Turning waste into opportunity: is it possible?
Waste is a resource for the present and for the future, despite what one might think at first glance. We produce increasingly more of it. Fortunately, we recycle increasingly more of it too, but it is still perceived as waste, even though things are changing. According to Eurostat, each European citizen produces an average of 505 kilograms of waste a year, a figure that has been growing steadily over the last 25 years. Of this, only 30% is recycled. This is still just a low amount, especially in an era of increasing talk of the circular economy.
Waste is a wealth, above all because resources, including for energy production, are increasingly scarce: just think that Earth Overshoot Day in 2022 was 28 July. This means that the resources generated by the planet in 12 months are consumed in almost half that time.
We find ourselves having to complete, in the shortest possible time, an ambitious project such as energy transition, where ESG criteria play an increasingly important role in the investment choices of funds and in company planning.
In this context, technologies capable of transforming waste into energy are inserted. Specifically, the waste energy market is growing rapidly, with estimates that see an annual increase of 7.4% from 2020 to 2027 (Statista data), thus amounting to $54.8 billion globally. The sectors that can benefit from this innovation are, for example, aviation, hospital health care and also the naval sector.
In fact, we must bear in mind that renewable energies are still far from covering the world’s energy needs: to date, only 13.47% of world energy production comes from renewable sources (Statista).
The transition takes time and resources, as with any industry that aims to create long-term utility and benefits. Furthermore, the application of these technologies will also indirectly bring “cascading” benefits, such as, for example, less space for storing waste: an element that can make the difference in naval transport.
The trend has now started and the mentality with which waste is conceived is changing rapidly: increasingly less as waste, increasingly more as wealth. It is certainly a matter of awareness, but also of knowledge and capital. For a sector with such a positive impact on the environment and on sustainability, the ability to attract investors will be crucial, not only for the emergence of new technologies suitable for the purpose, but also for making plants, tools and operational processes increasingly scalable and suitable for the most diverse uses.
We can say that the energy obtained from waste is one of those opportunities which, as sometimes happens, is found where one least expects it.