Waste litters our oceans, beaches and wider environment, making it one of the pressing issues of our times. Blockchains are virtual ledgers on which data can be permanently stored. They are a public record, so they are very transparent and accountable. This post aims to set out how blockchains may be used as part of the waste management toolkit

Steenmans, Katrien

Taylor, Phillip M.

Taylor, Phillip

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A Rubbish Idea: How Blockchains could Tackle the World’s Waste Problem

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     warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications      Original citation: Steenmans, Katrien and Taylor, Phillip (2018) A rubbish idea : how blockchains could tackle the world’s waste problem. [Online]. (https://theconversation.com/a-rubbish-idea-how-blo...)The Conversation.  Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/103249  Copyright and reuse: The Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP) makes this work by researchers of the University of Warwick available open access under the following conditions. Copyright © and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in WRAP has been checked for eligibility before being made available.  Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. 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For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: wrap@warwick.ac.uk  4/9/2018 A rubbish idea: how blockchains could tackle the world's waste problemhttps://theconversation.com/a-rubbish-idea-how-blockchains-could-tackle-the-worlds-waste-problem-94457 1/4AuthorsKatrien SteenmansPostdoctoral Research Fellow, King'sCollege LondonPhillip TaylorPostdoctoral Research Fellow, University ofWarwickAcademic rigour, journalistic flairA rubbish idea: how blockchains could tackle the world’swaste problemApril 9, 2018 2.59pm BSTCryptocurrencies like Bitcoin may fill news headlines, but attention has been shifting tothe technology that underpins them: blockchains. Blockchains are virtual ledgers on whichdata can be permanently stored. They are a public record, so they are very transparent andaccountable.The Big Four accounting firms, IBM and JP Morgan have been driving uptake byinvestigating applications. Blockchains could transform everything from national government systems to payment apps for coffee chains to the fight against climate change.They are also starting to make a difference to the world’s waste problem. As we shall see,this has exciting possibilities.What a wasteDespite significant progress, the weight equivalent of one SUV is still going to landfillevery year for each of the circa 500m people in the EU. Waste litters our oceans, beachesand wider environment, making it one of the pressing issues of our times – not least thanks to DavidAttenborough’s popular Blue Planet series for the BBC, whose last episode addressed waste directly.It is becoming harder to just shift it elsewhere – witness China’s recent ban on importing plasticwaste, for example. Most countries are far behind Sweden, which has such a well developed networkof waste-to-energy plants that it imports waste to feed them.So where do blockchains fit in? They are a sophisticated way of recording transactions without havingone central institution like a bank controlling them. They comprise a series of blocks, each containinga set of transactions such as sales of assets or other transfers of value.ShutterPNPhotographyApril 9, 2018 2.59pm BSTA rubbish idea: how blockchains could tackle the world’swaste problem4/9/2018 A rubbish idea: how blockchains could tackle the world's waste problemhttps://theconversation.com/a-rubbish-idea-how-blockchains-could-tackle-the-worlds-waste-problem-94457 2/4It’s almost impossible to tamper with the information these blockscontain, since each has a unique tag of numbers and letters known as acryptographic hash, overlaid with other complicated securitymechanisms. Blockchains are so reliable that the ability of governmentsand central banks to control currency in future is very much in question.Various waste initiatives have seen potential to incorporate thistechnology. One is the Plastic Bank, a global recycling venture foundedin Canada to reduce plastic waste in developing countries – so far Haiti,Peru, Colombia and the Philippines, with plans to extend this year.The initiative rewards people who bring plastic rubbish to bank recyclingcentres, and one option is blockchain-secured digital tokens. These canpurchase things like food or phone-charging units in any store using the Plastic Bank app.The plastic is meanwhile bought by companies and recycled into newconsumer products. The system attracts them because blockchain’stransparency means they can see where their investment goes.A more novel use of blockchains is meanwhile emerging in French rail. Waste management in stationshas traditionally been chaotic, with up to six providers sorting endless rubbish. The central station inLyon, for example, produces 360 tonnes of waste each year.A new system developed by SNCF subsidiary Arep uses blockchain to allow detailed information to becollected. There is a block for each station bin, which uses Bluetooth to continually update onquantities of each type of waste, which waste managers collected it and how it is being moved around.Block action. Iaramenko SergiiFrench rail’s rubbish problem. ostill4/9/2018 A rubbish idea: how blockchains could tackle the world's waste problemhttps://theconversation.com/a-rubbish-idea-how-blockchains-could-tackle-the-worlds-waste-problem-94457 3/4Station managers can use this data to see what providers have done and when. This enables them toimprove waste management and optimise sorting. In a pilot, this saved almost €2,000 (£1,746) in onemonth in one station by facilitating a new system for collecting five different streams of wasteseparately.Blockchains are also being mooted to underpin a system for trading waste quotas similarly to howcarbon quotas are traded under the EU Emissions Trading System. Using blockchains could help keeptrack of how much waste companies are producing, and could also help facilitate trading.Next stepsThese are various ways in which this technology can help address our waste problem, but they allfocus on existing waste. They don’t look at the full life cycle of products from when they are created towhen they are thrown away.For a proper life cycle approach to waste, we need to think about holding the companies responsiblewho made the products in the first place – as well as other companies in the supply chain, since theywill potentially put pressure on the producers.We need to introduce standards to underpin this shift in responsibility, along with costly penalties forthose who infringe them. Some incentives exist already – the EU’s extended producer responsibility,for example – but countries don’t tend to implement them because of issues around tracking thewaste and enforcing the rules. Again, blockchain technologies could have a role here.When goods are produced, responsibility for them could be assigned.This would be recorded as a transaction to be stored in a block on theblockchain, identifying the product and the responsible party. Every timethe product was transferred – when it was sold, say, or when it wasdisposed of in landfill – this would be recorded in a new transaction.This could all be accessible via a QR code stamped on each product.If the product then ended up as litter on a beach somewhere, theblockchain would provide a digital trail to identify who was responsible.It would be up to the government in question to determine whereresponsibility lay at any given time.Setting up this kind of system raises many practical considerations, ofcourse: set-up costs, running costs, how to monitor and enforce it. Butnone are necessarily insurmountable. There are parallels, for example,with the EU’s system of requiring energy labels for household appliancesto help consumers choose energy efficient products.When it comes to our worldwide problem with waste, it is time to thinkoutside the box. Blockchains are already beginning to provide benefits in this area and they havemuch greater potential yet. If we can use them to build decentralised reliable networks for whererubbish has come from and where it ends up, it could lead to the breakthrough that has been eludingus for decades.QR checking. Lesia_G4/9/2018 A rubbish idea: how blockchains could tackle the world's waste problemhttps://theconversation.com/a-rubbish-idea-how-blockchains-could-tackle-the-worlds-waste-problem-94457 4/4China France Canada Sweden David Attenborough Blockchain microplastics Waste managementThe Conversation is a non-profit. Help knowledge-based, ethical journalism today.Make a donation 

A rubbish idea : how blockchains could tackle the world’s waste problem

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A rubbish idea : how blockchains could tackle the world’s waste problem

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