Waste Management Companies

The Circular Strategies Scanner 🌎 This diagram, developed by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and its Nordic partners, provides a great framework for identifying practical strategies to embed circular economy principles across business operations. The Circular Strategies Scanner highlights three core action areas: recirculating parts and products, recirculating materials, and rethinking or reconfiguring business models. These categories cover the full lifecycle of products and materials, from raw material sourcing to end-of-life management. Key strategies for recirculating parts and products include repair, maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, repurposing, and upgrades. These interventions aim to extend existing use cycles and maximize the value extracted from products. Material recirculation focuses on recycling (both chemical and physical), cascading uses across industries, recovery processes such as composting or energy recovery, and integrating secondary or renewable materials. This is critical for reducing dependence on virgin resources and minimizing waste. The model also emphasizes rethinking value creation. Business model strategies such as product-as-a-service, buy-back agreements, and sharing platforms are essential for shifting from linear consumption patterns to circular, access-oriented systems. Impact reduction is addressed through restorative sourcing, lean manufacturing, and efficient use-phase operations. Optimizing logistics, reducing idle capacity, and designing for longevity are also integral components of a robust circular approach. Importantly, the scanner provides a visual link between traditional linear processes and the opportunities to intercept waste and inefficiency at every stage. It underscores the importance of full decoupling of environmental impact from growth through systemic change. Circular economy success depends not only on individual strategies but on their integration across the value chain. This framework offers a strong foundation for companies and industries aiming to transition toward circularity in a structured and impactful way. Source: CIRCit - Circular Economy Integration in the Nordic Industry #sustainability #sustainable #business #esg #circulareconomy

🧵♻️ From Fast Fashion to Filtration: A Circular Breakthrough Turning textile waste into #ActivatedCarbon isn’t a new idea—but it’s rarely been practical at scale. Most pilots relied on clean, sorted feedstocks: pure cotton, polyester, or carefully separated blends. Unfortunately, that is not how most waste streams currently work. So UNSW has found a way to convert mixed textiles—including natural, synthetic, animal, and blended fibres—into high-performance activated carbon. No intensive sorting. No pristine inputs. Just smart science and genuine scalable potential. 🌏 Why this matters: 🚫 No need for costly, intensive sorting infrastructure 🔁 Enables circularity for real-world textile waste streams ⚡ 99% reduction in embodied energy vs coal-derived activated carbon 🌿 36% lower carbon footprint as a result when compared to conventional activated carbon manufacturing, plus improvements in acidification, smog, and respiratory health metrics 🧪 What can this activated carbon do? 💧 Water purification (dyes, pharmaceuticals, pesticides) 🔩 Metal recovery (Cd²⁺, Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺) 🌱 Soil remediation, carbon capture 🌬️ Air filtration (VOCs, CO₂, NO₂) This is the kind of innovation that turns waste into value. Check out the paper in @ScienceDirect.com Kudos to Prof. Veena Sahajwalla AO and the whole UNSW team, as well as Textile Recyclers Group who provided 14 different types of textile waste streams, for pushing the boundaries of what's possible in circular manufacturing. Seamless Karen Thomas Ben Kaminsky Craig Peden IdeaSpies Lynn Wood #CircularEconomy #TextileWaste #UNSW #SustainableInnovation #WasteToValue 

⛈️ A perfect storm is brewing for Scotland’s waste sector and recent reporting has pulled the issue into national view. ⏱️ With the landfill ban on biodegradable municipal waste set for 31 December 2025, the infrastructure needed to manage non-recyclable waste is already showing serious signs of strain. ♻️ As RDF export costs rise and waste is increasingly diverted south to England or sent overseas, the pressure is mounting, economically, environmentally, and operationally. Here’s what we know: ➡️ Estimated 600,000-tonne annual capacity shortfall ➡️ EfW gate fees hitting £150/tonne, with £50+/tonne in haulage ➡️ Scotland has 8 incinerators (now 7, after the Ness facility was taken offline) ➡️ Remote and rural areas face the greatest logistical challenges ➡️ Some waste is being landfilled, despite the upcoming ban ➡️ Significant volumes are being exported, increasing both costs and carbon Why it matters: “It’ll take 80–100 truckloads a day just to move the waste south.” 🚛 For smaller firms, that simply isn’t viable. For Scotland’s circular ambitions, it’s a step backward. 🗺️ Geography plays a key role. Large, centralised infrastructure isn’t practical for a country of remote towns, islands and rural areas. As capacity tightens, these communities are hit first and hardest. 🚧 Meanwhile, no new incinerators are expected to be operational until 2027–28 leaving a multi-year mismatch between policy and on-the-ground readiness. This isn’t just a planning issue, it’s a clear signal that traditional waste systems are under pressure and the countdown is on. Answers on a postcard 🤔 #efw #landfillban #wasteinfrastructure #environmentalpolicy #rdf #wasteexport #wastemanagement #resourcemanagement #sustainability #circulareconomy

♻️ New report by the European Court of Auditors Municipal #waste management - despite gradual improvement, challenges remain for the EU’s progress towards #circularity The ECA has just published a timely and eye-opening report on the state of municipal waste management in the EU — and the message is clear Despite ambitious rules meant to shift Europe away from landfill and towards re-use and recycling, many Member States are struggling due to financial constraints, weak planning, insufficient infrastructure, and slow progress on separate collection. 1️⃣ Targets strengthened — but progress uneven 2️⃣ Recycling markets under severe pressure 3️⃣ Separate collection is still too low Three out of four audited Member States still collect far too little waste separately, which undermines both recycling quality and quantity. 4️⃣ Economic instruments underused 5️⃣ Infrastructure delays and planning weaknesses ⚠️ A Regrettable Trend: #Incineration Still Growing Despite the EU waste hierarchy clearly prioritising prevention, re-use and recycling, the report confirms that incineration continues to expand in several countries. This is deeply concerning because: 🔥 More incineration = less recycling Capacity-hungry incinerators create long-term “lock-in” effects, diverting waste away from recycling streams and undermining circular economy goals. 🔥 Investment flows away from circular solutions As cohesion funds increasingly exclude landfill and residual waste treatment, some Member States nevertheless still prioritise incineration — often at the expense of separate collection and recycling infrastructure. 🔥 Incineration taxes differ widely across the EU This creates economic incentives for cross-border waste shipping and distorts the hierarchy. 🧭 What the ECA Recommends 1️⃣ Strengthen the recycling market (by 2026) 2️⃣ Improve monitoring & enforcement (2026–2028) 3️⃣ Assess harmonising landfill & incineration taxes (2026) 💬 Final Thought The report reinforces what many in the circular economy community already know: Europe will not reach circularity with weak recycling markets, underfunded local systems, and expanding incineration. The transition requires: ✔️ stable markets for secondary materials ✔️ strong economic signals (taxes, PAYT, DRS) ✔️ real political will to prioritise circularity over disposal We have the legislation. Now we need the implementation — and the courage to shift investment from burning waste to designing it out. Do you want to read the whole report? check it here: https://lnkd.in/ezCB2Km9 European Investment Bank (EIB) European Commission European Environmental Bureau Zero Waste Europe ACR+ | Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform

"Not a single landfill site in the Northern Cape meets the environmental, health, and safety requirements for waste management. This is the second consecutive year that landfills in this province have failed to meet the minimum legal requirement of 80% for responsible waste management, as outlined in AfriForum’s annual audit report on this matter. According to the report, the situation is so dire in the Northern Cape that landfills in Britstown, De Aar, Delportshoop, Douglas, Hanover, Keimoes, and Strydenburg meet none of the requirements. Kimberley’s landfill scored 36%, Kathu 24%, Upington 12%, and Warrenton 6%. Only Orania’s landfill nearly passed with 76%. Kuruman fared poorly with 60%. In 25 years, Africa is expected to be overwhelmed by 516 million tons of waste per year. More than 90% of the continent’s waste is disposed of at uncontrolled and unofficial dumping sites, according to the African Union Development Agency (Auda). In many cases across the continent, this waste is set on fire, leading to air pollution and uncontrolled fires. Waste also remains unused on sidewalks and open spaces in cities and towns, on open land outside settlements, and clogs stormwater drains, contaminating water sources. Meanwhile, 70% to 80% of this waste is recyclable. Yet only 4% is recycled, according to Auda. Income and job opportunities in waste recycling are still overlooked. The South African Plastic Recycling Organisation indicates that 58,750 income opportunities were created in 2019 through plastic recycling, and that recycling contributed 2.3% directly to South Africa’s gross domestic product. May governments, including the Northern Cape, realize that waste recycling is essential for a ‘modern, growing, and successful’ system. Without it, progress may be stifled." #EIA #EnvironmentalManagement #SouthAfrica https://lnkd.in/dG9WepGY

Don't know about you, but I'm hard pressed to come up with a sector or school where 6% success rate is considered a passing grade. Yet, that's what can be expected from recycling infrastructure in Costa Rica, where only five of the country’s 84 municipalities have trash facilities that separate recyclable from non-recyclable waste. Research published last month analyzed discarded bottles from cities, continental beaches, and islands, covering a vast section of the Latin American Pacific. I don't consider this study to be all doom + gloom; instead, it's an opportunity to try and understand root causes and work our way toward the right solutions. Three things of note: 1. Citizen scientists and academic research is increasingly shifting from understanding nature, to understanding *humanity's impact* on nature. Could it be that Darwin's Natural Selection isn't applicable during the Anthropogenic Age? 2. Based on decades of my own travel and research in the region, I'll wager Costa Rica is on the higher end of recycling rates amongst countries in Central and Latin America. On a recent trip, I was reminded of the country's relative wealth, political stability, strength of democratic institutions, and official commitment to climate and biodiversity. It's a place where you can still see turtles hatching at the beach, where waste sorting isn't uncommon, where reusable bottles aren't a surprise. Assume sorting capacity in other nearby countries goes downhill from there. 3. Municipal sorting capacity is only one stop on a complex value chain. Perhaps the problem is a lack of trash trucks and distribution capacity. Or, could the tough roads further undermine recycling's barely-there margins? Maybe the problem is in source sorting, and only 6% of waste gets separated into accurate bins? Sure, the blame could partly fall on consumers. Or, could it be the trash facility merely doesn't have the physical space, or human labor, to sit there and ensure all trash is separated appropriately before heading to the ovens? Whatever the causes, it's certain that the 6% is a bottleneck through which all recycling waste must pass. I'm heartened by AI robotics solutions that drive efficiencies at sorting, but digging into the broader supply chain is a stark reminder of all the other costly, labor intensive infrastructure we'd still have to build out. With Costa Rica having a relative head-start and advantage over other regional nations, it further begs the question: why do we continue to invest in the recycling myth? 🔗 Read the study, published in Mongabay, an independent media organization reporting on Nature and planetary challenges with a global network of local journalists, here: https://lnkd.in/ggX7VXMA

We are deluded when it comes to recycling. Only 6% of plastic in the US is recycled. What we think happens: we put our plastic and electronic waste in appropriate bins and they are recycled properly in a factory. What actually happens: our waste takes a carbon-intensive trek across the world to Asia and Africa where it ends up in the oceans, and landfills and even if processed, releases toxins including microplastics into the environment. Recycling can be done right. But we are doing it all wrong. The global north has crafted a deceptively elegant solution: bartering toxic waste and plastic debris for schools and hospitals in the global south. This arrangement conveniently cleanses wealthy nations' consciences while shielding polluting industries from accountability. The human and ecological toll is devastating: from blocked rivers to toxic fumes and neurological damage, plastic pollution in emerging economies claims countless lives annually, with mortality figures now reaching into the hundreds of thousands. Recycling can be done right and it can be done right here at home. It simply needs to be a priority: 1. Minimize single use disposable plastics wherever possible. In the US single use plastics are everywhere, and accounts to about 50% of plastic produced. 2. Mandate use of material that is recyclable (e.g. PET) 3. Build recycling infrastructure -40 million US households lack access to recycling services -Build more recycling plants at home. -Implement a nationwide bottle and deposit scheme similar to Norway for example As the great straw debate of 2025 shows, sometimes we focus on the small things and miss the bigger picture. Let's not get stuck on straws when there's an entire ocean of change to be made. #strawdebate #recycling #climatetech Image from 4ocean PBC.

29 Million South Africans generate waste with little to no formal collection. A recent post of mine blew up. It was about how “recycling more will not solve SA’s waste crisis”, with some facts about the state of our landfill sites in the bigger cities.  A handful of people asked me about the state of waste outside of the big cities. Fair question. WastePlan serves the private sector in the large metros in South Africa, but I have been tracking the state of waste in rural South Africa too. And it’s not looking good. Compared to Gauteng’s 92% coverage, rural collection is 34%. This means ~29 million South Africans generate waste with little to no formal collection. Eastern Cape has 30% rural collection. Northern Cape has 15% rural collection. Limpopo has 25% rural collection. That is 3.67 million tonnes of domestic waste not collected.  Every. Single. Year.  Only 25% of Eastern Cape landfills meet legal requirements. Two sites manage just 2% compliance. Were it not for Informal waste pickers who recover huge amounts of post-consumer packaging in many areas, things would be far worse. But we’re letting them down and shouldn’t self-congratulate just yet. They work without recognition, equipment or fair compensation, yet prevent river contamination and reduce landfill volumes. The reality is that waste collection routes are simply not feasible, given that vast areas are so sparsely populated. On top of that, many areas flood regularly, so the problem compounds with other infrastructure problems. So, nationwide we have an average informal disposal rate of 55.6% with three provinces under 30% rural coverage. What could be done? Bi-weekly collections at central points with regional waste facilities serving multiple municipalities. This would start making a dent at least. Establishing mobile transfer services to support the regional facilities. Developing community composting hubs. There are some successful programs in KZN proving this model. Enhanced skip services for high-demand “clients” like schools, malls, and clinics. Tax incentives for private companies serving rural contracts. There are many more ideas that would have a disproportionate impact, but feel free to leave comments. 

⚙️ Battery production = waste generation. Producing 1 GWh of lithium-ion cells can generate up to 1,800 tons of manufacturing waste  and that’s just the beginning. Let’s break it down. Every Li-ion cell goes through 4 key stages: 1️⃣ Electrode production (coating Al/Cu foils) 2️⃣ Cell assembly (stacking, electrolyte, welding) 3️⃣ Formation & aging 4️⃣ End-of-line testing & packaging At each step, valuable materials are lost not just in scrap, but in powders, solvents, defective cells, and foils. 📉 Per 1 GWh of cell production you can expect: - 800 - 1,000 t of electrode scrap (Cu, Al, Co, Ni, Mn, graphite) - 150 - 250 t of used solvents (NMP, IPA) - 100 - 200 t of defective cells - 20 30 t of excess electrolyte - 200 300 t of industrial wastewater - Plus plastics, filters, dust & separator films 💡 That’s 4 - 8% of total production weight if you make optimization of production line, if not the yield of scrap is.... unbelievable higher ‼️ And in a 10 GWh gigafactory it means 10,000+ tons/year of potential secondary raw materials. ♻️ So what can we recover? ✔️ Copper & aluminum → >95% recyclable ✔️ Graphite (C) → purify and reuse in anode production ✔️ Solvents (NMP) → distilled and reused (up to 90%) ✔️ Cathode metals (Co, Ni, Mn, Li) → hydromet recovery 80–95% ✔️ Defective cells → treated like EoL black mass 🧠 Expert insight - Royal Bees Recycling Electrode scrap is the most valuable, predictable and scalable feedstock for battery recycling. It’s clean, chemistry-known, and directly linked to production volume. This is where industrial circularity begins not at EoL, but on the factory floor. If your factory produces cells, it already produces feedstock for the next material loop. ♻️ 🔋 🐝 #CircularEconomy #BatteryRecycling #MaciejMikulicz #CEforIndustry #EPR #CSRD #CircularThinking #Resilience #TechForGood #ESG #Sustainability #IndustrialStrategy #Materialrecovery #RecyclingMarket #Closedloop #LithiumIon #EUChemistry #NMC #LFP #BlackMass Sources: 1. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) – ReCell Center Reports, 2022–2023 2. 2. Fraunhofer ISI – “Recycling of Lithium-Ion Batteries: Facts and Figures”, 2021 3. 3. European Battery Alliance / EIT InnoEnergy (EBA250, 2022)

Less than 15 % of municipal solid waste in the U.S. is composted. Most organics still end up in landfills, where they generate methane instead of building soil. In 2023, during #SUITMA meeting, we visited Sogama in Galicia and saw a regional model operating at scale. Color coded bins, yellow for packaging, brown for organics, and black for residuals, feed an integrated facility that recovers recyclables, stabilizes organic fractions, and generates energy. The key insight was the coordination across policy, infrastructure, and public participation. This week in Purdue Agriculture’s Soils and Land Use course, we are examining waste management through a soil systems lens. I am using a short video from that visit as a teaching case because it makes three issues concrete: ✔️ Source separation determines material quality. Contamination at the household level constrains downstream recovery and compost quality. ✔️ Organics management is climate policy. Diverting food and yard waste reduces methane emissions and creates soil amendments that influence carbon cycling and nutrient retention. ✔️ Infrastructure is land use policy. Decisions about siting, funding, and governance shape who benefits from resource recovery and who bears environmental burdens. With students, we are examining what structural changes could meaningfully reduce landfill dependence in U.S. cities, from governance and contamination standards to compost procurement and market development, and whether soils are treated as measurable public assets within these systems, including how equity shapes siting and distribution of benefits. If you are working in this space, I am looking for specific case examples to bring into the classroom: programs with clear diversion data, compost quality metrics, policy mechanisms that shifted behavior, or implementation challenges that changed the outcome. Brief, evidence-based examples are especially useful. Remigio Paradelo Núñez #WasteManagement #CircularEconomy #SoilHealth #Composting #Sustainability #HigherEd #ExperientialLearning