Author

Nigel Lake, Julian King & Daniel Chaitow

Title

Free Energy

Synopsis

Waste in Australia is seen as exactly that – a by-product with no intrinsic value, but with significant and growing costs of disposal. And there is a lot of it – about 50 million tonnes a year. Every individual, government and company produces waste. They then incur significant expenses as councils and waste managers dig a hole and bury it. And there are substantial environmental impacts. Waste dumped into landfills emits methane, which is 25 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Toxins present in waste also have the potential to contaminate surrounding soil and groundwater. As a result, landfills have potentially very substantial long term remediation costs. Unsurprisingly, the cost of landfill has increased significantly over the last decade, and this has been further exacerbated by government levies and the introduction of a carbon price.

All this portrays waste as a problem to be managed, with rising costs and rising potential liabilities. But there’s an entirely different perspective on waste – one where it is a valuable, reusable resource in a resource-constrained world. Importantly, this illustrates the wider issue that increased environmental responsibility can actually improve profits and reduce risks, making the commercial decision as to which path to follow a straightforward one.