Innovation and scale make the difference

Innovation and scale play crucial roles in addressing climate conservation challenges. One needs innovative solutions based on new technologies to mitigate climate change impacts. For example, renewable energy technologies like solar, wind, and geothermal power have become more efficient and cost-effective through innovation, making them scalable alternatives to fossil fuels. Innovation encourages the adoption of sustainable practices across industries and leads to the creation of eco-friendly materials, energy-efficient systems, and green infrastructure. Scale is essential to address climate challenges effectively. Innovations need to be scalable to reach broader audiences and have a substantial impact. By scaling up successful innovations, we can drive significant regional, national, and global changes.

Businesses can lead through product innovation

About a year ago, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners in Great Britain introduced the manufacture of plastic bottles with attached caps at its manufacturing site in Sidcup. The new cap is now connected to the bottle after opening and this makes it simpler for recycling everything in one go. There is also a message to the consumer on the bottle that says “I am attached to be recycled together”.

CCEP says that Sidcup, South-East London will produce 500ml plastic bottles of brands including Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke and Fanta Zero, with plans to implement the new design across the entire range of Coca-Cola drinks sold in Great Britain.

Altais Nova?is developing a magnet additive that improves a material’s air and moisture insulation. The additive, made of tiny platelet-shaped silicate and iron oxide particles, is easy to identify and separate at recycling facilities, making for increased recycling rates.

Evolving technologies usher higher recycling efficiencies

Human error and judgment are factors that can hinder highly productive recycling. Fortunately, a lack of knowledge or empathy cannot restrict the effective separation of waste. Artificial Intelligence comes to the rescue by?identifying the composition and configuration in different situations?and determining where and when a material is recyclable. The technology could effectively sort our waste, no matter how dirty, mangled, or confusing, meaning we could reuse more.

Using natural resources as replacements

Loliware?has developed a seaweed-based material to create rigid single-use straws that are biodegradable as well as edible. They are designed to vanish without any damage unlike plastic straws getting discarded in huge volumes daily. Straws are among the most common plastic pollutants that plague water sources. The material introduced by Loliware is plastic-free, ocean-safe, and non-GMO. From a quality and usage perspective, it can handle nearly 18 hours of non-stop use before being completely degraded once composted.?

Vericool?has mass-produced 100% recyclable Ohana cooler, which can replace?plastic and styrofoam coolers and other non-degradable packaging materials. ?with plant-based products.?

Such coolers play a vital role in the medical industry for the transport of blood samples, pharmaceuticals, organ donations, and other biologicals.

GumShoe?as the name indicate is about shoes created out of chewed gum. The company is one step ahead in material collection by sourcing gum directly from the street. It thus cleans the streets while making more shoes. This method helps as municipal streets are cleared of gum litter while providing a source for recycled rubber. https://youtu.be/KNwaO858CSo

Origin Materials?is a company with an eye on innovating chemical production. It uses resources like cardboard, wood waste, and agricultural extracts to develop raw chemicals. The manufacture of goods can then be undertaken through sustainable sources. The company lays emphasis on how chemicals can be produced from renewable sources. It supplies products to Nestle and Danone among others.

Data Centre Decommissioning

Businesses are migrating storage needs to the cloud due to escalating costs of hardware needed for managing on-site data centres. These decommissioned centres contain complexities in terms of the physical shutdown of electrical systems and organized destruction of data. Startups provide data center decommissioning services, including IT asset disposition, recycling, and reuse of electronic hardware. The US-based startup?eRecyc?offers secure data destruction and decommissioning services for on-site data centres. They systematically disconnect the IT assets and sanitize as well as shred the hard drives as per industry benchmarks.

It is important to note that innovation and scale alone are not sufficient to tackle climate change. They should be complemented by strong political will, public awareness, and international cooperation to bring about transformative changes at the necessary pace and scale.

Greenscape is leading the urban mining revolution in India since 2007.