The Life of Waste: From the Black Bag to Beyond
June 26, 2024
Imagine you’re a piece of waste – let’s say, a paper cup. Your journey doesn’t end in the black plastic bag; it’s just the beginning. Today, we’re going to follow your path through traditional disposal methods and compare it with that of our innovative Juno® Technology by Georgia-Pacific. It’s a tale of transformation, impact and the future of waste management.
Traditional Disposal: Municipal Landfills and Energy-from-Waste Facilities
In North America and the United Kingdom, most waste like you, a paper cup, ends up in one of two places: a landfill or an incinerator.
In a landfill, you’d be piled up with tons of other waste and decompose slowly, over decades. As you do, you’d release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Not the best legacy to leave behind, right?
Incinerators are a bit different. They burn waste to generate electricity. It sounds good on paper – waste gets reduced, and we get energy. But the process isn’t perfect. Burning waste releases carbon dioxide (CO2) and we only get the energy value before being irreversibly destroyed.
Enter Juno: The Game Changer
Now, let’s take a different route – through Juno, our award-winning waste recovery technology. This breakthrough solution for waste takes most of what might otherwise be sent to a landfill and processes it so that the offtakes can be transformed into something useful, all while helping reduce carbon emissions.
Here’s how it works:
Processing: Juno’s patented wet waste processing system is designed to sanitize waste and capture previously unrecoverable paper fibers and recyclables in the waste stream, such as from paper cups like you or other recyclables with food contamination.
Sorting: Juno separates recyclable materials, including paper, plastics and metals, from the mix so they are reclaimed for new, beneficial uses. Additionally, it separates food and biogenic material that once contaminated the recyclables for conversion into biogas to power the process. Our technology can process a substantial portion of waste from households and businesses.
Recovery: Fiber, when processed, can be delivered to paper mills as ready-to-use, clean, brown recycled pulp.
Transformation: Instead of decomposing and releasing methane, the organic waste can also be turned into biogas. Paper cups, like you, are turned into a brown fiber pulp, and other items like metal cans and plastic bottles are removed of their labels, cleaned, and ready to be processed further into new products.
Emissions Reduction: For every ton of waste processed, Juno can substantially reduce CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). In fact, a recent third-party Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) showed that Juno could reduce carbon emissions.
Why Juno Wins
The ability of Juno® Technology to divert up to 90% of the waste that it processes for future use is one of its key benefits. And when waste is diverted from landfills and incinerators to Juno, the methane and CO2 that would have been released from that waste is reduced.
For municipalities that want to reach their sustainability goals, Juno is designed to serve as a sustainability partner. It’s a smart solution that’s not just about managing waste and reducing carbon emissions; it’s about being future-ready. Every day, more landfills are reaching capacity, and action is needed now.
For corporations that want to maximize the recovery of waste while reducing their carbon footprint, adopting Juno means investing in a cost-effective waste management solution that supports their sustainability goals.
The Takeaway
So, what’s the fate of you, the paper cup, in this story? Instead of being yet another sad cup in a landfill and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, you could become part of a new product and be given a second life – all thanks to Juno.
The life of waste doesn’t have to be a downward spiral. With Juno, it can be a cycle of renewal and responsibility. Touch base with us and learn more.