by Rami Elias Kremesti M.Sc., CSci, CEnv, CWEM
As the economy is transformed from a linear model of production/consumption/waste single use type cradle to grave to a circular economy, we as consumers and industrial producers have to change our mindset:
CIRCULAR MEANS NO TRASH
Rami Elias Kremesti
Every car, every product in the supermarket, ever piece of clothing, ever house, all construction debris, all our waste water will need to be recycled and reused – I will not say indefinitely because that works against the law of Entropy in Physics – but as many times as possible.
In the field water water treatment, we have been purifying and recycling water for over a hundred years. What nature does beautifully and elegantly, we now intensify in so called water treatment plants.
Plastics are recycled in many countries but this is not enough. In the UK, 70% of Household waste is not fully recycled and billions of tons of waste are sent to landfill. That has to change. Besides, many packing materials are made of so called composite materials like aluminium film covered plastic packaging which is very difficult to recycle.
In the Energy Production field, we are still producing Giga-Tons of CO2 which is emitted into the air annually and we do not have enough trees to capture that CO2 which is a valuable resource for them. We are starting to implement CCUS which is a step in the right direction but this technology is expensive both in terms of CAPEX and OPEX.
On the Road we still see obscenely large cars and SUV’s. Many people are unhappy and consume mindlessly to numb the pain inside. We need to pause and slow down. We need to stop funding wars and instead fund peace.
As a chemist, I see every material substance as a starting material. Everything is made from the 118 elements that are in periodic table, except the most important meta-physical substance: Love.
In a world of abundance and high tech, there is still suffering in the world, there is still hate and apathy…
Let us pause and think twice what we are doing with our lives. Let us remember what the great teachers and philosophers taught us.
Rami Elias Kremesti M.Sc., CSci, CEnv, CWEM
High Wycombe
July 11, 2024
