Industry

Industry Sector
Improving materials, using waste, addressing refrigerants, and enhancing efficiency

A dumpster filled with plastic trash on a field of green grass

Thursday, June 24, 7:30-8:30PM (ET)

For our fourth The Science of Climate Solutions, we spent our time in Zoom hearing from:

  • Ece Topuzlu, a biochemist with J&J Research, who will talk about biological plastics recycling.

  • Jay Regan, from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State University, who will discuss anaerobic digestion (a process to reduce waste so it can be used for other purposes).

Before our Zoom session on June 24, we encouraged registrants to check out these optional resources below, as well as the websites for Project Drawdown and the Drawdown Ecochallenge.

(explore Drawdown summary and solutions for the Industry Sector)

Video

Waste Management Single-Stream Recycling: Take a tour of our Philadelphia Materials Recovery Facility (~6 minutes)

Recycling with single-stream technology is helping communities recycle more waste from their garbage collection. Waste Management is on a mission to drive environmental performance with solutions that minimize waste, recycle valuable resources, and create renewable energy. They are investing in single-stream technology and building recycling facilities, like the Philadelphia Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), to help extract the highest possible value from the materials they manage. http://www.wm.com/

Video

20th Anniversary of Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program (~7 minutes)

2015 marked the 20th anniversary of the signing of Acts 2, 3, and 4 -- the cornerstone of Pennsylvania's award-winning Land Recycling Program. Hear what sets Pennsylvania's program apart from other states and how it improved the environment and way of life in communities across the state.

A podcast series was produced in summer 2019 on Drawdown solutions taking place across the state of Pennsylvania. This is a podcast from of the Drawing Down in Pennsylvania series that relate to the Industry Sector (old Materials and Waste Sector). A transcript is available for the audio file.

Video

How India's local recyclers could solve plastic pollution, by Mani Vajipey (~9 minutes)

India has one of the world's highest rates of plastic recycling, thanks largely to an extensive network of informal recyclers known as "kabadiwalas." Entrepreneur Mani Vajipey discusses his work to organize their massive efforts into a collection system that could put India on the path to ending plastic pollution -- and show the rest of the world how to do it, too.

Don't forget to join the Drawdown DCIS team for the Drawdown Ecochallenge! You can create your account and explore the Drawdown Ecochallenge platform. Join our next Action Category for now through the end of July - Industry.

Additional resources of interest relating to Industry solutions

Recording of the June 24th session with Penn State & J&J Research