Overview
- Ann Arbor is taking a proactive approach to tackling climate change. Three years ago, the city adopted an ambitious plan to eliminate its global warming pollution by 2030. The plan includes fully transitioning to renewable energy, expanding public transit, installing EV chargers, weatherizing homes, and more. Doing it all is expected to cost about $1 billion. More than 70% of residents voted yes [on a 20-year mileage], sending a strong signal that Ann Arbor residents want to invest in a cleaner future. (Source: *directly quoted* https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/03/ann-arbor-voters-approve-20-year-tax-for-climate-action/#:~:text=Three%20years%20ago%2C%20the%20city,to%20cost%20about%20%241%20billion.)
- Recently, Ann Arbor has begun to promote the circular economy as a critical component of the climate action plan. According to Ellen MacArthur Foundation, “To date, efforts to tackle the (climate) crisis have focused on a transition to renewable energy, complemented by energy efficiency. Though crucial and wholly consistent with a circular economy, these measures can only address 55% of emissions. The remaining 45% comes from producing the cars, clothes, food, and other products we use every day. These cannot be overlooked. The circular economy can contribute to completing the picture of emissions reduction by transforming the way we make and use products. To illustrate this potential, applying circular economy strategies in just five key areas (cement, aluminum, steel, plastics, and food) can eliminate almost half of the remaining emissions from the production of goods – 9.3 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2050 – equivalent to cutting current emissions from all transport to zero.”
- Ann Arbor’s A2Zero plan “Strategy 5: Change the Way We Use, Reuse, and Dispose of Materials” calls for changing our relationship with what we buy and use, how we buy and use materials, and how we dispose of materials once we are done using them. For now, the calculations for this aspect of greenhouse gas reduction only focus on the greenhouse gas savings associated with reducing the disposal of materials and products, and upstream emissions are not included in calculations. Dan Ezekiel, organizer of the “Trash Talk Tour” and former chair of the local Sierra Club, points out that “our methodology for estimating upstream carbon costs for materials production is still in its infancy. No one really knows how to estimate it accurately, and we don’t have good metrics yet.” Dan says, “We can’t recycle our way out of the climate crisis, but we also can’t have a sustainable green economy that isn’t much more circular than today’s extractive economy. “
- Dan says that we can be certain that adopting a future where the circular economy is inherent in all aspects of daily life will reduce emissions, the question is what strategies will people tolerate? What’s working? What is less effective? He says we are still in the infancy of developing circular economy strategies, and that’s why we still need events like the Trash Talk Tour, to see the various efforts people are trying as we feel our way towards a new way of managing the resources of our planet. The circular economy is strong in some areas (resale, Little Free Libraries) and just in its inception in others (universal washable take-out food containers). The Washtenaw Zero Waste Coalition is hosting the second annual Trash Talk Tour on September 18th from 8am - 4pm. More details are available here.
Exploring Zero Waste as a climate issues impaction Ann Arbor, and why the TTT isn’t going away any time soon: from Dan Ezekiel
1. Is Zero Waste a climate issue?
Yes. We can’t recycle our way out of the climate crisis, but we also can’t have a sustainable green economy that isn’t much more circular than today’s extractive economy. Of the Top 5 Drawdown solutions, two involve materials waste (check this). Arbor Hills Landfill, which takes Ann Arbor’s trash, has been subject to a consent judgment to curb its emissions of methane, has violated the judgment, and has been fined millions as a result.
“To date, efforts to tackle the (climate) crisis have focused on a transition to renewable energy, complemented by energy efficiency. Though crucial and wholly consistent with a circular economy, these measures can only address 55% of emissions. The remaining 45% comes from producing the cars, clothes, food, and other products we use every day. These cannot be overlooked.
The circular economy can contribute to completing the picture of emissions reduction by transforming the way we make and use products. To illustrate this potential, this paper demonstrates how applying circular economy strategies in just five key areas (cement, aluminium, steel, plastics, and food) can eliminate almost half of the remaining emissions from the production of goods – 9.3 billion tonnes of CO2e in 2050 – equivalent to cutting current emissions from all transport to zero.” Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Completing the picture: How the circular economy tackles climate change (2019).<https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/completing-the-picture>
2. What will the circular economy look like?
We don't know yet. That’s why we still need a Trash Talk Tour, to see the various efforts people are trying as we feel our way towards a new way of managing the resources of our planet. The circular economy is strong in some areas (resale, Little Free Libraries) and just in its inception in others (universal washable take-out food containers).
3. Is Zero Waste an individual or a systemic issue?
It is both. Example of single use plastic grocery bags. Anyone can forgo them, by keeping a few durable bags handy, and that is laudable. But Washtenaw County tried to place a 10-cent tax on them in 2017 but was pre-empted from doing so by the then-GOP legislature. State Sen. Sue Shink now has a bill to “ban bag ban bans”. Individuals can and should forgo these bags in the meantime, but they should also add their voices to support bills like Sen Shink’s. Some states have banned them entirely (Wikipedia: “the states of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii (de facto), Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have banned disposable bags.”)
4. Is there a moral dimension to Zero Waste?
Absolutely. As long as we are willing for those who extract materials from the earth to earn below a thriving wage, as long as those who produce our materials earn below a thriving wage, and as long as we let corporations pollute groundwater, soil, the air, surface water, and poor neighborhoods, product prices won’t ever reflect their true environmental and human cost, and we will continue to produce and buy mountains of stuff, not repair or re-use it, but instead “throw it away” as soon as it begins to lose its utility for us.
5. Why is the A2Zero estimate of carbon reduction due to solid waste reduction (Strategy 5) so low?
See #1. Our methodology for estimating upstream carbon costs for materials production is still in its infancy. No one really knows how to estimate it accurately, and we don’t have good metrics yet.
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU. And today, we're going to talk some trash. Welcome to this week's edition of Issues of the Environment. Ann Arbor is pushing to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by the year 2030, and part of the strategy in getting there is advancing what's called a circular economy. A critical part of the city strategy is to change the way we use, reuse and dispose of materials. Highlighting how the move to a circular economy is working in the city now is the point behind the Trash Talk tour. The third annual event is coming up this Sunday, October 15th. Joining us today is the man who conceived of the Trash Talk tour and was instrumental in bringing it to life. Dan Ezekiel is a retired science teacher, a local environmentalist and former chair of the Huron Valley Group of the Sierra Club. Dan, welcome back to WEMU.
Dan Ezekiel: Thank you very much, David. I'm so glad to be here.
David Fair: Well, I may have used a term that not everyone is familiar with. What exactly is the circular economy, and how does it compare to the extractive economy?
Dan Ezekiel: Yeah, there's a great question, David. So, the circular economy means wringing every last drop out of the resources that nature and our planet give us. You could say the extractive economy is our typical way of doing things in the past. I've heard it characterized as make it, use it once, throw it away--
David Fair: That is pretty common. I'm sorry for interrupting. Go ahead.
Dan Ezekiel: But there's no such place as "away." So, the circular economy is to say we're going to value our resources. We're going to value human beings and labor that they put into creating those resources or refining them. And we're going to wring every last drop out of out of every resource that we have on this beautiful planet.
David Fair: Well, strengthening and expanding the circular economy is certainly a part of the A2Zero Carbon Neutrality Plan. Fact of the matter, as you've pointed out, is, as a society, we're just not very good at efficiently creating, marketing, selling, using, reusing or disposing of our products. How has the need for climate action and adaptation impacted the way we're now looking at these things?
Dan Ezekiel: That's a really good question, Dave. I think that it's been well said. We're not going to recycle our way out of climate change, but if you look at it a different way, we also cannot meet the climate challenge without drastically reducing our gratuitous waste of resources and making our economy much more circular than it is right now. And I'm sure you're familiar with the book "Drawdown" that lists the 80 largest or most effective strategies to reverse global warming. And strategy number three is to reduce food waste. The third most impactful strategy they list in our book is to reduce food waste. So, that would be just one example. I've been doing my homework for this interview, David. And, you know, we grew up--our generation grew up--with 3 R's: reduce, reuse, recycle. And now, they talk about 5 R's in a C: refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, recycle and compost.
David Fair: Hmm. The expansion is good. Not as easy to remember, though.
Dan Ezekiel: I know it's not.
David Fair: WEMU's Issues of the Environment conversation with Dan Ezekiel continues. Dan is a retired science teacher, environmentalist and former chair of the Huron Valley Group of the Sierra Club. He's going to help lead this Sunday's third annual Trash Talk Tour in Ann Arbor. Now, Dan, once a teacher, always a teacher, they say. How did the idea of the Trash Talk Tour come about?
Dan Ezekiel: That's interesting. I was attending a meeting ,and we were struggling with, you know, some detail of city policy and how to address it. And, as a teacher, I know that hands-on learning is the very best way. Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I'll remember. And when we take part in, I will care. And I thought a lot of people care about these issues. You know, people bring their their reusable bags to the store and and on and on and on. And maybe if we could get all those people together and highlight some of the places where zero waste efforts are taking place and just get people seeing them and talking about them with each other, we can move forward and have a better informed citizenry to figure out what changes we need to make next. And, in 2021, we had the first Trash Talk Tour, and it worked. And we had another one last year. And we're going to have another one this year. We're moving it to October. That's a little bit of an experiment. It was in September before. So, you're always taking your chances with the weather. So, we consider this to be a joyful family experience. It's a self-guided tour, so you can see as much of it or as little as you choose. And the idea is to go out and have fun and learn more about zero waste.
David Fair: And that's the interesting component to me. You've structured these tours, so that it is educational, but it is kind of self-driven and socially accessible because you know that nobody likes to go to school on a Sunday.
Dan Ezekiel: That's right. That's right. And I think another thing is that nobody likes to be badgered and guilt tripped. I've tried and all the others who have worked together to make this tour, we've tried to make it fun. We've tried to make it easy. We've tried to make it eye-opening. And we always think about what's the wow factor? What's the extra thing that you can get from coming on our tour? Like you say, giving up part of your Sunday to come on our tour.
David Fair: So, through the first couple of years, have the outcomes of these tours met the goals and aspirations of your original concept?
Dan Ezekiel: Met and exceeded! We've had hundreds of people both times. I'm pretty certain that it will grow this year. And the feedback that we've gotten has just been wonderful. We've gotten some places to really jump on board. Last year, Recycle Ann Arbor's MERF, the Materials Recovery Facility, was open to the public for the first time. So, for example, it was the first time I'd ever seen it. That's going to happen again this year. And then also, the Kiwanis Club has just jumped in with both feet this year, and that's going to be the focus of the afternoon part of the tour. And for the first time ever, the Kiwanis Sale is going to be open on a Sunday. It's going to be open from noon to four, and you'll be able to drop off materials, you'll be able to buy materials and you'll be able to take a back scenes tour of the Kiwanis Sale. There's also going to be vendors there, and Mr. B is going to be entertaining on his piano.
David Fair: Well, it doesn't get much better than that.
Dan Ezekiel: It keeps growing. Yeah.
David Fair: We're talking with Dan Ezekiel about the circular economy and the upcoming Trash Talk Tour in Ann Arbor this coming Sunday. And you're listening to 89 one WEMU's Issues of the Environment. You mentioned that the MERF was a personal highlight for you on last year's tour, and Kiwanis is expanding its offerings this year, opening for the first time. What else might I experience on the tour this year?
Dan Ezekiel: Well, you can start the tour at U of M Stadium. It starts at 8:30.
David Fair: I imagine that's really popular with the public.
Dan Ezekiel: It sure is. And I can't promise for this year, but those are the previous years after they made the presentation there, they've let us go down actually onto the field and take selfies overzealously, you know, standing on the Big House field. So, that's awfully cool. And it's really cool to see the way that the day after the football game, they make the football game into a zero-waste event.
David Fair: Yeah. I mean you're talking about nearly a city's worth of population creating trash all in one day, and then, by the Sunday afternoon, it's gone.
Dan Ezekiel: Yes. It's really something to see. Volunteers from Gabriel Richard High School come, and they sort out the materials that have been left in the bowl. And up on the big Jumbotrons, there are sorting diagrams, which is something to see. And compost goes in the green bag and recycling goes in the blue bag, and something that's not compostable or recyclable goes in the black bag. And they have the trash train down on the field driving around, and then it goes right out through the tunnel that the players run in and out to the trucks and out to the sites.
David Fair: Well, you've made all of it sound fun and interesting. It's an event that does, however, require registration. Correct?
Dan Ezekiel: It's recommended. Go to Trash Talk Tour dot org, because some of the activities need sign-ups--for instance, the MERF. And I just want to emphasize, again, you can come for as much or as little of the tour as you see fit. There'll be events going on all day, but you can phase in and phase out, depending on what you want to see.
David Fair: Well, Dan, thank you very much for the conversation today. And have fun on Sunday!
Dan Ezekiel: I'm looking forward to it. Thank you so much for the time, David.
David Fair: That is Dan Ezekiel, who likes to talk trash with a smile on his face. Dan is a retired science teacher, environmentalist and former chair of the Huron Valley Group of the Sierra Club. The third annual Trash Talk Tour takes place this Sunday in Ann Arbor. To find out all the details, to get the links to even more information, visit our web site at WEMU dot org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and we bring it to you every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti.
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