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Silicon mountain: Our obsession with electronics is drowning the world in e-waste

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Friday, March 22, 2024

Whether it's for work, school or keeping up with friends and family, we all rely on electronic devices for our daily lives. It's likely you are reading this article from a device that uses a battery or plug. Unfortunately, our phones and laptops contain some toxic elements and when they break or become obsolete, where they end up next can have big impacts on the environment. This isn't a failure on the individual level so much as an overarching problem with our society's disposable culture. This trash differs from plastic and other types of pollution however because of the uniquely dangerous toxic metals and other materials, plus the fact that this category of electronic waste, or e-waste, is growing faster than any other. "Most countries in the world do not yet have e-waste regulation in place." According to a recent report by the United Nations (UN), humanity's e-waste production is a major environmental problem. Indeed, the UN's fourth Global E-waste Monitor (GEM) announced on Wednesday that human beings are creating five times more electronic waste than we are recycling. In 2022 alone, human beings created 137 billion pounds of e-waste and recycled less than a quarter of it. According to the report, this is enough e-waste that it equals the weight of 107,000 of the world's largest, heaviest 575 tonne passenger aircraft, enough to be connected head-to-tail from New York City to Athens, Greece. Even worse, the number is only increasing, with the 62 million tonnes produced in 2022 expected to rise by 32% to 82 million tonnes by 2030. "E-waste presents very visible and obvious challenges to the environment and human health, while many of the solutions can be extremely effective but less visible," said report co-author Vanessa Gray, who heads the Environment and Emergency Telecommunication Division at the Telecommunication Development Bureau at the UN's International Telecommunication Union. "This includes the need for more and better e-waste regulation. Although this is an important first step to address the e-waste challenge, and helps drive recycling rates, most countries in the world do not yet have e-waste regulation in place." Without proper regulations, people are likely to be exposed to the hazardous substances that allow our electronic inventions to work. Think of mercury, which can cause brain and nervous system damage and is present in some batteries. Lead poisoning is also common among those exposed to these materials, which can similarly cause brain and neurological damage. These devices may also contain dioxins that can harm a person's lungs, or cobalt that irritates the skin, eyes, nose and throat. E-waste also usually contains plastic, which never degrades and therefore creates pollution associated with myriad diseases that effectively remains in the environment indefinitely. Research indicates that children and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to the negative health effects of being exposed to these materials, especially in poorer regions of the world, where much of this trash is exported. Even though economically disadvantaged regions like Africa generate less e-waste, it can be lucrative scavenging electronic products for a living. But this is often done without proper personal or environmental protections. When this is combined with an inferior e-waste management infrastructure, one is left with a recipe for a widespread health crisis. "African countries generate the lowest rates of e-waste but struggle to recycle it; their recycling rates are below 1 per cent," the authors of the report write. By partial contrast, Asia generates nearly half of the world's e-waste (at a staggering 30 billion kg) and yet has likewise made only "limited advances" in controlling its e-waste problem. In contrast, the report notes that in 2022, the regions that generated the highest amount of e-waste per capita were Europe, Oceania and the Americas. Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon's weekly newsletter Lab Notes. "Buy less electronics you don’t need." There are glimmers of hope in the report. For one thing, the researchers found that although only a small amount of e-waste is recycled, that was enough to spare the planet from being mined for 2 trillion pounds of ore for virgin metal. This is because recycling e-waste allows humanity to create new gadgets from old ones, an act which in turn lowers the high carbon footprint associated with mining and manufacturing. Currently the Americas, for example, release 30.9 billion kg CO2 equivalents through their poor management of electronic products; Europe releases 16.6 billion kg of CO2 equivalents; Asia releases 82.4 billion kg of CO2 equivalents; and Africa releases 12.4 billion kg of CO2 equivalents. Safely repurposing electronic products automatically eliminates the greenhouse gas production associated with creating new devices. As the United Nations observed, people avoided emitting 93 million tonnes of CO2 emissions through their formal waste management efforts. This means that the problem of e-waste pollution, though very serious, is not unsolvable. When people safely recycle their electronic products, it does indeed reduce the environmental harms from further exploitation and pollution. Each individual can take important steps to solve the problem of e-waste pollution. To elaborate on this, Salon spoke by email with Kees Baldé, the report's lead author and a senior scientific specialist of Sustainable Cycles at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). "You have an old refrigerator and want to discard it," Baldé said, highlighting a common source of e-waste. "You decide to place it on the [curbside] for the municipality or a company to be collected." Usually someone will remove the copper compressor in the back to sell the valuable metal before the waste collector takes away the refrigerator. But if someone wants to reduce e-waste, this is not helpful. "This compressor contains refrigerants and are immediately released," Baldé explained. "This may deplete ozone layer, if it’s an old fridge [but] newer refrigerants also contribute significantly to global warming. The emissions of gasses in one compressor equals one flight for one person of around 5,000 kilometers [3,106 miles]." For other sources of e-waste, Baldé had a pointed observation for people who need to dispose of small devices that run on batteries. If "you throw it in the residual waste bin" instead of recycling it, the result is that "it will be incinerated or landfilled, instead of being recycled." As for people who live in low and middle income countries, Baldé said that "waste pickers" who see e-waste "as a valuable resource and selectively scavenge and ‘recycle’ valuable components" need to be careful. Currently thousands of people do this "without the necessary protection and getting heavy metals persistent chemicals in their bodies, and releasing toxic fumes and other emissions to the environment." Baldé said that people need to "separate their e-waste, repair more and buy less electronics you don’t need." Gray also closed on a hopeful note, describing how we may be able to fix the problem. "Regulation can help ensure that producers and distributors of electrical and electronic equipment take on a responsibility for the products they put on the market. It can further help make it easier for products to be re-used, repaired, as well as recycled," Gray said. Read more about environmental issues:

A new UN report finds that our problematic relationship with electronic trash is worsening, but solvable

Whether it's for work, school or keeping up with friends and family, we all rely on electronic devices for our daily lives. It's likely you are reading this article from a device that uses a battery or plug. Unfortunately, our phones and laptops contain some toxic elements and when they break or become obsolete, where they end up next can have big impacts on the environment.

This isn't a failure on the individual level so much as an overarching problem with our society's disposable culture. This trash differs from plastic and other types of pollution however because of the uniquely dangerous toxic metals and other materials, plus the fact that this category of electronic waste, or e-waste, is growing faster than any other.

"Most countries in the world do not yet have e-waste regulation in place."

According to a recent report by the United Nations (UN), humanity's e-waste production is a major environmental problem. Indeed, the UN's fourth Global E-waste Monitor (GEM) announced on Wednesday that human beings are creating five times more electronic waste than we are recycling. In 2022 alone, human beings created 137 billion pounds of e-waste and recycled less than a quarter of it. According to the report, this is enough e-waste that it equals the weight of 107,000 of the world's largest, heaviest 575 tonne passenger aircraft, enough to be connected head-to-tail from New York City to Athens, Greece. Even worse, the number is only increasing, with the 62 million tonnes produced in 2022 expected to rise by 32% to 82 million tonnes by 2030.

"E-waste presents very visible and obvious challenges to the environment and human health, while many of the solutions can be extremely effective but less visible," said report co-author Vanessa Gray, who heads the Environment and Emergency Telecommunication Division at the Telecommunication Development Bureau at the UN's International Telecommunication Union. "This includes the need for more and better e-waste regulation. Although this is an important first step to address the e-waste challenge, and helps drive recycling rates, most countries in the world do not yet have e-waste regulation in place."

Without proper regulations, people are likely to be exposed to the hazardous substances that allow our electronic inventions to work. Think of mercury, which can cause brain and nervous system damage and is present in some batteries. Lead poisoning is also common among those exposed to these materials, which can similarly cause brain and neurological damage. These devices may also contain dioxins that can harm a person's lungs, or cobalt that irritates the skin, eyes, nose and throat. E-waste also usually contains plastic, which never degrades and therefore creates pollution associated with myriad diseases that effectively remains in the environment indefinitely.

Research indicates that children and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to the negative health effects of being exposed to these materials, especially in poorer regions of the world, where much of this trash is exported. Even though economically disadvantaged regions like Africa generate less e-waste, it can be lucrative scavenging electronic products for a living. But this is often done without proper personal or environmental protections. When this is combined with an inferior e-waste management infrastructure, one is left with a recipe for a widespread health crisis.

"African countries generate the lowest rates of e-waste but struggle to recycle it; their recycling rates are below 1 per cent," the authors of the report write. By partial contrast, Asia generates nearly half of the world's e-waste (at a staggering 30 billion kg) and yet has likewise made only "limited advances" in controlling its e-waste problem. In contrast, the report notes that in 2022, the regions that generated the highest amount of e-waste per capita were Europe, Oceania and the Americas.

Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon's weekly newsletter Lab Notes.

"Buy less electronics you don’t need."

There are glimmers of hope in the report. For one thing, the researchers found that although only a small amount of e-waste is recycled, that was enough to spare the planet from being mined for 2 trillion pounds of ore for virgin metal. This is because recycling e-waste allows humanity to create new gadgets from old ones, an act which in turn lowers the high carbon footprint associated with mining and manufacturing.

Currently the Americas, for example, release 30.9 billion kg CO2 equivalents through their poor management of electronic products; Europe releases 16.6 billion kg of CO2 equivalents; Asia releases 82.4 billion kg of CO2 equivalents; and Africa releases 12.4 billion kg of CO2 equivalents. Safely repurposing electronic products automatically eliminates the greenhouse gas production associated with creating new devices. As the United Nations observed, people avoided emitting 93 million tonnes of CO2 emissions through their formal waste management efforts.

This means that the problem of e-waste pollution, though very serious, is not unsolvable. When people safely recycle their electronic products, it does indeed reduce the environmental harms from further exploitation and pollution.

Each individual can take important steps to solve the problem of e-waste pollution. To elaborate on this, Salon spoke by email with Kees Baldé, the report's lead author and a senior scientific specialist of Sustainable Cycles at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

"You have an old refrigerator and want to discard it," Baldé said, highlighting a common source of e-waste. "You decide to place it on the [curbside] for the municipality or a company to be collected." Usually someone will remove the copper compressor in the back to sell the valuable metal before the waste collector takes away the refrigerator. But if someone wants to reduce e-waste, this is not helpful.

"This compressor contains refrigerants and are immediately released," Baldé explained. "This may deplete ozone layer, if it’s an old fridge [but] newer refrigerants also contribute significantly to global warming. The emissions of gasses in one compressor equals one flight for one person of around 5,000 kilometers [3,106 miles]."

For other sources of e-waste, Baldé had a pointed observation for people who need to dispose of small devices that run on batteries. If "you throw it in the residual waste bin" instead of recycling it, the result is that "it will be incinerated or landfilled, instead of being recycled."

As for people who live in low and middle income countries, Baldé said that "waste pickers" who see e-waste "as a valuable resource and selectively scavenge and ‘recycle’ valuable components" need to be careful. Currently thousands of people do this "without the necessary protection and getting heavy metals persistent chemicals in their bodies, and releasing toxic fumes and other emissions to the environment."

Baldé said that people need to "separate their e-waste, repair more and buy less electronics you don’t need."

Gray also closed on a hopeful note, describing how we may be able to fix the problem. "Regulation can help ensure that producers and distributors of electrical and electronic equipment take on a responsibility for the products they put on the market. It can further help make it easier for products to be re-used, repaired, as well as recycled," Gray said.

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A global study just revealed the world’s biggest known plastic polluters

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo came in at the top of a global audit of plastic waste.

Every year, companies produce more than 400 million metric tons of plastic. Some of that plastic spills onto waterways or beaches, clogging streams or floating in huge gyres in the ocean. Some of it breaks down into tiny microplastics or nanoplastics that float in the air and enter human lungs, blood and organs.Sometimes it’s hard to know which companies are behind all this plastic — but now, scientists have identified some of the largest contributors.A new study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances has pinpointed some of the major brands responsible for plastic pollution across six continents. The researchers, who used a team of over 100,000 volunteers to catalogue over 1.8 million pieces of plastic waste, found that 56 companies were responsible for more than 50 percent of branded plastic waste globally.The largest contributor was Coca-Cola, which accounted for 11 percent of the branded plastic pollution worldwide.The findings, researchers say, reveal the enormity of the planet’s plastic pollution problem. “This is a herculean effort we have to do,” said Win Cowger, a research director at the Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research and the lead author of the study. “There are no easy fixes.”To get the data, thousands of volunteers around the world conducted plastic “audits,” in which they scoured beaches, parks, rivers and other locations for plastic waste. Volunteers examined each piece of waste and recorded any visible brands or trademarks. The group Break Free From Plastic organized 1,576 audit collections between 2018 and 2022.Out of more than 1.8 million pieces of plastic surveyed, close to 910,000 had visible brands. (Plastics can lose their brand markers through exposure to sunlight and weather.) And of those hundreds of thousands of pieces of plastic, the top companies responsible were Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé and Danone.In an email, a spokesperson for the Coca-Cola Company pointed to the company’s World Without Waste strategy, noting that it aims “to make 100% of our packaging recyclable globally by 2025 and to use at least 50% recycled material in our packaging by 2030. ... We know more must be done and we can’t achieve our goals alone.”Nestlé said in an email that the company aims to reduce its use of new plastic by one-third and incorporate more recycled content into its packaging.PepsiCo declined to comment, and Danone did not respond to a request. The researchers also found that there was a direct relationship between a company’s production of plastic and the amount of branded plastic waste found in the environment. If a company such as PepsiCo produced 1 percent of the world’s plastic mass, for example, that company was responsible for roughly 1 percent of the waste found in the audit. If a company produced 0.1 percent of the world’s plastic mass, it was responsible for 0.1 percent of the waste.To the researchers, that finding means that recycling and waste management alone isn’t enough to manage the plastic problem.“Many of these companies actually do have programs in place to recover their waste from the environment or prevent it from ending up there,” said Neil Tangri, science and policy director for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and another author of the study. “And what we’re seeing is that those are not really effective.”“It’s kind of my worst nightmare,” said Cowger. “It means that to solve the plastic pollution problem, we have to change in a huge way how we operate as a society.”Global leaders and negotiators are gathering in Ottawa this week to hammer out a global plastics treaty. Many environmental groups and countries are looking for an agreement that will include cutting the amount of plastic production, a goal that U.S. negotiators have resisted.Industry groups and companies say that “circular plastics,” advanced recycling and waste management can solve the problem without production limits.“Our members are investing billions of dollars in infrastructure to scale-up the supply of circular plastics, so that used plastics are prevented from entering the environment as waste, landfill or via incineration, and instead become new plastics,” Benny Mermans, chair of the World Plastics Council, said in a statement in the lead-up to the talks.Plastic industry groups have also argued that plastics help boost the global economy. According to a study commissioned by an industry group, limits on production would disproportionately affect low-income people.Researchers say that things such as advanced recycling and a circular economy may have a place in the future, but so does actually slowing the pace at which plastic is made.“We know what works: make less plastic and use less plastic,” Tangri said.Plastics, which are made from fossil fuels, have helped to buoy the fossil fuel industry even as climate policies take aim at the production of oil and gas. Plastic is projected to account for half of growth in oil demand by mid-century, according to the International Energy Agency.At the same time, scientists are rushing to understand the consequences of the tiny pieces of plastic that can enter the body and organs. While microplastics have been found in many systems of the body, their effects on human health are still unclear.Scientists say that without curbs on production, plastics will continue to accumulate in the environment — and in human bodies.“It’s been status quo for a long time,” Cowger said. “And it’s obviously not working.”

Waste
Climate
Health

Let's not trash recycling technologies that could end plastic waste

Some environmental campaigners claim that attempts to create a circular economy for plastics are doomed to fail – but the arguments can be disingenuous

Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty ImagesIn 1980, Disney World in Orlando, Florida, started work on a new way to generate power for the theme park, cutting its use of oil, the price of which had soared. The Solid Waste Energy Conversion Plant took trash, including plastic, and used a method called pyrolysis to turn it into combustible gases. It opened in 1982, but closed a year later, as the cost of running it mounted. Today, environmental campaigners are invoking the Disney story to trash the reputation of a suite of new technologies, collectively known as advanced recycling, which take plastic waste and convert it back into brand new plastic. Their argument is disingenuous. The failure of Disney’s plant had more to do with a subsequent fall in oil prices than technological or environmental problems. Pyrolysis has improved a lot since the 1980s. And in any case, Disney’s plant was designed to produce fuel, which isn’t classed as advanced recycling. As we report in our feature “The incredible new tech that can recycle all plastics, forever”, advanced recycling is a rapidly innovating industry that could help to solve the global plastics crisis. It has the potential to take millions of tonnes of discarded plastic, most of which ends up in landfill, incinerators or the environment, and turn it back into a clean, fresh version by breaking it down to its molecular constituents. The goal is a circular economy where there is no longer any need to make “virgin” plastic from oil. It isn’t a panacea. There are issues around such plants generating toxic waste, their energy use and the perpetuation of conventional plastics ahead of newer, greener alternatives. Campaigners are right to argue that we would be better off phasing out plastics altogether. But practical considerations mean they aren’t going away any time soon, and most advanced recycling technologies are better for the environment than the alternatives. There is a serious discussion to be had around advanced recycling, not least whether it should be factored into a forthcoming global treaty on plastic pollution. Let’s just make sure it is based on the facts, not Disney stories.

Waste
Crisis
Pollution

Extracting Pure Gold: Turning Electronic Waste into Treasure

A fibrous adsorbent selectively recovers high-purity gold from waste. Dramatically reduces the cost and time of the recovery process and enables material to be mass-produced...

Researchers at KIST have developed a fiber-based adsorbent capable of recovering gold from electronic waste with over 99.9% efficiency. Credit: SciTechDaily.com A fibrous adsorbent selectively recovers high-purity gold from waste. Dramatically reduces the cost and time of the recovery process and enables material to be mass-produced and repeatedly recycled.Korea relies on imports for most of its metal resources, and in recent years, due to resource depletion and rising raw material prices, ‘circular resources’ that recycle waste metal resources have emerged.In response, SK hynix has established a mid- to long-term plan to increase the percentage of copper, gold, etc. recovered and reused from waste generated in the semiconductor manufacturing process to more than 30% by 2030, and Samsung Electronics is running a collection program for used mobile phones in cooperation with E-circulation Governance, a non-profit corporation. The global circular economy market is expected to more than double in size from approximately $338 billion in 2022 to approximately $712 billion in 2026. Figure 1. Preparation and physicochemical characteristics of the aminated polyacrylonitrile fibers (PANFs). Representative illustrations of PANF (a) before and after coupling reaction of various alkylamine molecules. Different colors of PANF and amine-laden polymeric fiber (ALPF) represent different functional groups of nitrile and alkylamines. (b) FT-IR spectra of PANF before and after coupling reaction of different alkylamines using diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylenetetramine (TETA), tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA), and branched poly(ethyleneimine) (bPEI). (c) XRD patterns of the PANF and aminated PANFs. (d) Stress-strain curves of the PANF and aminated PANFs. (e) Maximum adsorption capacity (qm) of the aminated PANFs for Au(III) ions. Initial concentration (Ci) and pH value of the Au solution were 1000 mg/L and 1, respectively. Credit: Korea Institute of Science and TechnologyBreakthrough in Metal Recovery TechnologyIn this context, a team led by Dr. Jae-Woo Choi of the Water Resource Cycle Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that they have developed a technology that can selectively recover high-purity gold from electrical and electronic waste containing various metals using textile materials.Adsorbents for metal recovery are generally granular in shape to increase adsorption efficiency based on high specific surface area, but they are difficult to control underwater, resulting in low recovery rates and even secondary environmental pollution. On the other hand, fiber-like materials are easy to control underwater and can be made into various shapes through the weaving process, so they have high potential for industrial application. However, due to their thin thickness and low strength, they are easily broken when gold recovery is applied to the support.Figure 2. Au recovery performance of the ALPF. (a) Effect of pH in Au solution on the Au recovery performance of the ALPF. Ci, t, and adsorbent doses were 100 mg/L, 24 h, and 0.5 g/L, respectively. FESEM images of the ALPF surface after Au recovery at pH of (b) 3, (c) 6, (d) 9, and (e) 12, showing the Au(0) particles on the ALPF surface. Scale bar is 1 μm. (f) XRD patterns of the ALPF after Au recovery in the pH range of 2-12. (g-l) FESEM images of the ALPF after Au recovery at Ci of (g) 0.1, (h) 1, (i) 10, (j) 100, (k) 500, and (l) 1000 mg/L for 24 h with stirring at 200 rpm. pH was adjusted to 1. Scale bar is 20 μm. (m-q) FESEM-EDS mapping of the chemical elements distributions for the ALPF after Au recovery at Ci of 1000 mg/L: (m) overlap, (n) carbon, (o) nitrogen, (p) oxygen, and (q) gold. Scale bar is 20 μm. (r) Recovery efficiencies of the ALPF for Au recovery in a low Ci range of 0.1-100 mg/L. (s) Adsorption isotherm test result of the ALPF adsorbent. The experimentally obtained data were fitted by three representative isotherm equations of Langmuir, Freundlich, and Sips models. (t) Comparison of qm and optimum pH value for the ALPF adsorbent with those of the adsorbents best reported in the literature, classified by the adsorbent size (nano, micro, and milliscale) or shape (particle and fiber). Credit: Korea Institute of Science and TechnologyEnhanced Gold Recovery TechniquesKIST researchers have chemically immobilized alkaline molecules on the surface of polyacrylonitrile (PANF) fibers to improve both molecular gold recovery performance and structural stability. The amine-containing polymer fiber has a dramatically larger surface area, which can improve the adsorption performance of gold ions (Au) in waste by up to 2.5 times (from 576 mg/g to 1,462 mg/g) compared to the team’s previously developed granular gold adsorption material.The developed fibrous adsorbent not only showed a gold recovery efficiency of more than 99.9% in solutions obtained by leaching real CPUs, but also achieved a gold recovery efficiency close to 100% in a wide range of pH 1-4, which includes most waste liquids. It is particularly noteworthy that only gold ions can be recovered with a high purity of over 99.9%, even in the presence of 14 other metal ions coexisting in the solution. Furthermore, the gold recovery rate was maintained at 91% even after 10 uses, demonstrating excellent reusability.Figure 3. Applicability of the ALPF adsorbent for Au recovery processes. (a) Adsorption selectivity of the ALPF for Au(III) in the presence of coexisting metal ions including Cu(II), Pb(II), Cd(II), Mn(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Fe(II), Al(III), Cr(III), Zn(II), Na(I), K(I), Mg(II), and Ca(II). Ci of Au(III) was set to 10 mg/L, and those of other metal ions were set to 10, 100, and 1000 mg/L. Solution pH was adjusted to 1. (b) Purity of the recovered Au(0) by the ALPF. Inset shows an optical microscope image of the recovered Au(0). (c) Repetitive adsorption/desorption test of Au(III) using the ALPF adsorbent. Ci of Au(III) was set to 10 mg/L. Adsorption process was conducted for 24 h. Solution pH was adjusted to 1. Desorption process was conducted for 24 h using 0.5 acidic thiourea solution in 1.0 M HCl. (d) Deconvoluted HRXPS spectra of the ALPF for N 1s, showing the chemical change for amine groups of the ALPF adsorbent during the repetitive adsorption-desorption cycles. (e) Photograph of felts consisting of PANF (top) and ALPF (bottom), indicating that the fibrous adsorbent can be transformed into a desired shape. Scale bar is 2 cm. (f) Effect of the adsorbent shapes on the pressure drop in a column filled with the adsorbents. Each pressure drop in the column filled with the adsorbents was measured according to the volumetric flow rate. Credit: Korea Institute of Science and TechnologyConclusion and Future Prospects“By enabling efficient and eco-friendly metal resource recovery, the fiber-type adsorbent developed by KIST can reduce Korea’s dependence on resource imports and prepare for the risk of rising raw material prices,” said Dr. Jae-Woo Choi. “We plan to expand the scope of future research to selectively recover various target metals in addition to gold, said Dr. Youngkyun Jung.”Reference: “Efficient and selective gold recovery using amine-laden polymeric fibers synthesized by a steric hindrance strategy” by Youngkyun Jung, Su-Jin Yoon, Kyung-Won Jung and Jae-Woo Choi, 12 February 2024, Chemical Engineering Journal.DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2024.149602

Waste
Chemicals
Science

To waste less food, become a scrappier cook

Carleigh Bodrug's new cookbook explains just how simple a zero-waste, plant-based diet can actually be

For some, minimizing food waste is a magnificent idea in theory, but it falls apart when it comes to execution. Using blemished produce? Eating the trims or scraps or peels we usually throw out? These seem like small changes, but if you’ve cooked, prepped or eaten in the same way for many years, they can feel unnatural or cumbersome, especially on busy weeknights. That’s where Carleigh Bodrug comes in.  Bodrug, the author of the new book "PlantYou: Scrappy Cooking: 140+ Plant-Based Zero-Waste Recipes That Are Good For You, Your Wallet, and the Planet,” believes that entering the zero-waste space does not have to be very challenging at all — and, in most cases, can be both fun and imaginative, too. And, as inflation, “shrinkflation” and “greedflation” continue to cause food prices to skyrocket, this practice is something we all could get better at adapting.  “The idea for ‘Scrappy Cooking’ started from a shocking statistic: 30 to 40% of the entire United States food supply ends up in landfills, a lot of which stems from household waste,” Bodrug told Salon Food. “As you may have guessed, food waste is a not-so-great thing for our planet and obviously, our wallets as well.”  Plant You Scrappy Cooking cover (SB Creative Studio) As a vegan blogger, Bodrug said she was “already mindful of [her] environmental impact,” but it wasn’t until she published a quick Instagram video of her turning discarded orange peels into candy resonated with the platform’s users, garnering 1 million views, that she realized she had an audience for her message. "I couldn’t believe how many people were jazzed about reducing their food waste, and eating more plants,” she said.  As such, in reading through the book, Bodrug’s enthusiasm is palpable; her tone and approach is so unpretentious and straightforward that, each time she recommended a minor tweak or simple change, I found myself inadvertently nodding and thinking, “Yes, I must incorporate this!”  Want more great food writing and recipes? Subscribe to Salon Food's newsletter, The Bite. For instance, Bodrug says she is “obsessed with repurposing coffee grounds.”  “I have a delicious mocha flavored granola recipe in my new cookbook that utilizes spent coffee grounds to enhance the chocolate flavor,” she said. “Additionally you can use spent coffee grounds in a bowl in your fridge as a natural deodorizer, or as a fertilizer for some plants."  Win-win! Who would turn that down? Similarly, I'm obsessed with onions and garlic and was especially intrigued by a trick Bodrug mentions in the "Got this? Make that" section of the book.  "One of my favorites is turning onion and garlic skins into a delicious seasoning,” she said. “Not only does this save me from purchasing packaged seasoning at the grocery store, but it's also incredibly simple to do. You'll find this recipe featured in my cookbook, along with various other powders."  Beyond ideas for transforming kitchen bits and bobs, Bodrug also outlines some broader best practices for cutting down on cooking waste: invest in “glass sealable storage containers” for produce like berries and spinach; wrap leafy greens in a clean cloth or paper towel “to help absorb moisture, which is the culprit for a lot of spoilage”; root vegetables should be absorbed in dark, cool well-ventilated, while most vegetables don’t do well in plastic bags, so instead opt for mesh or cotton. Or, as she put it, just simply “go without.”  Furthermore, one of the simplest ways to cut down on food waste is to actually keep track of your pesky leftovers and make a quick plan for how to utilize them.  “Eat them for lunch the following day, incorporate them into new recipes, or freeze them for later use,” she said. Once you’ve tackled some of the food waste in your home, Bodrug said that conscientious shoppers can find ways to make a difference even before they bring food into their kitchen. For instance, “best before” dates on food packaging can sometimes be misleading. "Best before dates are exactly what they suggest — best before,” she said. “We take them very literally and think the food is no longer edible after that date, but it’s more than often not true.” The best way to approach shelf life is to use your senses, she continued.  "Smell and look at the appearance of the food for any signs of spoilage. That’s going to be a better indicator than anything else,” Bodrug said. Shoppers can also keep an eye out for blemished or less than aesthetically ideal produce while at the store.  "So often wonky shaped butternut squashes or single bananas are left behind — so you can intentionally pick them up,” Bodrug said, which can then be turned into some of the recipes in her book.  Carleigh Bodrug (SB Creative Studio) When I asked Bodrug about her favorite recipes from “Scrappy Cooking,” she mentioned the lemon peel pasta where she utilizes “the whole lemon from the juice to skin, ensuring no waste is left behind.” She also mentions her Citrus Cabbage Slaw and Broccoli Stem Summer Rolls, both of which incorporate broccoli stems.  If you’re paying for broccoli stems by weight, then discarding them, you’re throwing money down the drain — and they’re so delicious,” she said.  The book is also so bright and upbeat, with colorful visuals galore, including images of each of the ingredients that go into each dish.  “This journey was inspired by how I started my Instagram account, which initially focused on creating infographics demonstrating simple and easy recipes,” she said. “I've found this approach incredibly useful, particularly for first-time cooks, kids, and anyone looking to gain confidence in the kitchen, especially with plant-based cooking.” For some, the notion of cooking zero-waste and plant-based seems wildly difficult and possibly too challenging to even approach, but Bodrug makes it seem seamless. And it's as simple as that to save money, prolong your produce, do your part to help preserve the planet, and also eat some darn good food, too.  "I’m so grateful for where this scrappy journey has taken us so far, I’m eager to see how it makes a difference one recipe at a time,” she said.  Read more about this topic

Waste
Food

This SoCal hazardous waste facility could get a new permit despite past violations

Environmental and community groups want the state to turn down Phibro-Tech for a renewed permit for its Santa Fe Springs facility.

California regulators could soon grant a fresh permit for a hazardous waste treatment facility in Santa Fe Springs, even as they face off with the same company in court over alleged violations.The upcoming decision has alarmed environmental and community groups, which argue the Department of Toxic Substances Control should turn down Phibro-Tech for a renewed permit after a history of violating state rules. Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science. The Santa Fe Springs site is near the unincorporated area of Los Nietos, a largely Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles County that ranks among the most pollution-burdened communities in the state. The hazardous waste treatment facility is roughly 550 feet from the nearest homes, according to the state agency.The Phibro-Tech facility had dozens of violations over the previous decade, according to a state analysis of its regulatory record. Last year, DTSC took the company to court, alleging that state inspectors checking the site before the COVID-19 pandemic had found leaking containers and other violations.Yet months before suing the company, staff at the same agency told worried neighbors that they had tentatively decided to renew the permit for the Santa Fe Springs facility. Serious violations had dwindled in recent years, Department of Toxic Substances Control representatives said, and the facility did not pose a significant threat to the neighborhood.State officials said they would make a final decision after weighing public comments. But as it stands, “we have decided that based on all the information available — including their compliance history and their recent record of improving compliance — that it is appropriate to approve the permit,” supervising hazardous substances engineer Phil Blum said at a July meeting.The Santa Fe Springs facility brings in hazardous waste and treats it to yield chemicals and metals like copper, which can then be used in electronics and other industries. Phibro-Tech said it “recycles waste that would otherwise need to be landfilled or injected into a deep well,” yielding copper without the harms of mining. It has been operating on an expired permit since 1996 — longer than any other hazardous waste facility in California, according to a recent court filing by the company. Under California rules, such facilities can keep operating on an expired permit if they turned in an application on time for a new one.The agency said that one reason the permitting process for Phibro-Tech had taken so many years was “to allow time for environmental sampling and technical assessments” that would inform its decision. In the meantime, DTSC said it had “continued to exercise its enforcement authority,” including by requiring cleanup of historic contamination.A state review found that over a decade, the Santa Fe Springs facility had more than two dozen violations. Last year, the state rated its compliance history as the eighth worst among 74 hazardous waste facilities in the state, based on a scoring system that tracks violations.Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn has publicly called for the facility to be shut down “until it can come into compliance with the law,” saying it poses too great a threat to the community. DTSC “has a mandate to protect the public,” said Jaime Sanchez, a nearby resident and member of the local group Neighbors Against Phibro Tech. “But rather than protect the public, they have protected this industry ... at the expense of the health, safety and welfare of impacted communities.”Phibro-Tech said that the state had rated its compliance as “conditionally acceptable,” with a score just over the cutoff for “acceptable.” It said its record had improved dramatically in recent years and that the objections raised by Hahn are “based on a misunderstanding of the plant and its current operations.”DTSC officials told residents that the new permit would come with conditions to protect nearby communities, including maintaining gas detection sensors in critical areas.“The big picture story here is that DTSC has reviewed the operations of the facility in great detail. We’ve required extensive changes to how the operations will be conducted under a new permit. And we believe that it demonstrates that the facility can be operated safely,” Blum said at a 2022 meeting. A portion of residential Los Nietos, seen in the bottom of this image, is across a street and an empty lot from Phibro-Tech, which processes hazardous waste. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) Byron Chan, a senior attorney with the environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice, argued that the agency should not give a new permit to “a facility that has shown that it’s not interested in complying.” He said it seemed like fines had become the “cost of doing business” for Phibro-Tech, calling it “an ongoing pattern of unaccountability.”“You’ll see a pattern of violating the law, paying a penalty, and then violating the law again,” he said.Five years ago, the agency announced that the company had to pay $495,000 in penalties for violations including storing hazardous waste outside of allowed areas. Earthjustice has also cited past incidents at the Santa Fe Springs facility in which ammonia and hydrochloric acid had been released at the site and workers had been burned with acid.Phibro-Tech said in a statement that the chemical releases cited by the environmental group had not threatened the community and that it had adjusted operations to prevent them from recurring. “If a violation is found,” the company said, “we take immediate action to rectify it as quickly as possible.”In its September lawsuit, DTSC alleged the company had broken the law by keeping hazardous waste in leaking containers, one of several violations found by inspectors visiting the facility in 2019. It also faulted Phibro-Tech for failing to promptly dismantle a basin where hazardous waste had been processed in decades past. (The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, another group opposing a new permit for the facility, argued that failing to do that increases the risk of contaminants spreading.) Phibro-Tech said many of the alleged violations had resulted from the agency shifting positions. The company said the decades-old permit no longer reflects how DTSC interprets when equipment is handling waste rather than “product,” and that the ambiguity had led to citations for “operating longstanding equipment.” It also disputed state claims about leaking containers and the required timeline for closing the basin, which it said was now completed. All in all, it said, the allegations “are not relevant to today.” DTSC, in turn, said that Phibro-Tech had “returned to compliance” for the violations alleged in the suit. Chan said the state department appeared to be relying on “a false standard ... that if it was not complying with the law yesterday, but it’s in compliance today, then that’s OK.”It’s “ignoring everything that’s happened in the past,” he said.In a letter opposing a renewed permit, Earthjustice said the state agency had failed to do the proper level of environmental review for the decision. It also complained that the agency had not collected any information about pollution levels beyond the borders of the Phibro-Tech facility. Neighbors have raised concerns about industrial contamination at the site, including with hexavalent chromium, the carcinogen perhaps best known as the target of famous activist Erin Brockovich. “We want to live in a safe environment. ... We don’t want to be concerned about our health, safety and welfare [coming] at the expense of some company making profit,” resident Sanchez said.Phibro-Tech said it had taken on responsibility for the contamination caused by a prior operator. DTSC officials said cleanup efforts by the company had brought hexavalent chromium in the soil at the site down to safe levels.DTSC has not identified “significant health hazards from the operation of the facility,” Blum said last year.

Waste
Activism
Chemicals

Suggested Viewing

Free Pass

While foreign and Indian tourists visit Goa’s beaches and night life, others clean the accumulating garbage and sell the fish that was caught in the sea. Due to its proximity to the ocean, Goa is highly prone to disasters caused by climate change. While the lifestyle of most tourists is accelerating the climate crisis, fishermen and marginalized locals are particularly vulnerable to floods or changes in the biodiversity. This artistic project explores the radically different worlds of Goa that the tourists and those particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis inhabit. Our lives are so connected, but the connection is all too often invisible. How can contact be made and a conversation be initiated? As can be experienced in any of the live jams characterizing Goa’s beaches, music is a universal practice that can create joy and community. But which communities are part of the live jams on the beach and which are not? The video traces an intervention that interrogates a highly unequal status quo. The results are sometimes awkward, sometimes heartwarming.

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Trashy Waters

Alabama is not a dumpster. Litter washing into our waterways is a problem not only affecting our pocketbooks and well-being, but it also spoils our enjoyment of Alabama’s great outdoors. Join a passionate group of watershed guardians as they address the enormous issue of litter accumulating in our creeks, streams and rivers.

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It's Look Sunshine

The main character, Young-eun, lives with her mother, a haenyo diver, in a fishing village on Jeju Island. She learns eco-friendly photography from her friend Seung-hwan, who is a beachcomber. One day, her mother gets caught in a discarded net submerged in the sea and drowns. Young-eun moves away from Jeju and returns two years later for her mother’s death anniversary. She decides to begin taking pictures of sea debris on beaches, and Seung-hwan leaves the island to find a giant floating trash island in the Pacific Ocean on a boat made of recycled materials.

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From Trash To Treasure: Turning Negatives into Positives in Lesotho

From erosion to overgrazing to enduring poverty, the people of Lesotho—a highland country surrounded by South Africa—face a variety of difficult challenges. Yet grassroots communities in the country also exhibit tremendous resourcefulness and creativity. In particular, a wealth of artists have mastered a talent for resurrection, developing the skill to creatively turn negatives into positives: Designers who turn discarded trash into beautiful jewelry, clothes, rugs. Filmmakers who turn tragedy into artistic expressions of resilience and compassion. Musicians who write songs to save the environment. In this short, Cultures of Resistance Films profiles a variety of these inventive creators, introducing viewers to a fascinating cast of local residents who are using art as a means of communicating a communal desire for positive change.

Culture
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My Journey Across the Ocean

A short animated film about crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a small sailboat and discovering that even where humans have not yet explored, trash usually finds a way of getting there first—even in the middle of the ocean.

Animation
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