Common approaches needed to cut waste generation
Infrastructure, policy and behavioural insights need to come together
AS the world’s population continues to grow and more waste is generated by both people and businesses, the areas of infrastructure, policy and behavioural insights need to come together and develop solutions.
“We need to set the right political frameworks, or come together as different industry players and devise some common approaches – for example, on which materials and combinations we use, what recyclability we require, and to what extent we consider products’ end-of-life phase and repurposing in product development,” says Henrik Siepelmeyer, a PhD research fellow in the Department of Management, University of Agder in Norway.
“We also need to finally incorporate our knowledge of human behaviour in planning of waste infrastructure and move from systems designed to simply ‘get rid of waste’ to those aimed at closing the loop and adapting a more holistic approach towards the role of waste in our economy,” he tells The Business Times (BT) in an interview.
In his view, much of this involves more collaboration and exchange between the involved parties, from manufacturers to disposal companies, to the consumer in-between. “I think moving beyond silos and towards common approaches is key for tackling this urgent issue,” he says. “In all of this, we should aim to apply a global perspective, too, and move away from solutions focused only on developed and Western countries.”
Tech support
From different collection technologies and vehicles to treatment mechanisms, Siepelmeyer believes the waste field has always had a close connection to technological development. In this, there are 2 areas he is particularly excited about: Improved sorting techniques and plants that may allow a substantial increase in the purity and quality of recycled materials, and novel data collection opportunities offered by ‘smart’ devices, new sensors and Internet of Things (IoT).
The use of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, blockchain and IoT in waste management is starting to become popular, but there remains a lot of untapped potential.
“From AI-supported analyses of waste collection routes and routines that could increase efficiency to ... much more granular data collection opportunities offered by IoT, these technologies could become useful in many ways,” he says.
“An IoT example, from my niche area as a behavioural scientist working with consumption choices, waste and recycling behaviour, is a recent project together with the Swedish company Envac, in which we use novel smart waste chutes to automatically collect household waste data, and use this to devise targeted behavioural interventions aimed at increasing recycling and decreasing overall waste.
“What we find is that not only do these new technologies and interventions have a meaningful impact on people’s recycling behaviour, they move waste disposal from being like a black hole to something transparent that people can keep track of and feel more engaged in.”
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