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DR. EARTH® GARDENING GUIDE DR. EARTH® GARDENING GUIDE
Our Daily Choices Matter
Over the past several decades, there has been a huge paradigm
shift in the way most people view trash: both in the ways it is
disposed of and in the ways it can be reused and recycled. The
now commonplace daily practice of recycling a plastic water
bottle makes a huge difference when viewed on a global level.
Every action each of us takes quickly adds up exponentially,
resulting in a massive positive impact on the planet.
Despite our advances, we still have a long way to go – in America
alone, each one of us generates an average of 4.4 lbs. of trash each
day; of this, only about 1.5 lbs. is composted or recycled.
Waste in the Industrial Sector
A much bigger problem – one that will touch each of our
lives and the lives of generations to come – is industrial waste.
In the 1980’s it was estimated that American industrial facilities
alone generated and disposed of about 7.6 billion
tons of industrial solid waste each year.
Industrial activities require a wide variety of inputs such
as energy, water, metals, plastics, wood, textiles, glass, etc.
The production, and eventual consumption, of the final
goods generate a huge amount of waste; up until recently,
industrialization has been a terribly wasteful process.
China’s rapid growth in the industrial arena is a prime
example of the scope of the challenge. From 2003 to 2006,
China’s industrial production grew at an annual rate of
about 12%. By 2006, the added value of industrial activities
accounted for about 43% of the national economy. As a
result, China now tops the world in the production of steel,
coal, cement, TV sets and cotton fabric. It ranks second
in power generation, third in sugar output and fifth in
crude oil output. But these advancements have also been
accompanied by waste – in 2005, China surpassed the U.S.
as the world’s largest generator of solid waste. Indeed, no
other country in history has generated as much waste in
such a short period as China.
Problems Create Opportunities
Although the creation of industrial waste has given rise to
serious problems and challenges, unexpected opportunities for
environmentally sustainable industrialization have also arisen. No
country is self-sufficient in the production of raw materials needed
in industry – materials such as crude oil, coal, paper, metals and
plastics. In China, the fact that large amounts of these materials
need to be imported has led to one of the world’s largest recycling
efforts. A growing proportion of China’s industrial inputs are now
constituted of recyclable materials that have been recovered
from waste from all over the world. As an example, in 2001, China
became the world’s largest importer of scrap metal. A case can be
made that Chinese industrialization has been fueled by waste from
many countries.
The growing demand for recyclable materials has created the
world’s largest recycling effort ever seen in history – bringing
forth a new phenomenon of global supply chains to satisfy these
demands. These supply chains are constituted of several million
waste pickers worldwide who supply industry’s ever-growing
appetite for recycled materials. This model has exciting implications
for industrialization, for the control of greenhouse gas emissions
and for the reduction of poverty.
Waste pickers – as yet, a loosely-organized group of at least
15 million scavengers worldwide – make a living by recovering
materials from waste for recycling. The global economic impact of
scavenging activities is estimated to generate several billion U.S.
dollars annually.
The Evolution of Industrial Recycling
The practice of industrial recycling is becoming widespread
throughout the world and is expected to increase greatly as
manufacturing concerns grapple with tighter resource constraints.
In an era of rising commodity prices, recyclable materials are in
high demand, due to their low costs. The main factors that account
for the lower prices of secondary materials are due to the facts that:
■ Material recovered from waste often includes impurities such as
tags, traces of glue and moisture.
■ Most developed countries have created recycling programs
that produce large amounts of secondary materials, but supply
of these materials usually exceeds domestic demand, so a large
percentage of these materials must be exported and sold in
international markets.
■ Recycling requires less energy and water than processing virgin
materials.
■ The recovery of material in developing countries relies on large
numbers of scavengers, who lack the organization and power
to have an impact on prices.
These factors translate into lower prices for recyclable materials.
An example of the price differential between imported goods is
Mexico: the price per ton of wood pulp imported from the U.S. is
seven times more expensive than recovered waste paper.
GLOBAL RECYCLING
PLANET PRESERVATION
THE BIG PICTURE
THE UGLY
TRUTH
EVERYDAY IS
EARTH DAY
SAVE THE PLANET
Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000
sea creatures a year! The Great Pacic Garbage Patch is 80 percent plastic measuring
twice the size of Texas and is oating somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii.