Waste Management Efficiencies of 2021
October 21, 2021
WORDS BY BETHANIE ASHTON
This week we asked our believer team about their favorite finds for waste-management solutions. Their responses were so interesting that we decided to publish an article to identify all the amazing facts and resources with our community.
It also allows you, our conscious readers, to get to know the ONE30M crew a little better. If you’re not already part of our platform, hit the Register button or nominate your ethical Brand.. we would love to welcome you!
“The most inspiring waste-management innovation I have read about is Fibersort Technology. It’s an automatic technology that sorts large volumes of post-consumer textiles by their fibre composition which is then used to recycle into new and good quality textiles.” Ellen explains.
It’s leading partner, Circle Economy, based in eco trend-setting Amsterdam, empowers businesses, cities and nations with data, tools and knowledge to put the circular economy into action. One of Fibersort’s major players is Clarins, recycling 100% of mixed material cosmetics packaging. While only 1% of landfill waste is presently repurposed, Circle Economy puts the demand into perspective, “24% of the textiles collected have the potential to be recycled into new textiles, but currently are not. These textiles represent 486 kilo tonnes per year, the equivalent to the weight of 50 Eiffel Towers.”
In Lagos, Ayomide discovered a news report about Australian scientist, Veena Samajwalla engineering cloth to produce kitchen tiles (combining textile
waste and glass) for the construction industry. This wasn’t Veena’s first engineering success. 20 years ago, she invented a method to recycle tires into the steel making process, saving millions of tires from landfill. As Director of the University of NSW – SMaRT Centre, Veena constantly challenges recycling processes to develop methods to improve them using science and technology. The ABC Network covered Veena’s latest discovery earlier this year.
Our Los Angeles based contributor, Faith LeMasters, names the Clarins cosmetic recycling program in partnership with TerraCycle. You can find more about Clarins commitment to Green packaging here.
What many people don’t know is that even when old cosmetic containers are recycled, as they are typically manufactured of mixed materials (i.e. glass jar/plastic lid/metal springs), they are often not recycled or only partially recycled.
TerraCycle specializes in sorting these mixed materials, so when consumers take advantage of the program, they are assured that 100% will be recycled with no waste.
As part of her fashion design studies at the American Lebanese university in Beirut, our contributor Lynn Al Labban researched concepts to repurpose scrap clothing (too worn to donate). She created original artwork by cutting shards and material, stitching them back into wall hangings or feature rugs.
It’s unique, innovative, self-expressive and leads to our need to listen to the next generation of young environmentalists.
From Alabama, our Director of Memberships explains, “As a new mom I’m particularly interested in finding a solution to children’s clothing waste. tackling sustainability revolves around actions like choosing better materials or finding new ways to recycle clothes.”
Lis’ favorite startup disrupters in the children’s clothing arena are Borobabi and Petit-Pli.
Petit-Pli are a cutting-edge design studio, having engineered and patented garments that expand as your family grows.
Carolyn Butler, CEO Borobabi says “We believe every family should have access to ethically and sustainably crafted clothing. Sustainability should not be a luxury. Our natural and organic clothing gets used to its fullest potential by our network of conscious families.
We work hard to take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of our childrenswear.
Borobabi achieves this by composting worn clothing to avoid the harms of landfilling, and Butler adds “because it’s our mission to help ensure the health of our planet for generations to come.”
Children’s clothing, a $16B market globally, suffers from massive underutilization. On average, parents spend more than $700 each year on kids’ clothes, only to see them grow out of them within months, resulting in 63 million pounds of clothing going into landfill.
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These are the edu-shares from our team, the ONE30M Believers. We believe in the power of advocacy. We believe in equity. We believe that we, as an exploding conscious community, can save our planet from ruin. Keep up to date with ideas and edu-shares from our team here in our eco-news magazine, éthique.
Glossary
P4. Repurposing landfill waste with Fibersort in partnership with Circle Economy
P5. Sydney’s UNSW SMaRT Center for Green innovations
P5. Kitchen tiles from textile waste News at UNSW
P6. ABC reportage (link) on Veena Samajwalla
P4. Recycling 100% of mixed material waste with TerraCycle
P11. Children’s organic ethical brands Borobabi
P10. Clothing that grows with your family Petit-Pli
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