Food Waste

96,000,000,000
pounds of food disposed
of every year in the US
Food
Politics

“The US wastes
40% of all food
produced per year.”
GOOD.is
http://www.good.is/post/the-u-s-wastes-40-percent-of-all-
food-produced-per-year-how-about-we-stop-doing-that/

“...if you never teach
your children to be alone,
they can only be lonely.”
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/05/
science/la-sci-sherry-turkle-20110305/2

If you do not teach
people how to consume,
they will only be consumed.

“Retail Therapy”
Sandra Lee-Takei
Miriam Olivera

Waste

In nature,
there is no waste.

Nature’s Most
Amazing Events
BBC, 2009

Figure 38.9

Where does it come from?
How is it made?
How do you use it?
How much? How often?
How do you think about it?
How can you think about it?

Where does it come from?
How is it made?
Where does it go?

Assignment

For one day
or one week,
keep
(track of)
your trash

Kinds of Waste

Industrial
Municipal
Medical
Electronic

Industrial Waste

In the US
7,600,000,000
tons per year (EPA)
13,000,000,000
tons per year (other sources)
not including agricultural waste or greenhouse gases
and other pollution

modern production is a
take-make-waste
system

take-make-
forsake

Design
is the
Problem

Municipal
Solid Waste

3 Major Components

Inorganics
Food scraps, yard waste
and other biodegradables
Manufactured products
and their packaging

In the US
tons
254,000,000 of MSW
pounds
= 4.6 per person
per day
in 2007

In part because our stuff
is “designed to be wasted.”

Design
is the
Problem

In the US
74% of our waste
was products and packaging
in 2005

In the US
150,000,000,000
single-use beverage containers
320,000,000 take-out cups
every day

Electronic
Waste

Assignment

After Dump,
What Happens To
Electronic Waste?
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/21/132204954/
after-dump-what-happens-to-electronic-waste

In the US
400,000,000
products per year
4,000,000,000
pounds in 2005

In the US
85% in landfills
12.5%shipped overseas]
[80%
recycled

Top sources/reasons
cell phone upgrades
Digital TV conversion
Software upgrades
Battery can’t be changed
Cheap printers

Waste
Management

“...waste is supported
with community services
that are more universal,
more affordable and
more accessible than
health care, housing, or
education.”

But it’s not supported well.

What happens to trash?

Sesame Street:
Keep on Truckin’

Bury it.
Burn it.
Ship it.

Landfills
bad for land, water and air

Leachate

Collection required by the
Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act
http://water.epa.gov/scitech/
wastetech/guide/landfills/landfact.cfm

But landfills leak
http://www.zerowasteamerica.org/landfills.htm

Methane and other VOCs

Landfill gas
about 50% methane
made up 23% of methane
emissions in 2007

Why methane?

Decomposition
in landfills occurs via
anaerobic respiration

Anaerobic: C02 to CH4
Aerobic: 02 to H2O

Burn landfill gas for energy?

No! But we already do.

Point-Source
Pollution

Pollution from a
single, identifiable,
localized source

The term "point source" means any discernible,
confined and discrete conveyance, including
but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel,
tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container,
rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding
operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from
which pollutants are or may be discharged.
http://www.epa.gov/
owow_keep/NPS/whatis.html

Landfills
Incinerators
Power plants
Wastewater treatment facilities
Industrial sites
Factory farms

Nonpoint-Source
Pollution

Nonpoint-Source
Pollution

“...generally results from
land runoff, precipitation,
atmospheric deposition,
drainage, seepage or
hydrologic modification.”
http://www.epa.gov/
owow_keep/NPS/whatis.html

“NPS pollution is caused by
rainfall or snowmelt moving over
and through the ground.
As the runoff moves, it picks up
and carries away natural and
human-made pollutants, finally
depositing them into lakes,
rivers, wetlands, coastal waters
and ground waters.”
http://www.epa.gov/
owow_keep/NPS/whatis.html

Agricultural areas
runoff, livestock waste
Residential areas
streets, parking lots, roads, lawns
Mining areas

Compost
reduce leachate,
eliminate methane

Recycling

Recycling plastics is really
downcycling

Rethink
Production

Newton Running

Hi Albert,
Thanks for your message, and I'm glad to know you're a Newton Runner.
We do partner with a non-profit, called One World Running, which is an
entirely volunteer-operated organization that collects gently used
shoes and distributes them to needy children and adults all around
the world. To keep your old shoes out of a landfill, just send them to:
One World Running
c/o Newton Running Warehouse and Distribution Center
3655 Frontier Ave.
Boulder, CO 80301
I hope this helps-- please let me know if you have additional questions
or concerns. Take care and run strong.

Simple Shoes
Who We Are
With all the over-built, over-hyped products out there, it's pretty hard to
find sustainable shoes that you can live with. So we started Simple,
your stereotypical, anti-stereotype brand offering good shoes and a big
dose of reality.
About a gazillion pairs later... give or take a few... we've managed to
learn a few things. Well, actually a lot of things. And none more
important than this: HOW we make our shoes is just as important as
WHY we make them. That means finding more sustainable ways of
doing business so we can make a gazillion more.
Which pretty much is where we are today... at the crossroads of here
and now, aware of our responsibility to the planet while trying to pay
the bills. The nice little shoe company getting in touch with its inner
hippie.

Simple Shoes

Cradle
to
Cradle
Design

Reframing production

biological nutrients
biodegradable, organic materials
technical nutrients
inorganic or synthetic materials

C2C Certification

Product/material transparency and
human & environmental health
characteristics
Product/material reusability
Production energy
Water use in manufacturing
Social fairness

Stop making
“monstrous hybrids”

Ford Model U

Ford Model U
Soy-based foam in seats
Sunflower-seed-based lubricants
100%-recyclable polyester
Bioplastic roof
Modular manufacturing

http://www.good.is/post/ecovative-design-partners-
with-ford-to-develop-mushroom-based-car-parts/

Rethink
Consumption

Freecycle.org

Rethink
Ownership

meshing.it

Collaborative
Consumption

weconomy

access
over ownership

reconomy

Zero Waste

Preventing waste

Reducing consumption and discards
Reusing discards
Extended producer responsibility
Comprehensive recycling
Comprehensive composting
Citizen participation
Ban incineration
Improve product design
Effective policies, regulations,
incentives, etc.

True Cost

Prices we pay do not reflect
the costs inflicted upon people
and ecosystems

impacts on
human, animal and ecosystem
health

$6