Reduce, re-use, recycle

Imagine a great big conveyor belt where goods are made, used, then thrown away creating mountains of and deep underground caverns of waste. This is the linear economy, it’s destructive and harmful to the planet, it’s resources, and the people that live on it.

When we throw something away, it doesn’t just disappear to the magical kingdom of ‘Away’ It has to end up somewhere and that somewhere is often landfill or worse polluting the air, soil and waterways. So why throw materials away that can be regenerated into something else? That’s just like throwing money down the drain.

Now conjure up a picture of a loop, a circle that breathes new life into old materials, dramatically reduces waste and disrupts environmental damage.

Boom! That’s the circular economy chums, it’s not just about saving the environment, it’s also about creating a thriving society and strong economy to ensure we have a sustainable and prosperous future.

Anyone can contribute to the circular economy, there’s a programme on the Beeb where they rescue household items that are destined for the tip and upcycle them so they have another lease of life. When my kitchen sponges are replaced I use the old ones in plant pots as way of retaining moisture and reducing water use.

At Syntech the three R’s – Reduce, Re-use, Recycle get massively pimped so we use less resources and practice the beautiful art of reuse and regeneration, we always want to change the story so it flips waste to become the unusual instead of the norm.

Our production sites are off grid powered by our own biofuel, the by-product from our fuel production is sufficiently organic to be sent out for animal feed, and we have prototyped our own water treatment plant to minimise our demand to water grid and enable us to re-use over and over.

As you know, we turn used cooking oils into biofuel that provides renewable electricity to the National Grid and alternative fuels for pollutant diesel engines. It’s a beautiful thing, no?

So we completely understand the absolute value of waste as a resource. So does HMRC by the way, who apply a commodity code for our used cooking oils. Yet other government agencies police us in the same way as companies routinely pollute with their waste streams.

So we would argue that we are in Resource Management not Waste Management, our innovation means that we tap into the value of waste as a resource, as an opportunity to create clean energy and biofuels.

I hope you now understand a little bit more clearly how the circular economy is something we must adopt as the common sense approach to protecting and supporting our environment.

The transition to the circular economy will need the help of a global orchestra of governments, businesses, innovators like us here at Syntech and you my friends, the consumers, to play our part in this great big, exciting symphony of change.

Story by Syntech Biofuel