Daily Reflections

Day 1: Research

What is the "Recycling Revolution" ??

In the 2000s, bans on landfilling resulted in the building of incinerators. And it's kind of worked..? According to the Independent, less than one percent of Swedish household waste has been sent to a landfill any year since 2011.

However, many argue that incineration is not the proper solution. Incinerators are an investment and require waste in order to be economically successful. Instead of encouraging recycling and composting, incinerators encourage trash. However, Sweden has continued to improve their recycling and have maintained their incinerators by importing waste. But that may be changing with Brexit and other European countries building their own incinerators.

Furthermore, incinerating waste is not the same as recycling waste. While burning waste provides heat during the cold Sweden winters, recycling is converting waste into reusable material again. Additionally, incinerators release CO2 but they still have greatly improved Sweden’s greenhouse gas emissions. The country does not have waste in landfills, nor are they burning fossil fuel for heat (if incinerators are not producing enough heat, they burn wood). Both landfills and fossil fuels are large sources for greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane.

Day 2: More research!

What if I don't live in Sweden??

Good news! Even if you don't have the privilege of Sweden's waste system, you can still make a similar change wherever you are. Learn how to reduce your environmental footprint and dispose of waste below!

Composting

Food is the largest source of waste in the U.S., more food ends up in landfills than plastic or paper. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 20 percent of what goes into municipal landfills is food. Food waste that decomposes in landfills releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is at least 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Decrease your greenhouse gas footprint by diverting food waste from landfills and composting! A general rule is to rot the peel and eat the rest.

At Edina High School, the methane output is relatively high because students do not sort their waste properly and the school is unable to compost due to high contamination rates. This is largely due to miseducation on the students' parts. Often, they do not know that all the cafeteria's trays, boats, utensils, and "plastic" wrap, actually belongs in the organics bin because they are corn-based products.

Currently, composting in Edina is only available with an additional cost through Vierkant Disposal. Visit their website here: www.vierkantdisposal.com/ However, there are plans underway for Edina to implement curbside composting in 2020.

Recycling

Make sure to separate your recycling properly as guidelines vary by facility. Recycled goods should be free of food debris and may require a rinse. When possible use aluminum and glass, the most efficient materials to recycle, over plastic which is often down-cycled and will always eventually become unusable and end up in a landfill (or incinerator!)

About half your home's recyclables never make it to the recycling bin. Often, households only recycle their kitchen items. To facilitate recycling all you can, add recycling bins to every room - bathrooms, laundry rooms, offices, bedrooms, etc.

Visit Edina's Recycling Guidelines: https://www.edinamn.gov/227/Recyclable-Materials

Refuse, Reduce, Reuse

Learn how to refuse. At restaurants, ask for no straws or disposable napkins when ordering. End subscriptions to junk mail and delete emails, (e-mail providers store our messages on servers, which consume energy 24 hours a day. The more messages, the more servers). For students, do not take sheets from any college, major, or activity fairs. Instead, take photos of it, that way you are less likely to lose the information and you save paper. For college students, freshmen often receive college "freebies", do not accept.

We often over-consume, buying products that we do not need. Stop purchasing single-use objects, learn to borrow, and start decluttering your life. Further reduce by thrifting clothes and building a multifunctional wardrobe.

Replace disposable products with reusables like aluminum bottles, food containers, bamboo cutlery, and 100% cotton shopping bags.

Waste Free Lifestyle

Interested in going waste free?! Read blog posts by Lauren Singer, a NYC woman living a zero waste lifestyle. Learn about creative solutions that you can integrate into your life and help save the planet and money. These small changes can make a big difference for the Earth. Visit: trashisfortossers.com

Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC)

Located in downtown Minneapolis, the HERC burns garbage to create energy. While it does not primarily convert Edina's waste, it is a nearby incinerator available for visits. About 75 percent of the waste delivered to HERC comes from Minneapolis; the remaining 25 percent comes from suburban Hennepin County.

Learn more and book a tour here: hennepin.us/your-government/facilities/hennepin-energy-recovery-center

Day 3: Waste at home

What does the waste system look like from a Swedish household?

The waste process differs by municipality as residents' opinions vary. In Alingsås, they have implented curbside bins and are finding success with this current system. The houses have two bins for their waste. Each bin has four sections, shown below.

The two waste bins.

The first bin's four sections.

The second bin's four sections.

Each section's label is below.

Paper packaging.

Clear glass.

Metal packaging.

Plastic packaging.

Trash (anything that does not qualify for the other categories).

Composting.

Colored glass.

Paper.

Göteborg

In Gothenburg, a major city in Sweden, residents struggle to properly sort waste. However, the waste system differs from the two bin process above. Instead of being able to sort their waste at home, they must visit a nearby recycling station. The stations have the same waste sections: paper packaging, metal packaging, plastic packaging, trash, compost, paper, clear glass, and colored glass. But in order to sort their waste, the residents must transport their waste themselves to these recycling stations and then sort. While they are often close and in public spaces, usually by stores, gas stations, and residential areas, Gothenburg has not had the same amount of success at waste sorting as Alingsås. While these bins have reduced contamination rates and more waste is being sent to the proper facilities, Alingsås residents have agreed to pay an additional tax. Gothenburg tested the system with a section of the city, but it's unlikely to be adopted as many do not wish to pay the extra cost.

Swedes can find their closest recycling station here: https://www.ftiab.se/173.html

What's the difference between the two ketchup bottles below?

Colored glass / plastic that is properly recycled, may never actually be recycled. Since the material is not transparent, it costs more money to recycle the bottle into another bottle. If no one is willing to buy the more expensive material, it will eventually just be sent to the trash. In Sweden, that means the incinerator but in most countries, that means the landfill. Ideally, the solution would be neither incinerator or landfill, but another Ketchup bottle. However, due to marketing reasons, companies often are not willing to make the switch. Therefore, next time you pick up a bottle of ketchup, look at the bottles, and choose the clear one.

What's so bad about plastic, can't it just be recycled?

Yes and no. Plastic can be recycled but only so many times. The material will eventually end up in a landfill, the ocean, or an incinerator. Each time that plastic is recycled, it is downgraded more and more until it becomes unusable, or too expensive to recycled. Instead aluminum and glass are materials that can be continuously recycled.

A comprehensive text that details more in-depth what waste should go in each category.

Day 4: Renova

INCINERATOR? What's that??

Let's find out! In order to truly understand the burning waste process, I toured at Renova, the company that provides Sweden's incinerators.

CC in front of the Renova building that houses Gothenburg's incinerator.

Notes from the visit

Waste-to-energy-plant

Produces electricity & heat from burning waste.

37% of Gothenburg residents get heat from this incinerator.

Burning waste has replaced fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal) as energy sources = reduced CO2 emissions.

~ 40% of electricity produced is renewable.

24/7

The plant runs 24/7, all year. Can't close for the holidays - municipalities don't stop producing / consuming.

In summer, when the heating demand is low, - cycle through the furnaces: two run as normal, one releases heat, one closed for repair.

In winter, all furnaces return to full capacity.

The EU's waste hierarchy

Waste plan based on the EU's waste hierarchy.

Plant opened in 1972, large part of Gothenburg's waste moved up in the hierarchy - from landfill to energy recovery.

The waste to energy efficiency has greatly improved: three times the amount of energy is extracted from each tonne of waste then from when the plant was new.

Sorting waste

When communities sort their waste, the incinerator gets the correct waste = improved efficiency and reduced emissions.

Hazardous waste (ex: heavy metals) cause problems during the clean stages.

Gypsum/plaster (contain sulphur) should not be burned.

Food waste should be used to generate biogas or soil nutrients.

Paper should be recycled into to new materials.

Plastic

All combustion reactions produce CO2, a greenhouse gas. But when products from a fossil origin (like plastics*) are burned, even more CO2 is released. *While many plastics are made from fossil fuels, some such as the plastic containers provided by the EHS cafeteria are not. Those are corn-based and can be composted.

Burning 1 kilo of waste releases 1 kilo of CO2.

Burning 1 kilo of plastic releases 2 kilos of CO2.

Mixing waste

Before the trash is burned in the incinerator, the wet and dry waste must be mixed to enable more efficient combustion. Above is a video of the crane mixing the waste. "Ewwww" - Christina.

The incineration process

Steps

Combustible waste emptied into the bunker. Cranes mix the waste and feed the furnaces with the waste as fuel.
The waste is burned without any other fuel at 1,000 °C for about 45 minutes. Air and flue gases are blown in to achieve efficient, controlled combustion.
Non-combustible material is collected as slag (leftovers from metals that should've been recycled) at the bottom of the furnaces. The slag is transported to Renova's Tagene facility, where it is sorted and recycled. Approximtely 10,000 tonnes of metals are recovered each year. The residue (bottom ash) is reycled as building material.
The combustion heats water which is piped into the boilers and thus, the water turns to steam.
The hot steajm is piped to a turbine.
The turbine drives a generator to produce electricity.
In the condenser, the steam meets the district heating water in a heat exchanger and heats it to ~ 100 °C. Once the steam has given off its heat, it becomes water again. The water is piped back to the boilers to heat up again.
The flue gases are cleaned before emission. The first stage is an electrostatic precipitator that catches 99% of dust particles.
In the wet cleaning stages (the green cylinders) acidic gases, heavy metals and residual particles are scrubbed out. The process looks like the photo below.
The flue gases from the newest boiler pass through a catalytic converter that reduces dioxins and nitric oxides. For the other three boilers, the gases are instead directed through a bag filter to remove dioxins. Nitric oxides are already reduced in the boiler.
Now the flue gases are cleaned and can be released through the 126 m high chimney. (When it was intially built, it was believed that the higher the chimney, the less damaging the pollutants).
The pollutants in the water from the wet cleaning stage are removed. Raising the pH separates out metals and other particles.
Sulphur is removed in a separate process. The residual product is a kind of gypsum, a stable product that does not leach. It goes to a landfill.
The cleaned water is somewhat saline and thus, it cannot be discharged directly into freshwater. Instead, it is piped along Säve Stream out into the Göta River.
The sludge with pollutants from the water cleaning and particles from the electrostatic precipitator and bag filter are mixed to a cement-like material, a stable product that does not leach. It goes to landfill.

Step nine is above, the wet cleaning stages. The plastic spirals help collect pollutants.

Continuous improvement

The metals from the slag are seperated and recycled, but the residue is burned. The fly ash contains many different metals in a chemically bonded form with other substances. Trials are currently in progress to scrub out the zinc and copper from the ash.

All the waste is dumped here by the trucks. The crane is mixing it and then eventually placing it in the incinerator to be burned (on the right).

The furnace where waste is dumped into and burned.

CC looking inside of the furnace (on the right).

The waste being burned in the furnace. (Don't visit that part).

The waste comes out as ashes from the left (by the roll). Some metals are also mixed in since they will fail to melt (recycle your metals).

Safety first!

Stina and CC.

Found a Renova bin for colored glass in Gothenburg after visiting Liseberg, an amusement park that features green bunnies.

Day 5: Alingsås Expedition

ICA? Big Belly? What?

At ICA, the entrance/exit will have an area to recycle your bottles and recieve money in return. Below are photos of CC returning bottles for kronas at her local ICA store. By offering financial incentive and placing stations in a convienent location (the grocery store), the recycling rate increases and everyone benefits. The machine accepts three types of bottles: aluminum, PET, glass. In return, the customer receives a reciept that they can use at checkout to be deducted from their total.

A smart bin named “Bigbelly” is a solar-powered and self-communicating method to throw your waste away. As waste enters, the bins compact it to save space. When they are almost full, the municipality is notified.

On top of the bin are solar cells that act as a renewable and self-sustaining source of energy for its compression and communication.

Thanks to the notification system, the municipality knows how frequently the bin is used which facilitates the finding of its ideal location. Additionally, it saves on the number of collections - it can reduce waste collection up to 80%. The smart bins also lead to a cleaner environment as the trash will stay contained due to compaction. The bins transmit the information through a cloud-connected network.

This smart bin can found at Lilla Torget, a plaza in the middle of Alingsås.

Lilla Torget is a perfect location for a smart bin as the area produces lots of waste, surrounded by stores and next to a stand with food and ice cream.

Sticky hands from ice cream?? No problem, press this lever with your foot to open the bin - hands free!!

WOW it gets better - powered by renewable energy: solar cells. Get yourself an independent trash bin.

Unintended learning! Found another smart bin by the Nyköpingsån river.

The only difference is that there's no foot lever :( .

The smart bins are called "Bigbelly" a smart solar-powered waste & recycling system. Swipe right.

Beautiful.

Day 6: Home Sweet Home

Questions?? See you at the SMT presentations :)

Today, I will be flying home. On the flight home, I will put together a slideshow since I will not have the time to make a poster board in the United States. Additionally, I will be editing this digital portfolio. In order to reduce my waste while traveling, I have my bamboo cutlery (compostable), large water bottle, and my lovebags.com backpack made from recycled plastic water bottles (featured many times in the above photos - yellow with bikes).

Visit my SMT presentation at this link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_P5PPjWlD0jNaVlPaPJA3KzSHLBfIwF6kj5nOlOAHdg/edit?usp=sharing

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