The TED Talk under the headline “To eliminate waste, we need to rediscover thrift” given by Andrew Dent covers the issue of excessive waste and potential solutions to it. Today, as the demand for resources grows significantly, this problem is especially acute. Andrew Dent begins the speech by introducing the concept of thrift – effective management of resources available for recycling and reusing. He suggests that this concept can be an economic and effective resolution to the problem of waste.
Before moving on to elaborate on this idea, Andrew Dent emphasizes the severity of the issue. He argues that, since the majority of items that are being used daily can be easily replaced, people are inclined to dispose of them rather quickly. However, it is highlighted that this inclination is not reasonable. Instead of quickly disintegrating, discarded objects are transferred to landfills where they accumulate uncontrollably. According to Dent, it results in approximately 1.3 billion tons worth of waste every year. The point expressed and emphasized is that enormous amounts of refuse can be avoided if people start reusing resources instead of disposing of them.
To support his claims, Dent provides examples of companies that implement a zero-waste policy. A good instance of such policy is the automotive industry where up to 90% of source materials become reused in an organization’s new products. Architecture, on the other hand, is an industry that causes a lot of waste because, instead of being dismantled so that source materials can be reused, buildings are usually demolished, leaving nothing to recycle. Thus, to reduce waste, different industries need to change their approach to the utilization of materials, and the minimization of resources can simplify the process of building. For instance, digital manufacturing contributes to reducing waste by essentially limiting the number of required resources used in a project.
Another potentially good solution to the problem of excessive waste is bioderived materials. Introducing this idea, Andrew Dent appeals to the fact that no resources are wasted in nature and everything is used during a certain process. Therefore, Dent suggests taking materials provided in natural objects, such as fiber, which can be isolated and reused in man-made items. This solution can be especially effective, as it requires a renewable resource which reduces carbon dioxide emissions. Essentially, Dent’s central idea is that infinitely recycling materials is the best option for achieving zero waste.
To conclude the TED Talk, Andrew Dent urges people who have the opportunity to contemplate whether they can give a second life to something they own. He reminds everyone to try to adhere to an approach which would allow using materials repeatedly. Through this, Dent highlights the importance of recycling and reusing as a means of reducing waste once again. Minimizing waste or, ideally, eliminating it altogether, is a way of protecting environment through diminishing pollution and green house emissions.
Work Cited
Dent, Andrew. “To eliminate waste, we need to rediscover thrift.”TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, 2017, Web.