Cradle to ?
Material vs. waste
When something is useful, we call it a “material”
When the same stuff stops being useful, we call it “waste”
Is waste inevitable?
Yes. Entropy can only increase.
But... we can delay waste
Product Life
Physical Life
Functional Life
Technical Life
Economical Life
Legal Life
Loss of Desirability
Physical life
At some time the product breaks down beyond economical repair
Very common issue. Consider automobiles...
Functional life
at some point the need for the product ceases to exist
buggy whips, for example.
Technical Life
the time at which advances in technology have made the product
unacceptably obsolete
Consider 5.25” floppy disk drives
Economical Life
The time at which advances in design and technology offer the
same functionality at significantly lower operating cost
Consider old, inefficient refrigerators
Legal Life
The time at which new standards, directives, legislation, or
restrictions make the use of the product illegal
Consider R-11 Refrigerant, or DDT...
Loss of Desirability
the time at which changes in taste, fashion, or aesthetic
preference render the product unattractive
clothing, for example
What happens to waste?
1. Landfill
2. Combustion
3. Recycling
4. Re-engineering
5. Re-use
Landfill
The land available to fill is finite and reducing.
If consumption of materials grows by 3%/year, and if we discard
as much stuff (percentage based) as we do now,
then in the next 25 years we will discard as much material as
the entire history of industrialization
Combustion for heat recovery
Can we get some energy back? If we burn the waste, we will
generate heat and this can be used as energy.
Requires sorting (combustible vs non-combustible)
Done under control (no toxic fumes)
Imperfect recovery (moisture), 50% efficiency at best, and then
conversion to electricity reduces it to 35%.
Neighbors don’t like it.
But still used sometimes (e.g. Concrete industry)
Recycling
Use the waste as a resource.
Recycling is the re-processing of recovered materials at the
end of product life and returning them to the use stream.
This is probably the best for extracting value from waste stream
Also needs sorting processes.
Reengineering (Reconditioning)
Refurbishment or upgrading of the product or components.
Consider the axe with 2 heads, 3 handles
Sometimes this is cost-effective compared to replacement.
Airplanes don’t wear out - the are reconditioned
Fashion, perceptions can impede the ability to reengineer a
product
Reuse
Reuse is the redistribution of the product to a consumer sector
that can use it in its used state.
Sometimes for original purpose (old car), sometimes for
another (turn railroad car into diner)
Need to have a good communication/distribution channel. e.g.
Ebay.
Product
Manufacture
Natural
Resources
Material
Production
Combustion
Product
Use
End of
First Life
Landfill
Product at end
of first life
Collection
Primary Sorting
Secondary Sorting
combustible or not
material family, class, grade
1. Landfill
2. Combustion
3. Recycle
4. Refurbish
5. Re-use
Packaging
Packaging ends its functional life as soon as the package is
opened.
Ephemeral, trite, wasteful, unnecessary...
But some packaging...
Clothing is a form of packaging.
protection (temperature, abrasions, radiation, precipitation)
signification (gender, cultural, membership, status)
They generate waste, but they are important
Yeah, so...
OK, but objects are inanimate. It must be different?
protection
information
status
presentation....
how bad is it?
Packaging makes up about 18% of household waste and 3% of
landfill
Packaging global carbon footprint, about 0.2% of total
In Europe, about 60% of packaging is recovered (less in US)
Necessary for protection of food
extends product life and has reduced food chain waste to about
3%
Provides nutritional information and safety (sell by...)
The industry is aware
Industry knows the problem and perception of packaging and is
working on it
Quantity of packing is constantly being reduced
There are long standing recycling routes for many packaging
materials, particularly glass, paper, metal, and PET
Recycling Polymers
Recyling markets
Material family
Developed markets for recyled
products
Existing secondary uses, but not developed
Metals
Steel/cast iron
Aluminun, Copper
Lead, Titanium
All precious metals
Paper/metal foil packaging
Polymers
PET, HDPE, PP, PVC
All other polymers, including tires
Ceramics and
glasses
bottle glass
brick
concrete and asphalt
Nonbotle glass
cardboard, paper, newsprint
wood
textiles
Others
Scrap
New, or Primary Scrap (pre-consumer, post-industrial)
cut-offs from billets, risers from castings, turnings from
machines
recycled immediately, usually in house
Old or Secondary Scrap (post-consumer)
comes from products at the end of their useful life
Value of Scrap
New scrap has highest value - easy to collect and reprocess
Scrap from commercial sources (offices, restaurants) is more
valuable than household scrap because it needs less sorting and
is more uniform
Scrap from household sources is the least valuable
Price of Scrap
producers of secondary materials compete with virgin materials
Virgin materials are more expensive
quality is higher (both actual and perceived)
Recycled materials must assure that the drop is quality is
acceptable
Legislation can affect this
Time Lapse
It takes time between production of the original product until that
product is recycled
If some fraction of currently produced material makes it to scrap,
and material consumption increases with time, then the amount of
available scrap is reduced in contribution
Recycling effectiveness
Homework
Car tires are a major waste problem.
Indentify the materials that are contained within a typical car tire.
Identify some ways in which the materials contained in car tires
can be used.