Why?
Because the way we are currently approaching the problem is barely keeping pace with the extraordinary development in waste production. The current systems are almost good enough for yesterday's problems, sorely lacking for today's, and irrelevant for tomorrow's. To me it is self-evident. We need to try something different.
In turning my ideas over and over, I keep coming back to four general strands of thought, four tools if you will, that will change the status quo. In no particular order, they are:
- Information surface area
- Diffused control
- Storytelling and culture
- Business models
Information surface area
Data is important, but not in the way it is currently conceived.
A lot is made of the regulator's need for data. A perpetually hungry beast, the regulator wants more and more data to be provided by waste managers. The problem is, the data then disappears into some silo or is aggregated to strip out any value there might have been.
This is pointless, only done to enhance the regulators feeling of control, and not what I am thinking of.
I am thinking of tools to capture and disseminate data on waste generation automatically, distributing that data broadly. The data is collected from the waste generator (not the collector). It is done so with a minimum of effort, and is broadly available. This data is then used by waste reprocessors to quickly respond in a customised service offering.
The point is to maximise what I'm going to call the "information surface area". The information surface area is the number of points that a given piece of information can touch, with each touch point enabling a decision to be made. A high information surface area is information that is broadly disseminated to people able to use it. Like a heat sink, it is highly effective simply because it has this high surface area. A low information surface area is reporting into a confidential data gathering body.
| Information surface area. Source Azom. |
This matters because the greater the information surface area, the greater the possibility that it will make the connection that is needed. In the context of waste, the right reprocessor will identify how a particular waste (including the time and quantity of generation) can become the feedstock for another industry. Opportunities will become clear to those who can do something with them. An efficient peer-to-peer system can be developed.
We see something similar in production right now, where inventory management systems are tightly integrated across suppliers to enable "just in time" production. To state the obvious, the suppliers do not expect their data to pass through the maw of a regulator. They provide it direct to one another.
Diffuse control
Having created a system that has a high information surface area, a diffuse (or distributed) system of control enables reprocessors to capitalise upon the information available. Being able to quickly swing into a new service offering once it becomes available will be the difference between winning and losing in this world.
Opportunities will bob up and be rapidly grabbed by the fast mover. The organisation that relies upon cascading approvals cannot work in this space. Arduous approvals processes suit systems where there is little change. In waste, they suit systems where the dumb, simple course is taken. Where waste is taken at its least useful and treated, rather than being taken at its most useful and reprocessed.
To have effective diffused control, you need organisations that empower and entrust their staff. You need organisations driven by values rather than KPIs, people who believe in the mission rather than chasing the next promotion.
I see a constellation of small, highly focused and nimble reprocessors all providing services in this space. Perhaps a better metaphor is a swarm. They may all be part of one overarching organisation provided the culture is right and they are free to respond. Because that is the key trait. The reprocessors are opportunistic.
This system works to assist in a broader economic change. It enables production to be shifted away from centralised systems working on massively global supply lines, and move to distributed systems where small, highly connected factories can be found throughout. With the artful work of innovative reprocessors, they have the materials ("waste") they need, and can benefit from short, resilient, multi-path supply lines.
And so the revolution in waste will help to revolutionise production in general
The stories we tell ourselves strongly determine the future we create for ourselves. We shape our future by telling ourselves about what it will look like
For this reason, the stories we tell ourselves of waste, the culture we create around it, is important. Not in the sense of Soviet social realism, where we command people to tell the stories that enliven our ideology. This change doesn't need that sort of total social control. Instead, it is the stories that the industry tells itself.
Rather than telling itself that economies of scale are necessary, and then forcing everything into this narrative, the industry could tell itself stories around how vital the raw materials are. Rather than telling itself that the object is to efficiently dispose of materials, it could tell itself that the purpose of the industry is reinvigorate materials and thus whole societies.
The story telling is most important within an organisation. It is an organisation's culture, and I think that the future of waste will be shaped by extraordinary organisations that have powerful cultures. These organisations will be driven by their mission, and will bend all efforts to the achievement of this mission.
To me I think that mission will become as large as total domination of the flow of materials through the economy. These organisations will shunt out the raw materials exploiters, the end of life treaters, and guide materials along each step of their way around and around the economy. "Zero waste" won't make sense in this context, just as unwanted cash makes no sense when you have bankers able to lend it out at a profit.
Still, that is just me. The point is less what the mission might be (though it will revolve around waste reprocessing), and more that it will be a strong narrative that brings a special focus to the organisation. This sort of organisation will prevail over those eking out market share in a commoditised waste disposal business.
The final of my four tools is the business model.
For the last few decades, the business model in waste management has been to build business by cutting costs. By and large, that has meant scale, which in turns reduces reprocessing. It is a linear, win-lose model.
A new way of approaching waste management will see these business models jettisoned in favour of more subtle ways of making money. Perhaps there will be greater vertical integration, with reprocessors taking their materials a long way down the value chain before they sell them on. Perhaps there will be approaches where a loss leading piece of equipment is provided for a long tail of revenue (ie the Nespresso model of cheap coffee machines that can only take Nespresso pods). Perhaps there might be a freemium approach to waste management (free for a basic service, and a premium for a desirable extra service).
In any event, the introduction of sophistication and subtlety into this world will see an explosion of business models. That is a good thing. It will also see the traditional business model suffer and ultimately suffer a collapse of its own doing.
These, then, are my four tools. You'll note that none of them rely upon central fiat, and all of them are related to each other. Once this path is started down, it will grow incredible change.
And so the revolution in waste will help to revolutionise production in general
Storytelling and culture
The stories we tell ourselves strongly determine the future we create for ourselves. We shape our future by telling ourselves about what it will look like
For this reason, the stories we tell ourselves of waste, the culture we create around it, is important. Not in the sense of Soviet social realism, where we command people to tell the stories that enliven our ideology. This change doesn't need that sort of total social control. Instead, it is the stories that the industry tells itself.
Rather than telling itself that economies of scale are necessary, and then forcing everything into this narrative, the industry could tell itself stories around how vital the raw materials are. Rather than telling itself that the object is to efficiently dispose of materials, it could tell itself that the purpose of the industry is reinvigorate materials and thus whole societies.
The story telling is most important within an organisation. It is an organisation's culture, and I think that the future of waste will be shaped by extraordinary organisations that have powerful cultures. These organisations will be driven by their mission, and will bend all efforts to the achievement of this mission.
 |
| Storytelling. Source: Wikipedia |
To me I think that mission will become as large as total domination of the flow of materials through the economy. These organisations will shunt out the raw materials exploiters, the end of life treaters, and guide materials along each step of their way around and around the economy. "Zero waste" won't make sense in this context, just as unwanted cash makes no sense when you have bankers able to lend it out at a profit.
Still, that is just me. The point is less what the mission might be (though it will revolve around waste reprocessing), and more that it will be a strong narrative that brings a special focus to the organisation. This sort of organisation will prevail over those eking out market share in a commoditised waste disposal business.
Business models
The final of my four tools is the business model.
For the last few decades, the business model in waste management has been to build business by cutting costs. By and large, that has meant scale, which in turns reduces reprocessing. It is a linear, win-lose model.
A new way of approaching waste management will see these business models jettisoned in favour of more subtle ways of making money. Perhaps there will be greater vertical integration, with reprocessors taking their materials a long way down the value chain before they sell them on. Perhaps there will be approaches where a loss leading piece of equipment is provided for a long tail of revenue (ie the Nespresso model of cheap coffee machines that can only take Nespresso pods). Perhaps there might be a freemium approach to waste management (free for a basic service, and a premium for a desirable extra service).
In any event, the introduction of sophistication and subtlety into this world will see an explosion of business models. That is a good thing. It will also see the traditional business model suffer and ultimately suffer a collapse of its own doing.
These, then, are my four tools. You'll note that none of them rely upon central fiat, and all of them are related to each other. Once this path is started down, it will grow incredible change.
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