FOREWORD
'Recycling' tends to come with an expectation that a material can be again what it once was. However, plastic is here to prove that while 'theoretically' a plastic bottle POSTconsumer, its 'plastic' can be recovered, and reused to produce a plastic bottle again. However, the evidence is that it is much more 'cost effective', or economically sustainable, or just plainy more profitable, to make more NEWplastic for the 'plastcic bottles' we want and that we have come to need.
Consequently, OLDplastic accumulates in THEenvironment,in warehouses and in LANDfill. Otherwise it is floating in a waterway or ocean somewhere by-and-large out of sight and for the most part out of mind. Well out of mind for legislators and regulators who, as it turns out are are dedicated to facilitating the maintenance of the status quo in the CULTURALlandscape rather than facilitate change – the changes needed to accommodate change brought on by the disruptions and advances in technology and their aftermath.
It needs to be said here that what applies to 'plastics' also applies to a myriad of POSTconsumer materials and resources.
Essentially, all this is largely to do with the 'players' in governance's and civic administration's need to resist change in order to preserve their wellbeing, their salaries, their lifestyles. The schism that the world has come blighted by is the schism between the governors and the governed. One wanting/needing 'change' te other resisting change – albeit at various degrees.
This needs to be said given that one way or another it is in the mindsets and background somewhere as the need for 'change', meaningful change, is grappled with and in terms of 'resource recovery' the time has come for a concerted effort to recover lost opportunities.
THE RECYCLING NEED
Recycling is generally understood to be the process of converting waste materials – POSTconsumer materials – into new materials and products – typically products close to being like the CONSUMEDproduct. Often this includes the recovery of some of the energy spent in 'making of' the waste materials.
The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the properties and or resources it had as a CONSUMABLEproduct. It is intended as an alternative to "conventional" waste stream disposal where the materials – the spent resources and energy – are lost, spent, thrown way. The intention being to save the materials and help mitigate against greenhouse gas emissions along with the other toxic outcomes of industrial processes.
It is intended that 'recycling' prevents the waste of useful materials and reduces the consumption of and the need for fresh raw materials. Similarly there is an intention to reduce the need for energy supplies, and mitigate against the production of air pollution and water pollution that comes from consigning unspent resources to LANDfill.
Recycling is marketed as a key component of modern waste reduction and it is said to represent the third step in the "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" waste hierarchy. Recycling is also marketed as contributing to environmental sustainability and resource conservation.
Recycling is marketed as promoting environmental sustainability by removing raw material input and redirecting waste output in the economic system. In reality 'status qouism' resists much of recycling's marketed rhetoric.
There are some standards related to recycling, like there is for plastics waste. The evidence thus far suggests that the 'recycling rhetoric'is not matched by its outcomes.
Consequently, there is a need to 'MARKET the purposefulness' of recycling in order to effect the real and present need to achieve a 'cycling' of resources that equates with the LIFEcycling to be found in ecosystems. That is a 'cycling' that which is readily observable in the planet's ecosystems. When we take a critical look at these 'systems' the modeling is clear to be seen.
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The realisation that there is 'no away to chuck stuff to' means that new words may be need to assist in conveying and maketing the 'cycling' message. 'ONcycling' might be useful in invoking the notion of seeking the NEXTlife, NEXTuse,and/or the NEXTpurpose a material/resource might find itself fulfilling. The unfulfilled promise of 'recycling' may well turn out the subject for a PhD thes'is sometime soon. Whatever, THEauthorities make the diversion from LANDfill, and ideas like ZERO WASTE, harder than need be given the stumble stones put in innovators' way.
THE TECHNOCRATS
The reuse of reclaimed resources typically come with two inhibitors:
- The toxic cargo that come with the resource that is either inherent or has been added in it last manifestation; and
- The status quo syndrome that tends to assert that there is a 'proper way' that must be observed, and is backed up by rules and regulations drawn up by functionaries seeking one-size-fits-all policable guidlines; and
- An antithesis to divergent thinking in design processes that can deliver divergent and audatious outcomes.
These factors in combination present formidable blockages in nachieving meaningful change supported by governance. If one looks for the evidence it is readily available. For instance in 2019 Launceston City Council declared "A Climate Emergency" and within the six years since the city:
- Manages a Waste Management Centre where resources are taken and in large part wasted; and
- Major expenditure has been committed to the construction and maintenance of LANDfill cells – again a missed opportunity to invest in a sustainable future; and
- Has presided over committing just on half of the city's so-called waste stream to LANDfill – again a missed opportunity to invest in a sustainable future; and
- Has invoked tokenistic social climate remediation initiatives – again a missed opportunity to invest in a sustainable future; and
- Has made minimal effort to generating renewable energy plus being antithetic towards encouraging its citizenary doing so in its planning processes– again a missed opportunity to invest in a sustainable future.
All this with like jurisdictions being more proactive albeit falling short of what's needed to make meaningful differences.
THE GOLD STANDARD
Most people know very little about gold as it doesn't figure highly in the earth's useful elements. It is rare and it is incredibly stable. So, once mined, infinitesimal amounts are lost and finds its way back into the 'environment'.
Consider these facts:
- The entire world production of gold is roughly 1.5 million kg per year, which would form a cube around 4.3 metres on each side; and
- Experts estimate that some 10 billion troy ounces of gold have been produced in the history of humanity, or just over 311 million kg. That would be a cube roughly 25 metres on each side; and
- The largest ship ever built (the Seawise Giant, which was decommissioned in 2010 and was listed as having a cargo capacity of 657 million kg) could hold twice the amount of gold that the human race has ever produced, throughout all of history; and
- Experts estimate that something in the order of 2% has ever been lost to the environment.
Manufacturers using gold typically factor in this 2% into their production costs and in goldsmithing workshops, they make assiduous efforts to ensure that infinitesimal amounts are lost and unrecoverable. Typically, each and every worker maintains a 'lemel stock' – lemel being metal filings AKA precious scrap.Typically the outcome is that workers, through working processes, loose less than 2% of the gold that passes through their hands.
"In the business" anything more a 2% loss is regarded as gross inefficiency and ineptitude – and rightly so.
Compare and contrast alL this with 'textile waste'! Globally, around 92 million tonnes of textiles are sent to landfill each year. In Australia, a significant portion of clothing waste ends up in landfills, with recent figures showing over 200,000 tonnes discarded annually, according to Seamless Australia. This represents a substantial environmental problem, as textile waste contributes to greenhouse gas
emissions, water pollution, and land degradation.
It is interesting bto note that the City of Launceston's WASTE MANAGEMENT CENTRE estimates that approx. 10% of the WASTEstream that flows into its LANDfill is textiles ... Circa 2023.
Compared to the GOLDstandard where all but infinitesimal amounts of material resources are ONcycled, the MINDset shift needed to have such a standard seen as typical seems a long way off as functionaries in 'public service' dodge the issue in deference to the status quo and their risk adversity towards their incomes etc.
It is clear that the schism between the aspirations of governance's functionaries and the governed's expectations and desires is a yawning gap. More to the point it is an unaffordable gap between what is and what should be given the growing evidence that in every aspect of resource management humanity needs to lift its game. Alternatively, as David Susukie SAID, "The future doesn't exist. The only thing that exists is now and our memory of what happened in the past. But because we invented the idea of a future, we're the only animal that realized we can affect the future by what we do today."
If humanity actually foresees a future not so much for what we might imagine as an immediate 'future' but something to be enjoyed by our grandchildren's grandchildren, then at a local level and in the here and now we all need to pay close attention to resource recovery and how it is implemented.
Indeed we need to pay close attention to the GOLDstandard, or move aside and make way for the insects to occupy the spaces humanity is despoiling.
SO WHAT IS AN ALERNATIVE TO LANDFILL CELLS
The questions 'what next' and 'what instead' actually do have a viable and sustainable answer. Currently in Australia, like elsewhere in the so-called DEVELOPEDworld the economy has become misshapen via the imaginings of HOMEplaces as investments. That somewhat surreal concept brings about one-size-fit-all imaginings brought on by INVESTMENTthinking. Mostly the building of the infrastructure needs to LONGlived to justify the investment of resources and time to deliver a dividend at a future date or some imagined time ahead.
The time it takes to realize a dividend from an infrastructure investment can vary significantly, but it generally takes at least a number of years, potentially spanning multiple generations. Unlike a short-term investment, infrastructure projects often have long lifespans and generate returns over decades intended for the benefit of a number of generations.
While some infrastructure investments might start generating returns relatively quickly – say within a few years for the housing of people – others, particularly large-scale projects –say decades for the housing of enterprises/businesses – might require several decades to fully realise their investment potential. The concept of a "dividend" in this context might refer to financial returns. However, broader benefits like improved quality of life, economic development, and enhanced public services, which can have intergenerational impacts but not always by necessity.
The ill considered factor in the case of housing and HOMEmaking is that the housing investment factor typically demands a fiscal dividend, often within an unrealisable timeframe, which in turn sends investors on a fiscal merry-go-round with the demand for inputs ever increasing. As sure a GOD made little apples the merry-go-round was ultimately bound break and fail – and it has.
Homelessness is a symptom of a strategic fiscal failure. In many ways it can be claimed to be deliberate in the way homelessness is tolerated in statusvquoism. A society visibly fails when its entire population is not being sheltered in safety.
"In the international human rights context, the concept of a right to housing is found in the right to an ‘adequate standard of living’ as, for example, in article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)... Other international treaties to which Australia is a party also have something to say about a nation’s obligations in relation to housing – for example, concerning children, people with disabilities and women. First and foremost, the right to housing does not stand alone. Rather, it is ‘integrally linked to other human rights’." ... Rosalind Croucher ... Sandy Duncanson Memorial Lecture 2022
Finland has effectively combatted homelessness through its "Housing First" approach, which prioritizes providing permanent housing with support services to individuals experiencing homelessness. A key quote summarizing Finland's approach is: "Homelessness isn't a lack of character, it's a lack of a house". Finland's success has attracted attention from other countries, with many seeking to learn from their experience and implement similar strategies.
The 'wastefulness of homelessness' runs parallel to the 'wastefulness of LANDfill'. They are both symptoms of strategic fiscal failure and the status quoism that togeher tolerate the malady and brings it about. The people of Finland do not tolerate homelessness and together they have protected each other from its consequences.
Unsurprisingly, Finland has ambitious goals for resource recovery and circular economy, aiming to double the circular material use rate by 2035 compared to 2015. This includes limiting raw material consumption and increasing resource productivity.
Finland is also committed to reducing LANDfill in its municipalties thus improving recycling rates for plastics and construction waste. Finland has set targets to double its circular material use rate by 2035, meaning more resources will be reused, recycled, or recovered instead of going to waste.
Interestingly Finland aims to keep raw material consumption in 2035 at the same level as in 2015, excluding raw materials used in products for export. As well, Finland is working to double its resource productivity by 2035.
So, LANDfill has a viable and planable alternative:
- That can be planned for; and
- Does not impinge upon productivity outcomes; and
- Contributes to a sustainable CULTURALlandscape;and
- That is achievable relative to the 'effort' invested rather than money invested.
The notion that some CIVICplanners entertain that CULTURALlandscapes are reflection of the physicality and qualities of a place, not anything humanity does, is a misreading of 'placedness'.
Even so, within places there are NONplaces and the land used in cities can be divided into into Places and NONplaces. Places are for people, places are destinations, there are place to sleep, places to shop, places to work, or simply a places to relax. Places are purposeful and they are destinations. Buildings' interiors are the most common form of 'places' to be found in cities, and include; homes, parks and gardens, plazas, snd peoplev focused streets
NONplaces are the padding between destinations. For instance Non-Places include; roads, freeways. car parks, and greenspace. [REFERENCE]... [See Link]
Places are made and shaped by the people who occupy them and they reflect the layers of expression of the cultural realities to be found in them and that the people live within. Placemaking is something we all do.
RESOURCES AND PURPOSEFUL PLACEMAKING
Anthropology tells us that fundamentally we need just four things as human beings and them the ability to:
- Gain access to sufficient food, water and clean air to sustain life; and
- Independently self identify plus the wherewithal to assert our identity within our group;
- Procreate genetically and conceptually; and
- Gain access to safe and secure shelter for ourselves and our dependents.
Consequently, the places and the geographies people live are supremely important as are resources paces have. When a place that is RESOURCErich with a human population that does not draw down too heavily on its resources a sustainable life is a reality.
However, the reality is that the worlds population has grown to the extent where resources are increasingly hard won. At some time in the past in human history, resources were ONcycled in ecosystems in pace with need. The current reality is that ecosystems are 'cycling' at a pace somewhat less than humanity's needs. Consequently, humanity needs to be more active in the ONcycling processes it depends upon, or bear some concesquense.
