The challenges
The island of Texel is meeting many challenges in becoming as self sufficient as possible. With regards to our subsystem, Materials and Waste, we find that the challenge lies in both reducing the current waste streams and deal with the remaining waste streams in a way that is both energy efficient and economically feasible. We find that it is important to not lose sight of a realistic sollution, in this the economical situation must be taken into account.
Ambitions:
Our ambitions are based on the article on Eco-Islands written by Huang (2009). He states that in order for an Island to reach an equilibrium between the environment and the local economy four requirements must be met which are relevant to our waste and materials subsystem. Since we as a group would like to set ambitious goals we would like to incorporate all these four items into our ambitions:
1. Usage of renewable materials should be regulated
An example of this is the usage of renewable building materials.
2. The efficiency of resources must be improved
This will be achieved through both lessened economical consumption as through a high degree of
recycling.
3. The current amount of waste generated must be significantly lowered
This can be made possible through reuse and concentrated waste treatments.
4. A very strict governmental control must be set on:
a. The import of environmental-risk resources and materials
b. The export of scarce resources and materials
Problem statement:
The people from Texel produce 700 kg of waste per person, this is high due to tourism. The current way of dealing with waste is unsustainable. The current mindset about dealing with waste we find old fashioned. All current waste streams are transported to the main land for incineration. This is an unsustainable practice.
Research question:
How can the waste streams of Texel be improved to become as C2C as economically feasible?
Bibliography
Huang, B., Ouyang, Z., Zheng, H., Zhang, H., & Wang, X. (2008). Construction of an eco-island: A case
study of Chongming Island, China. Ocean & Coastal Management, 575-588.
