Eugene Tseng describes himself as the most “overeducated garbage man” in the world. An environmental engineer and lawyer who teaches at UCLA and Cal State Northridge, he has spent decades understanding what we throw away and what happens to it after the garbage truck picks up the bag on your curb. Obviously, it’s not a pretty picture, but it’s worse than you think. We all can do better. The first step: listen to this podcast… Oh, and of course we will ask him about the oddest things he’s found in the landfill. Could diapers be radioactive? Depends…
Image thanks to Shane Rounce on Unsplash.
As Prof. Tseng says, the political will needs to catch up with the reality that throwing trash in landfill is “wasteful”. The technology is well established for converting trash to energy and advanced fuels. The EPA needs to certify post-recycled trash as renewable. This keep this material from rotting in landfills and ensure the economics work for renewables technology providers.