August 4, 2009
Conference: Manufacturing is where to cut greenhouse gases
The theme of the California Resource Recovery Association conference in Rancho Mirage may be making zero waste a reality, but the first thing the 450 recycling professionals heard on Monday is that even that is not enough to reduce greenhouse gases.
The conference continues through Wednesday at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa.
Keynote speakers and other experts hammered home the message that the recycling industry must re-invent itself as “material managers,” focusing on the lifetime carbon footprint of products.
“(Reducing) greenhouse gases has nothing to do with landfills, it has to do with manufacturing. Consumption is the root cause of emissions,” said keynote speaker David Allaway of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
“When manufacturers leave California and set up elsewhere, California emissions go down, even as global emissions rise as part of outsourcing,” Allaway said. “All other things being equal, moving manufacturing from the U.S. to China increases emissions by 41 percent.”
In her keynote, Barbara Riordan, a member of the California Air Resources Board, made a similar connection between material management and the state's ability to meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
“By reducing waste generation, we know we lower transportation emissions and reduce landfill emissions,” said Riordan, a former San Bernardino County supervisor. “What's the most important thing, we then reduce the embedded carbon in products.”
The challenge, president of the association Julie Muir said, is pushing governments — federal, state and local — to shift from focusing on simply measuring energy use and recycling to the broader frame of reference.
“It's been too complicated to look at; measuring materials is too hard,” Muir said.
As one sign of progress, she pointed to Wal-Mart's recent announcement that it will develop a sustainability index for the products it sells, eventually requiring suppliers to put a carbon-footprint rating on their packages.
Debbie Morris of HF&H Consultants, who works on waste management programs with several Coachella Valley cities, said shifting to a materials management framework could open up exciting possibilities for the area.
“We have curbside recycling,” Morris said. “Now, through public education and outreach, the cities can start focusing on source reduction.”
Other conference highlights:
In one morning workshop, Amity Lumper of Cascadia Consulting Group of Seattle analyzed the conference's own carbon footprint.
Conference organizers have reduced materials going to landfill to a sliver of the 106 metric tons of carbon dioxide the event will generate, Lumper said, but air and car travel to Rancho Mirage accounted for about 75 percent of the total.
That 106 metric tons are the equivalent of the annual carbon dioxide emissions of 10 U.S. homes or 19 U.S. drivers, she said.
In a workshop on extended product responsibility, Susan Collins of the Container Recycling Institute, talked about model programs in Canada for reusing beer and other bottles.
In Ontario, Canada, consumers return refillable bottles to the province's main beer retailer, The Beer Store, she said. Bottles are washed and reused about 15 times.
The program saves Ontario cities about $38 million in Canadian dollars per year in reduced recycling costs and saves enough energy to heat 26,263 homes, according to a report from the store.
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090804/NEWS07/908040331/Conference++Manufacturing+is+where+to+cut+greenhouse+gases