Dear Reader,
When I started the GWG I told myself I would do 10 issues before considering stopping. We’ve made it to 11. Should I keep going? Are you enjoying it?
Taking out the Trash
This week I want to explore a topic we haven’t really spoken about yet - waste management.
Understandably, most of us are not interested in where our trash and recycling go. Once it’s taken out it becomes someone else’s problem. Out of sight out of mind.
Since I was a kid though I’ve been flabbergasted by the way NYC handles trash. Not only is the volume of garbage created mind-blowing, but how is there not a better system than piling up trash on the street? With summer fast approaching I imagine those of you in NYC will soon share my concern.
In all seriousness, there are few more challenging problems as we strive for sustainability. This is a broad topic so for this week I want to talk about it a high-level and then come back to specific areas in more detail.
For our purposes, I think about waste management as three pillars:
Recycling
Food Waste
General Garbage & Landfills
Let’s talk recycling first. Turning used product back into raw material sounds excellent as a concept which is probably why recycling is the most popular of the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).
Let’s break it down:
The system used to work on an out of sight, out of mind basis until 2019 when the global recycling industry broke down.
Turns out recycling meant putting trash on a boat to China where people would sift through it by hand.
China decided they no longer wanted to accept the world’s garbage and the US is still trying to figure out what to do.
Putting sorting aside, plastic - one of the most popular recyclables out there - turns out to not be very recyclable.
Due to the way plastics are manufactured as a combination of different types of plastic, they are increasingly hard to recycle.
Canada seems to have woken up to the problem and recently declared plastic toxic, which opens the door to stricter regulation.
Despite our failures with plastic, the concept of recycling is still important so it is good to see the renewable energy sector trying to do better.
We spoke about innovation in the Australian solar industry
Now, the worlds largest wind turbine manufacturer has developed a way to recycle their blades.
This is a big step since until now there was no way to recycle them and blades the size of 747’s were being buried in weird wind-turbine graveyards.
Turning to food waste:
In the United States food waste is 30-40% of the food supply.
Globally, food production is responsible for about 25% of emissions.
That means somewhere around 3-5% of global emissions is from producing US food waste. To make matters worse, when food ends up in landfills it generates methane, which is basically the worst of the green-house-gases.
The government says consumers are the #1 source of wasted food but I find that hard to believe. I feel like food must go bad on grocery store shelves? And have you ever been to a bakery near closing time? They throw out more calories every day than I do in a year.
I don’t typically like to play into the individual responsibility narrative around climate change issues, but food waste might be the place where we need to try and be better. Compositing is great for food scraps but it seems we all have a responsibility to shop more thoughtfully and plan ahead to avoid throwing out food.
Now to trash and landfills:
This is a land-use and pollution issue.
The good news is, both better recycling and food waste management would make a huge impact.
We need to make progress quickly because we are running out of space for trash. According to an analysis by the Environmental Research & Education foundation, we only have 62 years until all of the currently operating US landfill facilities are full.
There are companies pioneering ways to turn waste into energy which might offer a positive way forward.
I have two take-aways from all this:
We need a better waste management system that ensures proper sorting so food and recyclables don’t end up in landfills.
Manufactures need to create products with end-of-life in mind. Maybe we can apply an “Ability-to-Recycle” standard to all consumer products?
I’d love to hear from GWGers with your thoughts on garbage or companies you like in the space.
Amplify
On Wednesday there were two rare victories for climate activists over oil giants.
First, a dutch court ruled Shell needed to reduce emissions. The case - brought by environmental groups - argued that Shell’s production of oil and natural gas contributed to climate change, violating a duty of care to those affected by it and thereby, failing to maintain their human-rights obligations. The court agreed and ruled Shell must curb its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, compared with 2019 levels.
This ruling that contributing to climate change is a violation of human rights is likely to set precedent that will be tried across Europe and probably the rest of the world.
Shell will of course appeal and the court did not stipulate how the reductions should be met, or how it might monitor or enforce the ruling, but when taken together with Exxon losing a shareholder vote the message is clear that public sentiment is shifting.
A climate-activist hedge fund campaigned to get new company directors elected who will try to force Exxon to accelerate plans for a renewable energy future. Blackrock and other pension funds joined the vote in favor of the climate activists. So even if Shell wins their appeal, they should know the markets are watching.
This is clearly positive momentum, and I really hope for the best, but without a clear plan or enforcement regime I worry that oil companies will not change fast enough. Tobacco companies had a fall from grace but they still produce nearly 6 trillion cigarettes a year, 12% more than 2000. We can’t let that happen with oil & gas.
Something Pretty To Look At
Potpourri
Blimps are making a comeback for the climate-change era. I’d prefer faster trains.
Genetically engineered grass can clean soil.
That’s All Folks!
Wishing you a relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. Cheers to a great summer!!