Reduce, reuse, recycling is a familiar mantra. But it doesn’t effectively solve the problem of producing no waste. To truly do that, we need to use our designer skills. We’ll go into more detail on how we can do that on a personal basis, at various stages of the course.
A key concept that permaculture holds about waste is that there is no such thing. Nature uses everything. There is an aborigine saying: “Nothing is waste until it is wasted.”
All “waste” is food for something, even if it is just microbes that eat it. We know there are microbes that eat plastic and petroleum. So why is it that we have so much garbage, waste and pollution?
The scientific definition of pollution is “excess in the system.” Nature will eat everything and turn it into energy for life, but if there is too much of it, it acts as a toxin. For instance, water is life but plants have varying degrees of tolerance for wet feet. Some plants, like citrus trees, will die quickly if sitting in water for even a couple of days. Other plants can handle a number of days of being flooded. Eventually, many plants, no matter how thirsty they are, will die if sitting in standing water for weeks. On the other hand, even a small amount of Roundup can kill most broadleaf plants quickly.
The problem is twofold.
- A lack of understanding (or care in some cases) of how much capacity the system has to absorb “waste” and utilize it.
- Bad design that produces a constant stream of waste that is much too great for the system to handle.
Even in industrial niches, some people understand this and are addressing both of these points.
Ray Anderson (now passed away) played a role in revolutionizing how we use stuff by leasing his carpets to companies and individuals, and taking them back at the end of their life, in order to ensure they got recycled. He designed them to be easier to recycle. This model - of companies being responsible for their products through their entire life (and death) cycle, is gaining traction in a number of industries.
William McDonough and Michael Braungart, in the book, Cradle to Cradle, take this concept to the next level by focusing on designing everything so that there is no possibility of highly toxic material overwhelming organic systems.
Their products are built so that the chemicals and toxins are contained throughout the life cycle of the product and recycled at the end of their life cycle. Organic materials are either composted or recycled, but in a separate system so they do not mix.
As an example, you’ve probably seen packaging that fused paper and plastic together so they are not easily separated. This would never fly in Cradle to Cradle design - in fact, the ink and anything else that couldn’t be easily separated from the paper would need to be biodegradable and/or recyclable. They have worked with Ford Motor Company and other major corporations to help them alter their production lines to drastically reduce waste along the entire life cycle of extraction of raw materials, manufacture, distribution, sales, use and discard.
The biggest and most important source of waste reduction is to “rethink.” How can we use less stuff that must be thrown away?
- Buying used stuff not only saves money but it recirculates something rather than having it go to the landfill.
- Buying quality tools and other items that will last a lifetime or longer pays off in many ways.
- How can we avoid having to purchase some goods at all?
- Packaging is a huge source of waste. Which items can we use more permanent containers for? There are increasing numbers of “no waste” stores popping up in various cities that offer bulk household items that are often sold in plastic packaging.
A very successful approach for many to reduce waste is to do it gradiently. Find one thing that you can change to reduce waste or use renewables, and change that habit. Then go on to the next thing. It adds up.
Hands On Activity
Go around your site or home, and find one waste stream that you could capture and re-use, or simply not create in the first place, rather than continue to throw it away.
Further Study