WE HAVE A WASTE PROBLEM.
The ‘take, make, waste’ model has dominated the global economy for hundreds of years. Despite efforts to minimize waste, develop symbiotic models of waste retention, and implement various recycling approaches, the amount and character of global waste continues to proliferate and broaden. The resulting ecological degradation has outpaced societal benefits, indicating the need to properly understand the problem and develop and implement new and transformative solutions.
SOLUTIONS MUST TAKE NEW DIRECTIONS.
A “World Without Waste” is a noble aspiration but actualizing such a grand challenge in a sustainable and resilient manner requires much more than collaborative multidisciplinary approaches. An important realization from current efforts is that while engineering needs to play an important role by developing relevant technologies, other disciplines such as economics, social sciences, and environmental science are also essential for understanding and developing appropriate markets and societal incentives to guide human behavior and to stay within planetary boundaries. Various disciplines need to forge links and transcend their traditional boundaries to move toward deeply convergent research approaches.
Join Us on May 6, 10, and 12, from 2:30 – 5:30 p.m. (Eastern U.S. time zone).
Our World Without Waste online workshop will gather researchers from a variety of disciplines to examine the problem of waste from many directions. Our invitation list includes many renown leaders in civil, mechanical, chemical, environmental, and systems engineering, but also experts in social, economic, political, historical, biological, manufacturing, and other sciences.
Each day’s event will include expert presentations and moderated discussion around the topic. As a group, we will discuss a framework for advancing convergent research and scholarship on the National Science Foundation’s big idea of “Sustainable World Without Waste.”
We hope to emerge from these workshops with
- New understandings that draw from the synergy of multiple disciplines, backgrounds, and approaches.
- Working groups that will continue to develop grant proposals, papers, and other initiatives.
- Concrete pathways for achieving and benchmarking convergence around the waste management problem.
- Ideas for engaging scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and students in new approaches to waste management.
By invitation only. This project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Sustainability Institute at Ohio State.
PROJECT LEADERS
Bhavik Bakshi, Ohio State University Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Melissa Bilec, University of Pittsburgh Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation
Timothy Gutowski, MIT Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity
Elena Irwin, Ohio State University Department of Agricultural, Environmental, Development Economics
Cynthia Isenhour, University of Maine Department of Anthropology
Dusan Sekulic, University of Kentucky Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing
Thomas Theis, University of Illinois at Chicago Institute for Environmental Science and Policy
Valerie Thomas, Georgia Tech Industrial and Systems Engineering and the School of Public Policy
Contact Us: For more information about the Sustainable World Without Waste Project or the Workshops, contact brown.1844@osu.edu.