Carbon Free Boston: Waste Technical Report

Part of a series of reports that includes: Carbon Free Boston: Summary Report; Carbon Free Boston: Social Equity Report; Carbon Free Boston: Technical Summary; Carbon Free Boston: Buildings Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Transportation Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Energy Technical Report; Carbon Free Boston: Offsets Technical Report; Available at http://sites.bu.edu/cfb/OVERVIEW: For many people, their most perceptible interaction with their environmental footprint is through the waste that they generate. On a daily basis people have numerous opportunities to decide whether to recycle, compost or throwaway. In many cases, such options may not be present or apparent. Even when such options are available, many lack the knowledge of how to correctly dispose of their waste, leading to contamination of valuable recycling or compost streams. Once collected, people give little thought to how their waste is treated. For Boston’s waste, plastic in the disposal stream acts becomes a fossil fuel used to generate electricity. Organics in the waste stream have the potential to be used to generate valuable renewable energy, while metals and electronics can be recycled to offset virgin materials. However, challenges in global recycling markets are burdening municipalities, which are experiencing higher costs to maintain their recycling. The disposal of solid waste and wastewater both account for a large and visible anthropogenic impact on human health and the environment. In terms of climate change, landfilling of solid waste and wastewater treatment generated emissions of 131.5 Mt CO2e in 2016 or about two percent of total United States GHG emissions that year. The combustion of solid waste contributed an additional 11.0 Mt CO2e, over half of which (5.9 Mt CO2e) is attributable to the combustion of plastic [1]. In Massachusetts, the GHG emissions from landfills (0.4 Mt CO2e), waste combustion (1.2 Mt CO2e), and wastewater (0.5 Mt CO2e) accounted for about 2.7 percent of the state’s gross GHG emissions in 2014 [2]. The City of Boston has begun exploring pathways to Zero Waste, a goal that seeks to systematically redesign our waste management system that can simultaneously lead to a drastic reduction in emissions from waste. The easiest way to achieve zero waste is to not generate it in the first place. This can start at the source with the decision whether or not to consume a product. This is the intent behind banning disposable items such as plastic bags that have more sustainable substitutes. When consumption occurs, products must be designed in such a way that their lifecycle impacts and waste footprint are considered. This includes making durable products, limiting the use of packaging or using organic packaging materials, taking back goods at the end of their life, and designing products to ensure compatibility with recycling systems. When reducing waste is unavoidable, efforts to increase recycling and organics diversion becomes essential for achieving zero waste. [TRUNCATED]Published versio

Improving work processes by making the invisible visible

Increasingly, companies are taking part in process improvement programmes, which brings about a growing need for employees to interpret and act on data representations. We have carried out case studies in a range of companies to identify the existence and need of what we call Techno-mathematical Literacies (TmL): functional mathematical knowledge mediated by tools and grounded in the context of specific work situations. Based on data gathered from a large biscuit manufacturing and packaging company, we focus our analysis here on semiotic mediation within activity systems and identify two sets of related TmL: the first concerns rendering some invisible aspects visible through the production of mathematical signs; the second concerns developing meanings for action from an interpretation of these signs. We conclude with some more general observations concerning the role that mathematical signs play in the workplace. The nee

Making Heat Visible: Promoting Energy Conservation Behaviors Through Thermal Imaging

Householders play a role in energy conservation through the decisions they make about purchases and installations such as insulation, and through their habitual behavior. The present U.K. study investigated the effect of thermal imaging technology on energy conservation, by measuring the behavioral effect after householders viewed images of heat escaping from or cold air entering their homes. In Study 1 (n = 43), householders who received a thermal image reduced their energy use at a 1-year follow-up, whereas householders who received a carbon footprint audit and a non-intervention control demonstrated no change. In Study 2 (n = 87), householders were nearly 5 times more likely to install draught proofing measures after seeing a thermal image. The effect was especially pronounced for actions that addressed an issue visible in the images. Findings indicate that using thermal imaging to make heat loss visible can promote energy conservation

Crafting sustainable repairs: practice-based approaches to extending the life of clothes

Mass-produced ‘fast fashion’ has changed our relationship with clothing – cheap and easy to acquire, we are unlikely to take time to undertake simple repairs or address issues of maintenance, often caused or exacerbated by poor construction and low quality materials (see for example Goworek et al., 2012; You Gov, 2012; Fletcher, 2008; Birtwistle & Moore, 2007). Through complete lifecycle assessment, extending the useful life of clothes has been identified as the most significant intervention in reducing the impact of the clothing industry (Wrap, 2012). However, academic research emerging from both the UK and Scandinavia has identified practical, social, socioeconomic, systemic and psychological barriers that prevent consumers from performing even the most basic of repairs, and as a result damaged or worn items are discarded or taken out of active use (see for example Armstrong et al., 2014; Middleton, 2014; Cooper et al., 2014; Fletcher, 2013; Goworek et al., 2012; Laitala & Boks, 2012). This paper explores the barriers to mending, different perspectives on the reasons behind them, suggested solutions and contemporary approaches to overcoming them. As textile designers and academics whose work is embedded in sustainable principles, we discuss the findings of our own practice-based approaches in relation to these, in order to consider the role fashion and textile designers can play in enabling solutions. Research has been gathered through participatory design workshops and public engagement events, informed by review of historical, existing and emerging repair practices, and personal craft-led design praxis. We have explored ways to address the barriers, add value to the acts of repair by re-framing them as social design-led sharing activities, and discuss the potential of participatory craft praxis as a tool to motivate greater public engagement in repair practice

Design for Social and Environmental Enterprise

SEED Foundation undertakes action research to develop new, innovative ways for design to most effectively contribute towards sustainable development. The research that follows is not the result of academic investigations but rather, a culmination of 20 years direct professional involvement in the sector. By aligning current political goals with cutting edge design thinking and good business sense, this paper presents our ideas on how more designers can profitably solve social and environmental problems through their work. It specifically investigates how the still emerging discipline of service design, in dealing more with relationships and experiences than material objects, offers inherent social and environmental benefits and is naturally transferable to sectors broader than private business –where designers traditionally work. By working in public and third sectors, and especially with social businesses, this paper uncovers new roles and business models for comprehensively sustainable design practice. Keywords: Design, Service design, sustainable development, social enterprise, social and environmental</p

Research report 22: liveability in NDC areas: findings from six case studies

New Deal for Communities (NDC) is a key programme in the Government's strategy to tackle multiple deprivation by giving some of the poorest communities in the UK the resources to tackle their problems in an intensive and co-ordinated way. The programme, which began in 1998, has encouraged the development of partnerships between local people, community and voluntary organisations, public agencies, local authorities and business. These partnerships are working to tackle the problems of social exclusion and make a lasting improvement to their neighbourhood, with the active involvement of the local community. While different areas face different problems, the five main issues to be tackled by NDC partnerships are: worklessness; improving health; tackling crime; raising educational achievement; and housing and the physical environment. Sustainable Cities Research Institute is part of a national consortium carrying out the evaluation of NDC. The evaluation is led by Sheffield Hallam University and involves 14 UK research centres, universities, and private consultancy firms. Sustainable Cities staff involved with this work are Keith Shaw, who is the North East Region Co-ordinator (with responsibility for Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland partnerships), and Gill Davidson, who is carrying out evaluation tasks in Middlesbrough. Also involved in this work at a regional level are staff members from the University's School of Politics, and from the University of Newcastle. The evaluation began with a scoping phase in October 2001. The evaluation is expected to continue in its current format until at least 2005, with annual evaluation reports being produced in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Sustainable Cities is also undertaking research for a series of case studies focusing on West Middlesbrough NDC; so far these have covered subjects including mainstreaming, involving hard-to-reach young people in regeneration, and liveability

The nuclear power renaissance in the UK: democratic deficiencies within the 'consensus' on sustainability

This paper focuses on New Labour’s policy towards the nuclear renaissance. It places this policy in the context of wider discussions on the democratic implications of the new constellations of governance emerging from the drive towards more sustainable futures. The paper identifies two crucial developments within the nuclear renaissance: firstly, the controversy surrounding the consultative process in 2006 and 2007; and secondly, the creation of new ‘efficient’ and ‘streamlined’ planning procedures through the establishment of the Planning Act 2008 and The Infrastructure and Planning Commission (IPC). The article builds on work which seeks to bring together questions of ‘democracy’ and ‘the political’ within discussions on ‘sustainability’. It argues that an understanding of these moments can only be properly established through an analysis of the wider discursive frame of ‘sustainability’ in which nuclear has been reinvented, and the way it has been utilized as a strategic tool of governing. The apparent ‘consensus’ on sustainability appears to foreclose discussions on multiple and divergent political imaginaries into a single shared vision. This is symptomatic of the wider conditions of the post-political and the post-democratic, where debate is reduced to managerial and technocratic particularities in which, regardless of public engagement, nuclear power becomes an ‘inevitability

Black, Gold, and Green: Food Waste Management at Bryant University

The basis of this project is to examine the food waste management system at Bryant University, and to make feasible, sustainable, and cost-effective solutions for improving the system. An effective, sustainable food waste management system is an important achievement for the university in particular as Rhode Island’s landfill is quickly reaching its capacity. The study focuses on analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the university’s current solution of sending the waste to a local pig farmer versus alternative options such as composting the waste. Research methods include surveying local food recycling and composting experts and key stakeholders, a numeric ranking system to analyze different options for Bryant, as well as benchmarking with comparable colleges and universities that have launched successful food waste management solutions