Robots decommission 700,000 munitions for recycling

Singapore uses wastewater recycling to generate what it calls NEWater to address the country’s water shortage. The government funded program involves processing waste water to filter out debris, bacteria, and viruses and using reverse osmosis to create water that is safe for drinking. NEWater currently meets 40% of the country’s water needs, mostly for industrial purposes, but a small portion is used for drinking, including a partnership with a local brewery that created NEWBrew, a beer made from recycled drinking water.

After lithium-ion batteries from iPhones, laptops, or electric cars are used up, the Ontario-based company LiCycle recycles parts of them to be reused in new batteries or in other products. While the recycling process isn’t completely environmentally friendly, the company is able to recover 95 percent of the raw materials and says their operations produces no carbon emissions, wastewater, or solid waste.

Can I Recycle This operates via social media profiles where, on Amazon Alexa and Facebook, the AI bot “Green Girl” tells people what materials can or cannot be recycled, helping avoid contamination of legitimate recyclables. The bot responds to descriptions and pictures with recommendations based on the user’s location. The company also takes questions on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, but answers come from staff and interns, not "Green Girl". Being only on social media limits accessibility, particularly for older generations, and the startup has only developed information for 10 cities in its databases.

Separating mixed waste efficiently with technology can help where waste segregation policies are lacking. In Bangalore, India, a machine called Trashbot sorts mixed waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable components. Properly recycled waste can then be sold, avoiding landfills.

Technological innovations are making single stream recycling more efficient. Allowing consumers to place their recyclable waste into a single container for disposal increases participation in recycling programs, but adds pressure on processing plants. Using AI vision technology allows machines to learn, identify, and sort materials efficiently.

An ecosystem of doorstep collection platforms, refurbishment services, and certified formal recyclers in India is diverting e-waste from hazardous informal channels, recovering high-purity metals, and extending device lifespans. Formally processed e-waste rose from 22% to 43% during these initiatives between 2019 and 2024.

Nonprofit SolarAid trains repair technicians who can fix solar energy kits. In the 2023-24 financial year, SolarAid’s teams across Zambia and Malawi repaired 2,422 solar products, reducing electronic waste, increasing the lifespan of products, and improving access to solar lights, as well as creating job opportunities

In the first half of this episode, the producers discuss "Tradewaters," an organization that disposes of canisters inside refrigerators. These canisters hold potent greenhouse gases. One 30-pound canister can leak up to 131 tons of Co2, or a year's worth of driving for 54 cars. The organization disposes of thousands of canisters across Central America, Chile, South Africa, and India. The practice of disposing of these canisters saves between one to two percent of global Co2 emissions, according to estimates.

In 2020, a devastating explosion in Beirut that came from a warehouse released 800,000 and one million tons of construction and demolition waste and 20,000 tons of shattered glass into the city. The waste was being thrown into landfills. However, landfills are notoriously bad for the environment. Out of that rubble an idea was created; disposing waste sustainably. Rubble Mountains was created specifically to do this. They've been able to restore four quarries, use materials to create public amenities, and diverting up to 50 tons of demolition waste from landfills.

Paris hosts a dozen "repair cafes," which are free, monthly events where residents can fix household objects and electronics with the help and advice of volunteers. The events usually have about 25 attendees who seek to limit the vast amounts of household waste, particularly E-waste, by repairing broken electronics and appliances. France's National Assembly also introduced an index of "repairability" ratings for appliances such as washing machines, lawnmowers, televisions and smartphones, in hopes of increasing the percentage of electronics that are repaired rather than discarded.