1. Making sustainability a reality: materials, energy and value
CALED 2012
John Davis
Administrator, Mojave Desert and Mountain Recycling Authority

2. sustainability
Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations. Source US EPA

3. Sustainable development
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Source United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development

4. Earth Resource Demand: 1.5
Global Footprint Network

5. Sustainability approaches
Smart Growth & Sustainable Communities
Supporting development and conservation strategies that help protect our natural environment and make our communities more attractive, economically stronger, and more socially diverse.
Sustainable Water
Helping to manage, protect, and restore water resources and ecosystems through sustainable management of natural resources
Air, Climate & Energy
Working to reduce atmospheric levels of pollution and greenhouse gases, promote green energy, and adapt to a changing climate.
Materials Management & Safe Products
Promoting the use of cleaner materials and seeking to reduce material waste and chemical contamination.

6. sustainable Materials Management
An approach to using & reusing resources most productively and sustainably throughout their life cycles:
minimizing the amount of materials involved,
minimizing associated environmental impacts.
There are sources of emissions all along the life cycle of materials. And, along with the multiple sources of emissions, there are also multiple opportunities for emissions reduction.
These opportunities fall within what the EPA calls “Sustainable Materials Management”, which is “an approach to using and reusing resources most productively and sustainably throughout their life cycles; minimizing the amount of materials involved and the associated environmental impacts.”
West Coast Climate and Materials Management Forum 6

7. WASTE management vs. MATERIALS management
Product Lifecycle
Disposal
Recovery
This is a simple chart that shows the lifecycle of a product: resource extraction, processing, manufacturing, distribution, use, and finally recovery or disposal. All materials follow this lifecycle. Traditionally, programs focused on “waste management” at the end of a material’s lifecycle, which is represented by the small circle in this graphic. Waste management could include recycling, burning for energy recovery, composting, and landfill disposal.
WASTE management vs. MATERIALS management

9. Additional Benefits: Economic Growth and Jobs
If just half of all available core recyclables and food scraps were recycled and composted,
West Coast states could create more than
$3 billion
in new economic activity
Economic Activity Potential from Recycling and Composting
California Total
$2,570,897,467
Salaries and Wages
$508,142,161
Goods and Services
$1,383,55,388
Sales
$679,199,918
Oregon Total
$163,154,381
$32,247,735
$87,803,238
$43,103,408
Washington Total
$361,790,555
$71,508,505
$194,701,375
$95,580,675

11. More jobs: recycling, composting, reuse
JOBS/1000 Tons
Recycling and Reuse
Disposal
Processing
Manufacturing
Reuse
Landfilling
Incineration
MATERIALS
Paper & Paperboard 2
4.16
N/A
0.1
Glass
7.85
7.35
Metals
Ferrous
4.12 20
Aluminum
17.63
Other Nonferrous
Plastics
10.3
Rubber & Leather
9.24
Textiles
2.5
Wood
2.8
Other
Other Wastes
Food Scraps
0.5
Yard Trimmings
Misc. Inorganic Wastes

12. California’s AB 341 (adopted 2011)
75% recycling, composting and reduction by 2020
Potentially 60,000 new jobs
But 80% to 95% of California’s recycled material now leaves the State, especially to the Pacific Rim
Opportunity to building sustainable California recycling infrastructure
Section
It is the intent of the Legislature to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by diverting commercial solid waste to recycling efforts and to expand the opportunity for additional recycling services and recycling manufacturing facilities in California.

14. Build infrastructure now
Regulations
Financing
Markets
Sites

15. Contact me:
John Davis
(909)