There are a few bedrock principals that we all base our solid waste handling designs upon: recycle, reuse, and circular economy. We do not even bother to calculate and compare anymore — we know that the best answer is to recycle. However, it may be time to discuss if this is still true when we are dealing with global warming. Learn the effects of treating organic solid wastes differently: as carbon  captured from the atmosphere and turned into consumer products.

The discussion will start with a summary of the types of solid wastes municipalities deal with — two-thirds of which are organic with carbon that came from the atmosphere. Discover an alternative pathway for the organic portion of solid wastes called sequestration. The presentation will explain how dry conditions have stored organic carbon for hundreds of years. The session finishes with a quick economic summary showing that these wastes may be worth $200/ton as carbon credits and an open discussion tackling the question: Is recycling always the right answer?