Terraforming & Sustainability using Kudzu & Waste (cont. 6)

This “problem of bones” highlights a problem in economics. “Laissez faire” basically commands the purchase of the cheapest resource, in order to remain competitive,. The labor costs of bone retrieval and conversion back into fertilizer, presently make bone recycling for fertilizer uneconomic. Essentially “laissez faire” firmly dictates that we “trash the planet”. Not until all the phosphate reserves are exhausted can one start searching for phosphate in landfills. This dilemma was unimportant, until recently, when it has become apparent that phosphate reserves are almost mined out, and that discarding phosphate waste is now an unsustainable option. Rather than upset the whole fabric of modern capitalism it may be possible to solve the “recycling being more expensive than using virgin materials” problem by using the municipal tipping fee for recycling rather than landfilling. By encouraging North European style curbside recycling, pay-as-you-throw schemes or materials recovery facility, etc, the waste problem could disappear. If the recycled raw materials are used on site as the basis of industrial manufacturing, energy etc perhaps by applying a system of franchises, than employment could rise. It would be essential to keep the prices lower than “dumped” and artificially cheap imports that are bleeding the west dry (perhaps by using the recycling & tipping subsidy). Perhaps by using a sustainability approach and judicious use of fossil carbon taxes on imports it may be possible to revive manufacturing around a cities recycling center.