From Trash to Treasure: Revolutionizing Waste Management 

Please welcome back Ellie Gabel. This is her fifth contribution to the 21st Century Tech Blog. To learn more about her and her writing you can visit her website.

In this article, Ellie writes about managing the waste we humans create. Landfills take up acreage that could be used for productive purposes. Landfills contribute greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere accelerating global warming. Finding ways to reduce what we throw out, recycle and reuse, and even developing the means to mine legacy landfills to extract valuable resources represents an emerging business opportunity.

I’ll let Ellie tell you the rest. Please let me know if you can add something to this subject or just feel free to send in your comments. 

Humans generate an alarming amount of waste. Rapid industrialization and excessive consumption contribute to the surge in trash, sparking an urgent need for innovative recycling and waste management solutions. Emerging technologies are revolutionizing how we treat garbage, turning it into valuable resources.

The Growing Need for Advanced Recycling

The scale of the world’s waste problem is gargantuan. Analysts project municipal solid waste generation will increase to a staggering 3.8 billion metric tons in 2050 from 2.1 billion in 2023.

In 2018, the United States alone produced 292.4 million short tons of trash, of which only 32.1% went to recycling facilities. The lack of recycling has profound implications for the environment, hence the need for innovative advancements to encourage recycling efforts.

Innovations Transforming Recycling

Traditional recycling measures cannot keep up with the challenge of growing waste. Researchers are turning to novel technologies to improve efficiency and sustainability in the recycling process.

In particular, waste plastic is becoming more concerning every day. We produce around 400 million metric tons of plastic annually. Of this, only 9% gets recycled with 79% ending up in landfills, oceans or other waterways and 12% getting incinerated.

Applying new technological solutions can begin to address this environmental challenge. 

Imidazole for PET Recycling

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic typically found in water bottles and food packaging, has long been a problem for traditional recycling methods. While inherently recyclable, reusing PET waste remains challenging because it produces lower-quality materials with limited uses. Imidazole-based chemical recycling (IBCR), therefore, is an emerging groundbreaking solution.

IBCR involves treating PET using chemolysis by using imidazole compounds to depolymerize the plastic turning it into amides, benzimidazoles, esters or monomers. Unlike traditional mechanical processes, which often result in downcycled, lower-quality outcomes, imidazole-based recycling produces versatile products from the resulting chemicals. For example:

• Amides are used in shampoos, lotions, cosmetics and detergents.
• Benzimidazoles are used in pharmaceuticals, pesticides and fungicides.
• Esters are used in lubricants, plastics and polymers.
• Monomers are used to make automotive bumpers and PVC pipes. 

Waste Material Milling

One of the most significant barriers to recycling is efficiently breaking down materials into usable forms. Waste material milling technologies are evolving to address this issue, with cryogenic grinding or cryomilling. It involves the use of liquid nitrogen to make the grinding process easier. 

Cryomilling creates fine ground particles 10 micrometres or smaller than other milling techniques. It enhances particle flow and dispersion potential for processed polymers and foodstuffs in liquid. 

Cryomilling is particularly beneficial when recycling complex materials like rubber and plastics. For example, pulverized used tires turned into fine rubber powder take on a second life as asphalt, playground surfaces or new rubber products.

Upcycling Using Bioconjugates

The throwaway global economy consumes 70% more virgin materials (raw materials extracted from nature) than the world can safely replenish. Since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, we have depleted half a trillion metric tons of virgin materials. Using circular economy principles we can reduce the use of virgin resources through recycling and reuse.

Bioconjugates are molecules formed from biological and non-biological components. Bioconjugation is a technique that can upcycle materials typically considered non-recyclable. The process turns waste into valuable products by establishing chemical bonds using proteins and enzymes to facilitate the degradation or modification of materials.

Bioconjugation can transform non-recyclable plastics into biodegradable materials or bio-based coatings and adhesives. It converts waste plastic into biofuels. Bioconjugate-based recycling opens up possibilities for repurposing what was previously unachievable by fusing biology and materials science helping to reduce wastepaper, forest and wood waste, as well as animal waste which can be turned into gelatins, collagens and other valuable materials.

Robotics and Machine Learning

Robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are revolutionizing recycling by distinguishing between multiple materials such as metals, plastics and glass with remarkable accuracy, significantly reducing contamination in recycling streams.

In the mining industry, robotics and machine learning are helping to manage and recycle waste from operations. The technologies lessen the need for environmentally harmful extraction methods by removing precious metals like copper, silver and gold from mining waste.

Researchers have created algorithms to examine mine tailings to find recoverable elements. Robots with AI are being used to recover rare earth elements (RREs) from coal slag. RREs are critical materials used in battery production, electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels. Considering how much coal slag is produced from annual mining operations which in 2022 reached 8.4 billion tons leaving 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of slag and other waste, this represents untapped wealth.

Innovating to a Greener Future

All of the above represent promising solutions we can use to address the challenge of modern waste, creating new economic opportunities. Sustained investment, public awareness and supporting legislation, however, are necessary to realize the promise these technologies fully represent. In the 21st century, we need innovative recycling technologies. They are essential in creating a sustainable future where what we have thrown away in the past can now be turned into a resource rather than a burden.