Macaulay Conference: May 11 -12

1. Macaulay Conference: May 11 -12

2. Welcome: Jonathan Krones

3. “Plastics in our Waste: Rethinking How We Manage Materials to Achieve Just Sustainability What kind of society do we want to live in?

5. 85% of all municipal discards contain carbon! 64% Biogenic U.S. EPA 2011

6. Putrefaction

7. Synthetics: Permanence

8. Most municipalities offer curbside commingled collections, source-separated

9. What gets diverted to recycling? • Metals: 22 million tons generated, 35%recycled • Glass: 11.5 million tons generated, 27% recycled • Paper: 71 million tons generated, 63% recycled Plastics: 31 million tons generated, 8%recycled

10. Problem with Plastics: Heterogeneity

12. garbage bags

13. Plastic Recycling Success Stories • #1 and #2 Bottles and jugs (21% and 28% recycling rates, respectively) • #2 tubs and trays (19%) • # 4 wraps and plastic bags (18%) • #7 other durables (26%) These account for 2.2 million of the 2.3 million tons a year of plastics recycling – out of some 31 million tons generated, leaving 28.7 million tons going to disposal

16. 28 million tons plastics sent to landfill or incineration in US in 2008 • 2.1 million recycled Source: U.S. EPA ---- • 2.1 million tons of waste, parings and scrap plastic exported • 90% to China (direct or via Hong Kong) Source: USA Trade Online Chinese worker sorting residual plastics from US recycling http://www.plasticsrecycling.org/images/stories/doc/chinapt2.pdf

17. What Else to Do with it? • Make something useful with it! • Energy • Materials • Both

18. Pyrolysis-Gasification • Staged conversion of carbon-bearing fractions MSW to energy, with little or no oxygen • Safer, yields more energy per ton of material • Expensive, and unproven • Can accept (and welcomes) plastics, dumped en masse

19. Anaerobic Digestion • Accepts only biogenic wastes, • Requires source separation • Safer and more proven

20. If all goes well… Waste Management World, “Plasma Arc the Leading Light,” volume 11, issue 6

21. Waste Management World, “Plasma Arc the Leading Light,” volume 11, issue 6

22. Energy production and consumption (U.S. 2010, in quadrillion BTU) Source: EIA 22011

23. The Vision: Growth • Continued production, proliferation, innovation of types of synthetic polymers (plastics) • Product design changes when and where profitable (lightweighting plastic bottles) • Recycle what the market will buy • Compost a bit of the high-end yard wastes • Convert the rest to energy, fuels, and even base chemicals

24. Alternate Vision:

25. Regulatory: Diminish Consumption, Route Products Back to Producers Precedent in existing regulations in some states and many countries outside the U.S.

27. Bottle Bills

28. Auto Battery Laws • 98% recycling rate

29. the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems” Agyeman, J., Bullard, R. D., and Evans, B. eds., Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World (Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 2003), 5.

30. Three circuits of material sustainability Ecosystemic integrity: Protect sites of extraction, utilize renewable materials and energy Mineral recycling Composting Minimize toxics (synthetics)

31. f Bamboo, Bagasse, Crop residues, Bioplastics, Kenaf…

32. Occupy Wall Street, September 22, 2012