In a recent interview I gave to Marcus Ng, for the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, I went through all the major challenges that the waste management and recycling face, in the developing and developed world. Climate change, Internet of Things, 4th industrial revolution, Africa and megacities are some of the issues discussed. Here are some characteristic excerpts.
“Ultimately, the future of waste management will be robotic, driverless and supported by artificial intelligence. The current industrial revolution towards smart, interconnected cities will also deliver disproportionate benefits to developing cities, but this will also disrupt traditional industries, including not least, the recycling and waste management sectors.”
“In the near future, we can expect the emergence of small, decentralised waste solutions such as anaerobic digestion units that can each serve 30-50 households, and the already here household drying units that can process 1-2 kg of organic fractions daily. I believe we have arrived at the era of household waste management plans and that much more relevant technologies will soon become available”.
“Wecyclers is just one of many outstanding waste management projects in Africa that combine new, socially inclusive business models with technological advances or social innovation. If we could identify these innovative approaches and unify them in a citywide network, in cooperation with the city authorities, and the formal waste management stakeholders, then we would be able to address the waste challenge in a much better way than we do now.”
The whole interview can be found here. Thanks a lot Marcus Ng.
This is the first article on WASTELESS FUTURE I have to disagree or let’s say I have to hope it will be different. I believe that all will understand soon that WASTE PREVENTION is core, and the remaining waste will be understand fully as RESOURCE on site, means on site processing as described above. Mr. Ng, should not forget the CORE.