Collapse: Earth Overshoot Day

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Fri Sep 16 18:20:43 PDT 2022


Old landfills will be stripmined for resources...


One Year Of Global Waste Visualized

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/one-year-of-global-waste-visualized/
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/09/20/global-waste-to-grow-by-70-percent-by-2050-unless-urgent-action-is-taken-world-bank-report
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/land-of-waste-american-landfills-by-state/
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/brief/solid-waste-management
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/the-road-to-decarbonization-how-asphalt-is-affecting-the-planet/
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/company_spotlight/northstarcleantech/

Waste generation is expected to jump to 3.4 billion tonnes over the
next 30 years, compared to 2.2 billion in 2019.

This is due to a number of factors, such as population growth,
urbanization, and economic growth.

As Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti details below, and in this
graphic by Northstar Clean Technologies, the impact of waste
generation varies worldwide and explains how it can be reduced.

The Growing Pile of Global Waste

The United States is the world’s most wasteful country, with each
American producing a whopping 809 kg (1780 lbs) of waste every year.

Approximately half of the country’s yearly waste will meet its fate in
one of the more than 2,000 active landfills across the nation. The
country also has the largest landfill in the world, Apex, located in
Clark County, Nevada.

The United States is followed by other industrialized countries like
Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, and Switzerland based on average annual
per capita municipal waste generation.

Compared to those in developed nations, residents in developing
countries are more severely impacted by unsustainably managed waste.
In low-income countries, over 90% of waste is often disposed of in
unregulated dumps or openly burned, according to the World Bank.

In this scenario, the need for authorities to provide adequate waste
treatment has become ever more important. However, less than 20% of
waste is recycled each year, with huge quantities still sent to
landfill sites.
Repurposing Waste

One of the major sources of waste is the construction industry. Every
year, around 12 million tons of used asphalt shingles are dumped into
landfills across North America.

Similar to roads, asphalt shingles have oil as the primary component,
which is especially harmful to the environment.

However, using technology, the primary components in shingles can be
repurposed into liquid asphalt, aggregates, and fiber for use in road
construction, embankments, and new shingles.

Providing the construction industry with clean, sustainable processing
solutions is also a big business opportunity. Canada alone is a $1.3
billion market for recovering and reprocessing shingles.

Even though 100% zero waste may sound difficult to achieve in the near
future, a zero waste approach is essential to reduce our impact on the
environment.

Northstar Clean Technologies’ mission is to be the leader in the
recovery and reprocessing of asphalt shingles in North America.


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