Jessica Chapman
Too many times, we see cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin on the news headlines, and for obvious reasons. However, unlike before, people are beginning to pay more attention to the technology upon which these cryptocurrencies are built: blockchain technology. A blockchain is a virtual ledger that information can be stored on permanently. It is a public record, which makes it very accountable and transparent. Several prominent financial firms such as JP Morgan and IBM are investigating these applications and driving their uptake. Blockchain technology can transform almost everything, such as coffee chain payment apps, fight against climate changes, and include the national government system.
However, much more, this technology is starting to pick up pace within the waste management systems of the world. It is fast becoming a big trend within these systems, especially considering the different possibilities.
Waste Management and the Blockchain Technology
Although it has to be said that there is considerable progress made in the world’s waste management system compared to the past generations, we still cannot shy away from the fact there’s approximately one SUV weight equivalent used for landfilling every year for every circa 500m European people. In addition, we now have a broader environment, beaches, and oceans being covered by wastes. This makes the subject of waste management an essential one to discuss around the world. Many experts also claim that waste management is fast becoming the most pressing issue in this generation.
Waste isn’t just something that can be shifted elsewhere. It’s everywhere, and everyone has to be responsible for dealing with it. For instance, China recently banned the importation of plastic waste. Sweden has successfully created a waste-to-energy plants network, so much so that it now imports plastic wastes to feed this network. However, most countries haven’t been able to replicate the same.
By now, the obvious question on your mind would be, where does blockchain fit it? Or how does blockchain help to tackle the problems of waste management? Since that’s the whole point of this article, let’s get straight into it.
Blockchain technology is a sophisticated way to record transactions without using or needing a central institution such as a bank to control or monitor the transactions. It comprises a series blocks, with each block containing several transactions like asset sales or other value transfers. The information in these blocks is highly safe because tampering with them is an almost impossible task to accomplish. Each of the data has its unique tag made of letters and numbers called a cryptographic hash. These tags are overlaid with several other complex security mechanisms, making the information extremely difficult to tamper with. The reliability of blockchains is that it’s putting the central banks and government’s ability to control currencies in serious question.
There are several waste management initiatives, and some of these can work well with blockchain technology. An example of this is the Plastic Bank waste initiative, a global waste recycling venture established in Canada to reduce plastic waste in developing countries. This initiative has rolled out in the Philippines, Colombia, Peru, and Haiti, and there are plans to extend it further.
In this initiative, people are rewarded based on the amount of plastic waste they bring to an established recycling center. An excellent option to do this better is to use blockchain-secured digital tokens. They will use this token to buy things like phone-charging units, food, and the likes in stores that use the Plastic Bank app.
Meanwhile, the plastics that they bring over are bought by companies that recycle them to create new consumer products. This system will be more attractive to the people because of the transparency of the blockchain technology, so they see what they’re putting their investment into.
Another excellent use of blockchain in tackling waste management problems is in its usage within the French nail. Traditionally, stations struggle badly with waste management and often require about six providers to sort the amount of waste it has. For instance, Lyon’s central station alone produces wastes amounting to 360 tons per year.
The development of a new system by SNCF subsidiary Arep, requires blockchain to collect and document detailed information. For example, every station bin has its book, which uses Bluetooth for regular updates about the quantities of the different types of waste managers collect and how they move them around.
This data allows the station managers to check out the amount of work that each provider is doing and when they’re at work. With this, the station can optimize sorting and also improve its waste management. This initiative saved about €2,000 in a month in one station’s pilot as it facilitates a unique system where five different waste streams are collected separately.
Many people think that blockchain can be the technology upon which a unique system to trade waste quota is built. This will use a similar format to the way the EU Emission Trading System trades carbon quotas. However, with blockchain technology, it will be easier to track the number of wastes that companies produce, and it will help facilitate the trade of these wastes.
What Next?
This technology can help to tackle the waste management problems that we’re struggling with in many ways. However, it only considers the existing wastes. It doesn’t consider the product’s entire lifecycle from the point of creation to when it is used and disposed of. If we’re going to consider the whole life cycle of waste, we must start thinking of ways to hold the companies making these products more responsible. This will also include the companies within their supply chain as they’re likely to pressure the manufacturers.
Standards need to be introduced to underpin a responsibility shift and a strict penalty for companies that infringe on these standards. There are already incentives, such as the extended producer responsibility by the EU. However, many countries tend not to implement these because of the problem of tracking the wastes to enforce these rules. Thankfully, this problem is solved easily with blockchain technology so that companies can enforce the rule.
There must be responsibilities assigned to each good that is produced by a company. This is recorded as one transaction and is kept within a block in the blockchain (this identifies the products and the party responsible for it). Every new detail of the product is recorded as a new blockchain transaction — whether it is sold or disposed of in a landfill. The transactions on the product will be accessible through a QR code on the product.
If, by some means, the products end up as litter somewhere inappropriate, the blockchain will give a digital trail that makes it easy to identify the person or parties responsible for that. There are several practical considerations to be raised when talking about a system like this: such as start-up cost, running costs, monitoring, and enforcement, etc. However, none of this is necessarily insurmountable. Parallels can be drawn, such as the EU’s system that requires household appliances to have energy labels so that consumers can settle for the energy-efficient ones.
Conclusion
For many years, waste management has been a problem that we’ve struggled with. It’s a worthy discussion; however, when talking about the global waste management problems, we need to start thinking out of the box. Waste management systems already have few benefits from some implementations of blockchain technology, but it has vast potential. For example, if this technology can be used to build a decentralized network that tracks the origin of a product to where it’s disposed of, then the waste management problem may have been solved for many decades to come.