Materials and Waste

How does a sustainable waste/material system for Texel look like, and what is needed to achieve this?

Texel produces 700 kg waste per inhabitant every year. Due to the many tourists visiting the island, this amount is much higher than the average 518 kg per person the mainland is producing. Collected waste is separated and there are plans to produce energy from waste on Texel. Another waste problem pertains to the waste - plastics in particular - left at the beaches and elsewhere - that are ingredients for the plastic soup. Would it be possible to use waste as resource in a circular economy so no more waste is being produced?

Current initiatives
- My beach - Safe the beach Texel
- Afvalscheiding - Texel gemeente initiatief
- Juttersmuseum http://www.mariaroelofsen.com/mijn-verhaal/duurzaamheid/

Overview

Chapter on Materials and Waste
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Chapter 1: Challenge, problem statement, ambitions and research questions

The island of Texel has a very high production of waste compared to the main land, this is caused by the high number of tourists visiting…
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Chapter 1: Challenge, problem statement, research question

The challenge: Current waste streams need to be reduced and the remaining waste streams need to be dealt with in a way that is both energy efficient and economically feasible. Ambition : To make the island waste wise as self-sufficient as economically feasible, while keeping its identity and potentials. The ambition is to close the loop of waste, looking at what is available on the island and…
Collection

Weekly reports about research on Materials and Waste
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§ 1.1 Scale and Focus of Materials and Waste sub-system

What are the scale and focus of the unsustainabilities in the sub-system you aim to overcome? The geographical scope of this research includes the complete island since waste of materials can be found in every corner of the island. The waste comes from households, industries and all type of businesses spread over Texel. The traditional tourism produces large amounts of waste, similar to other…
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1.2 Societal needs

Hierarchy of societal needs (pyramid structure) The pyramid of hierarchy of the societal needs represents Economy from a sociological perspective. In this case, economy is related and interconnected with different institutions such as labor, capital, currency, etc. All these different meanings create what we call today 'Economy'. Gaianomy is a theory which tries to analyse the impact that changes…
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§ 1.3 Criteria with regards to the future Materials and Waste sub-system

What sustainability criteria should the future sub-system meet? The amount of the total waste production on Texel is bigger than other similar municipalities (700kg of annual waste per head, instead of an average of 518kg). The main household waste components are: “green” and “grey” waste, bulky household waste, small-scale chemical waste, electrical and electronic equipment and “dry” components…
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Report on meeting 5, December 8

The meeting on Monday 8 December was set on the topic of Engineering for Sustainable Development. For the first part of the meeting, the…
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2. Description and analysis of the current sub-system and relevant trends, initiatives etc.

Step two includes the following points:

What is the current sociotechnical sub-system and its functions?
Which technologies are prevailing?
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Brainstorm sheet about possible directions

Material streams and waste is a big area where there are many different strategies and possiblities to handle material streams. The following image is prepared for a brainstorm to select a more narrow research field by looking at which strategies are most suitable and promising to implement in a design for Texel. The figure is divided in life cycle stages. The earlier you select a strategy
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Narrowing the project scope to the bio-cycle on Texel

This section describes how are brainstorm session on how to bring Texel closer to their goal of becoming a self-supportive sustainable…
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3.1. Introduction

Successful projects should be locally embedded, provide local benefits, establish continuity with existing physical, social and cognitive structures and apply locally to appropriate communications and participation procedures (Raven, 2008). By lowering dependency on the techno-cycle and substituting this with closed loop bio-cycle systems, Texel can come closer to their goal of becoming self
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3.2 The design

The design exists of sub-systems that are interconnected and contribute to the total closed bio-cycle system. In figure 3.1 the system is translated into an image to display all connections between the systems. As can be seen the systems delivers products that can provide in the basic need: food. Besides this the system delivers aid products that are needed as resources to produce products. The…
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3.3 Explanation of interconnected sub-systems and supporting technologies

The system starts with the waste streams of households and the hospitality industry. In this section the sub-systems and supporting technologies are explained by following the journey of the waste-streams. Coffee waste For harvesting, processing, roasting and brewing coffee only 0.2% of the coffee biomass has value on the market. The remainder, which is rich of caffeine is wasted, leads to…
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3.4 Contributions and benefits for actors

The actors involved in the new socio-technical sub-system are: - Municipality - Households - Shops/companies - Hospitality (restaurants) - Plantation farmers - Animal husbandries - Biogas digester facility - NIOZ (seaweed center), Aquaculture technology - Composting facility Municipality The Municipality would be strongly linked to the…
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3.5 The system embedded in culture & behavior

The hospitality industry is one of Texels biggest industries, which makes tourism important. This system tries to attract tourists by representing the core values. The systems makes tourists acquainted with different types of food production techniques such as agriculture, cattle breeding and aqua culture. It gives room to display craftsmanship in these areas. As hospitality is one of the…
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3.6 Rules and Regulations

The aim of the rules and regulations would be to ensure the running of a smooth society. As noted in previous sections, this can’t be…
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3.7 Bibliography

References Konijn, R. 2014. ‘Waarom Te xel moet ontwikkelen om uniek te blijven’. Geraadpleegd op November 30, 2014: http://www.innofundnl.nl/nieuws-blog/1289/waarom-texel-moet-ontwikkelen-om-uniek-te-blijven.html#.VHsQADGUc1I Landscape architects for sale. 2009. ‘Deel 2 in het project ruimte voor ontwikkeling, samen zorgen voor de toekomst: gemeentelijke structuurvisie.Geraadpleegd op November…
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4.1 Introduction

In the future closed circular system, the biological waste stream will be dealt in a sustainable way, by not considering it as “waste”. The biological waste sub-system will be an active and intelligent net exchanging all the waste streams. To make this happen, there will be the need for the introduction of new facilities, new systems and technologies, new laws, even new behaviours. Now the…
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4.2 Comparison current and future situation

The technologies The most important aspect of the new system is not being in contrast with the old technologies. The new technologies will be completely integrated on the current system and they will be part of a new way of dealing with biological waste. The main technologies to be introduced are the bio-digester, the aquaculture and worm farming, the composting facility and the mushroom…
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4.3 Conclusion: What do the differences mean for the desired direction?

From the previous paragraph can be concluded that in order to achieve the desired direction (the future design), several aspects have to change. An important aspect is the behaviour of the involved actors (the households, the companies but also the tourists). The waste needs to be reconsidered as food for other parts of the new net. To make this happen all the waste produced on the island need to…
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Pathway for the mushroom cultivation center

Technology for mushroom cultivation General information on conditions for growing mushrooms on spent coffee grounds In order to grow mushrooms on coffee waste you need certain circumstances. In traditional cultivation methods you need bacterial control at high costs, but since the coffee ground is exposed to hot water, bacteria are already reduced to a minimum. Farming mushrooms on coffee spent…
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Pathway for the worm farming facility

Technology for mushroom cultivation There is no worm farming facility on Texel available yet. Technology to create a worm farm already exists by using worm composting containers and could therefore already be implemented in 2020. Worm farming requires knowledge about nutrients for worms. Fruits and vegetable scraps, egg shells, shredded paper products, fallen leaves, tea bags, coffee ground, lawn…
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Pathway for aquaculture

Technology for aquaculture Research for creating optimal conditions for aquaponics is still on-ongoing. This also makes it hard to estimate how much fish and nutrition is needed to keep the eco-system in balance. It also depends on the types of fish and types of plants. Therefore it is hard to make a technology roadmap from 2020 to 2065. Texel is known for its research on marine life. This…
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References

Pauli, G. 2010. ‘Coffee: Export crop provides food security’. Geraadpleegd op December 13, 2014: http://www.theblueeconomy.org/blue/Case_3_files/Case%203%20Coffee.pdf Rotterzwam. 2014. ‘Leerwerkplek’. Geraadpleegd op December 13, 2014: http://www.rotterzwam.nl/leerwerkplek/ Sayner, A. 2012 ‘Growing gourmet mushrooms at home from waste coffee grounds’. Geraadpleegd op December 13, 2014: http://www.
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Pathway for the new transport system

Technology for the new transport system To become a sustainable island, Texel needs to change its current sub-system of Materials and waste. In the proposed design there will be the need of moving waste streams within its new neurons-like network. Waste will not be considered anymore as waste, but as food, to be fed into another part of this sustainable chain. One of the new technologies to be…
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Pathway for the Biodigester

To implement a successful biodigester on Texel, first has to be analysed which actors have to be involved and what their needs are. Before going into detail on Texel, first general information about biodigesters is given in the subchapter ‘technology’. Technology: The technology of biodigesters Anaerobic digestion in a biodigester is a process by which microorganisms break down biodegradable…

Part of

Materials and Waste

Chapter on Materials and Waste

Chapter 1: Challenge, problem statement, ambitions and research questions

Chapter 1: Challenge, problem statement, research question

Weekly reports about research on Materials and Waste

§ 1.1 Scale and Focus of Materials and Waste sub-system

1.2 Societal needs

§ 1.3 Criteria with regards to the future Materials and Waste sub-system

Report on meeting 5, December 8

2. Description and analysis of the current sub-system and relevant trends, initiatives etc.

Brainstorm sheet about possible directions

Narrowing the project scope to the bio-cycle on Texel

3.1. Introduction

3.2 The design

3.3 Explanation of interconnected sub-systems and supporting technologies

3.4 Contributions and benefits for actors

3.5 The system embedded in culture & behavior

3.6 Rules and Regulations

3.7 Bibliography

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Comparison current and future situation

4.3 Conclusion: What do the differences mean for the desired direction?

Pathway for the mushroom cultivation center

Pathway for the worm farming facility

Pathway for aquaculture

References

Pathway for the new transport system

Pathway for the Biodigester