RECLAIMING WASTE INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY & CIRCULAR ECONOMY & SOCIAL & CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY

Transcription

1 RECLAIMING WASTE INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY & CIRCULAR ECONOMY & SOCIAL & CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY MARIANNE THOMSEN, PHD, SENIOR SCIENTIST HEAD OF RESEARCH UNIT, FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY & BRITTA TIMM KNUDSEN, PHD, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR INSTITUTE OF CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION FACULTY OF ARTS

2 Rethink - that the city and the region must serve as a laboratory for new, innovative and hopefully better ways of doing things - that a larger number of people and more diverse groups take part in the activities in the city. More citizen participation - that university scholars leave their ivory tower and take part in real problems on ground level with citizens and together co-construct sustainable futures. New connections Living experiments Action research, exploratory methods,

3 Fourth pillars model of sustainability 2006

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5 CIVIL SOCIETY ENGAGEMENT IN RY: RY RE- ADJUSTMENT

6 Waste at RY Biowaste = garden, park waste and organic waste from private households Each person produces from kilo of organic waste per year Ry produces 344 tons of organic waste per year

7 Sustainable Ressource Flows 1. Environmental restoration may be obtained by ecoindustrial ressource flows; i.e. Human-Environment system exchange of naturally occurring compounds, materials and energy flows mimicking the natural biogeochemical cycles, dimensions and scales 2. Antropogenic compounds should be recycled inside the technophere and reabsorbed in equals rates to their dispersion; exchanged at levels below any observable adverse impact. 3. Only healthy ecosystems sustains services

8 -MOVING UP IN THE WASTE HIERARCHY Turning waste into a resource Extraction and recycling

9 CIRCULAR RESSOURCE FLOWS - RY Including natural capital C, N, P and Cd Circularity = self-supply = self-preservation t 96 t 85 1 t 91 t 28 t 39 t 16 t 25 t 36 t 46 2 t Local clean and circular currents t 75 6 t 56 5 t 65 Energy supply > demand

10 BIOPRODUCTS FROM LOCAL BIOWASTE Costs, benefits and barriers Bioenergy production at a visioned biogas plant for a visioned swimming facility Electricity production of 620 MWh > Electricity consumption of 432 MWh Biofertilizer production output from biogas production Supply at the scale of cultivate soccer fields, < 1% of the Ry city area The financial cost of waste collection < the price of phosphorous in the biofertilizer The investment cost of the biogas plant and swimming facility is economic barrier

11 CIVIL SOCIETY DRIVEN URBAN FARMING BENEFITS CSA (Community/City Supported Agriculture) Social cohesion and sustainable local food production from local biofertilizer selfsupply

12 REMARK THE WORD RE-CLAIMING IN RW Waste as a biophysical common that belong to us all Waste is a ressource also an economic ressource that local communities could benefit from Reclaiming also meaning taking local ownership of an economic ressource disrupting institutionalized solutions, common outsourcing models for wastehandling

13 ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY Regional/Global scale Local community driven

14 COST AND BARRIERS Business potential in a circular economy Complexity in rules for planning of new biogas plants Economic feasibility is a challenge at local level Risk perception Upcycling (innovative green/clean) technologies are needed to avoid trade-off from carry over effects from recycling of contaminants Etc etc etc

15 The output of 2 out of 3 workshops - a biological gasplant combined with a swimming facility, a restaurant based on locally produced food and guaranteeing sustainable flows from local farmers, restaurants and institutions in the area to urban farming initiatives - a ressource-center, as a combined common house and sustainability hub outsourcing learning on sustainable solutions to anybody who wants to know and housing repair shop facilities engaging vulnerable youngsters in up- and recycling activities

16 HOW DID WE GET THERE? - Processes in the project: Assembling (De Landa 2006) various scholars from different disciplines, architects, artists, designers, SME s, entrepreneurs, activists, associates with Ry adjustment, local citizens providing knowledge at all levels (crowdsourcing) Creating assemblages in the form of immersive and creative, pleasurable environments Create the process itself continually progressing and improving

17 WHAT CAN HAPPEN? The environmental sustainability ambitions: Circular bioressource management systems are able to contribute to Increased self-supply/recycling and decreased loss of resources mitigation of climate change mitigation and marine and freshwater eutrophication The economic sustainability ambition New business opportunities through recycling for the vulnerable youngsters The implementation of new sustainable industrial products (recyclable plastic) Money flows back into the community Building resilience towards financial insecurities

18 WHAT CAN HAPPEN? The social sustainability ambitions Integrating excluded, vulnerable, excommunicated groups Engaging those who are not part of the ruling class or the power geometry of the center The cultural sustainability ambitions Building community identity and pride Cultivating sense of place and materiality Improving skills and creative abilities in communities Giving voice Empowering subjects and encouraging self-cultivation through the intense processes and much more