{"id":2551,"date":"2015-12-02T18:46:31","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T18:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/?p=2551"},"modified":"2015-12-02T18:46:31","modified_gmt":"2015-12-02T18:46:31","slug":"connecting-the-dots-between-plastic-waste-and-renewable-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/?p=2551","title":{"rendered":"Connecting the dots between plastic waste and renewable energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the recent United Nations Conference on Climate Change<\/a>, there\u2019s a lot of talk about harnessing renewable energy.\u00a0 Take a company like Unilever<\/a> who\u2019s committed to becoming \u2018carbon positive\u2019 by 2030.\u00a0 Meaning, 100% of Unilever\u2019s energy across its operations will come from renewable sources, in just 15 years!\u00a0 Interesting, now let\u2019s quickly switch gears and take a look at plastic waste and the sustainability efforts taking place there.\u00a0 With the advent of Extended Producer Responsibility, brands and manufacturers will be held accountable for the post-consumer stage of its product.\u00a0 What is the common disposal method for the majority of Unilever\u2019s packaging and products?\u00a0 Well, if we\u2019re being honest and using the facts and data available, it\u2019s all ending-up in a landfill. \u00a0Recycling comes in a distant second and composting and incineration are practically nonexistent.\u00a0 \u00a0However, considering this new agenda Unilever proposes, is this really a negative thing?\u00a0 Not if someone can connect the dots.<\/p>\n

Today, the bad thing about landfills is in name only.\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps we need to start referring to this single most common disposal method simply as Bioreactors.\u00a0 The vast majority of all MSW ends-up in \u201clandfills\u201d that capture and control the gases being produced in these environments and turning it into energy.\u00a0 This valuable resource, Landfill Gas-to-Energy, is considered the most economical form of green energy available today, even when considering the costs of hydro, solar and wind. \u00a0Once converted, landfill gas can be utilized in many ways: to generate electricity, heat, or steam; as an alternative vehicle fuel; or sold on the energy market as a renewable “green” power or gas. All States in the U.S. (including California) utilize gas to energy as part of their green initiatives and companies like Mars, Dart, Toyota, Frito Lay, SC Johnson, Tyson Foods, Kimberly-Clark, Coca-Cola, Anheuser Busch, just to name a few, are already harnessing this energy resource.<\/p>\n

If Unilever\u2019s plastic products and packaging where designed for this specific environment, it could essentially power itself with the trash it produces.\u00a0 Today, we have the ability to make plastic waste naturally biodegrade in these amazing anaerobic environments, Bioreactors.\u00a0\u00a0 The Recycling industry and the Compostable Plastics industry will continue to rail against this, but it\u2019s time more companies rely on facts and scientific data instead of myths and emotions that simply coddle consumer’s inaccurate perceptions.\u00a0 Today, and in the foreseeable future, Landfills\/Bioreactors will absolutely play a major role in the way we manage waste and harness renewable energy.\u00a0 The demonization of this fact is counterproductive to the goals being set.\u00a0 The power is in the hands of companies like Unilever to see beyond the status quo and implement solutions that provide accountability and viability for itself and its customers.\u00a0 Connecting the dots is the key to a sustainable future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the recent United Nations Conference on Climate Change, there\u2019s a lot of talk about harnessing renewable energy.\u00a0 Take a company like Unilever who\u2019s committed to becoming \u2018carbon positive\u2019 by 2030.\u00a0 Meaning, 100% of Unilever\u2019s energy across its operations will come from renewable sources, in just 15 years!\u00a0 Interesting, now let\u2019s quickly switch gears and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[737,356,1468,736,738,740,743],"tags":[194,13,121,882,291],"class_list":["post-2551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biodegradation-2","category-bioplastic","category-compostable-plastics","category-environmental-news","category-green-marketing-2","category-product-innovation","category-thought-provoking","tag-biodegradable-plastic","tag-enso-plastics","tag-packaging","tag-renewable-energy","tag-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2551"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2553,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551\/revisions\/2553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}