycle: • Raw material extraction, through transportation, processing, manufacturing, reuse, recycling and disposal.

20. Life Cycle and Systems Thinking • www.epa.gov/epawaste/inforesources/pubs/vision2.pdf

21. Climate Waste Connection http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/sustainability/pathways_low_carbon_economy.asp

22. Climate Waste Connection

23. Technical Potential Reductions from Materials Management

24. Technical Potential Reductions from Materials Management (cont’d)

25. Additional Studies and Reports • U.S. Department of State 5th Climate Action Report to United Nations (2010) – cites EPA’s WasteWise program and states how recycling has a significant GHG impact (http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/rpts/car5/index.htm) • UN paper on climate change and waste (July 2010)(http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/Publications/spc/WasteManagement&ClimateChange%20_Draft.pdf ) • Waste Management Chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment report (http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-chapter10.pdf ) • Executive Order 13514 – requires a target for federal government to increase recycling by 50% to reduce GHG and save energy • http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-24518.pdf • http://www.epa.gov/greeningepa/practices/eo13514.htm

26. Additional Studies & Reports • Reducing Greenhouse Gas-Emissions through Recycling and Composting, EPA Region 10 / West Coast Climate and Materials Management Forum http://www.epa.gov/region10/pdf/climate/wccmmf/Reducing_GHGs_through_Recycling_and_Composting.pdf

27. November 4, 2010

28. Recycling & Reuse means Jobs! http://www.ilsr.org/recycling/recyclingmeansbusiness.html

29. Recycling Creates Jobs Links • NERC (DE,MA,ME, NY & PA) 2009 http://www.nerc.org/documents/recycling_economic_information_study_update_2009.pdf • SERDC (AL,AR,FL,GA,KY,LA,MS,NC,SC,TN,VA) http://www.serdc.org/econreports • Illinois Recycling Economic Information (2010) http://www.illinoisbiz.biz/dceo/Bureaus/Energy_Recycling/Recycling/REI.htm • California (2001, 2009, 2010) http://are.berkeley.edu/extension/EconImpWaste.pdf • http://www.recyclingworkscampaign.org/ • Michigan (2000) http://www.michiganrecycles.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=6&Itemid=9

30. Recycling Creates Jobs Links • Massachusetts (2009 NERC)http://www.mass.gov/dep/recycle/reduce/econbene.pdf • Minnesota Recycling Economic Activity Summary(2002) • http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/topics/preventing-waste-and-pollution/recycling/recycling-in-minnesota/minnesota-s-recycling-industries-economic-activity-summary.html?menuid=&redirect=1 • Iowa Economic Impacts of Recycling (2007) http://www.iowadnr.gov/waste/recycling/ecoimpacts.html • Green Jobs http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/article.asp?articleid=1229

31. Review • US Waste and Recycling has changed dramatically • New England is better but still needs to do more • It isn’t just about Recycling Anymore (Sustainable Materials Management Preview) • Unsustainable Future – another planet in <20 yrs • Future: Life Cycle Analysis & Systems Thinking • Don’t forget Climate Waste Connection • Reuse, Recycling is all about Jobs

32. Materials Matter

33. Kent Foerster EPA Headquarters Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery (ORCR) 1200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW (5306P) Washington, DC 20460 (703) 308 0199 foerster.kent@epa.gov www.epa.gov/rcc