Zero Waste Strategies

Catalog description

This course will provide students with an understanding of how to assess the system dynamics associated with materials generation and composition, internal collection and storage and eventual set out, transfer, recovery and/or disposal. Concurrently students will be introduced to the concept of a circular materials economy and investigate what the Achilles heel may be that limits the recovery of targeted materials from disposal. Skills will be developed in accounting and mass-balance tracking of materials flow across embedded system boundaries; as well as, being introduced to best management practices that can reduce or avoid non- product material releases beyond the organization’s boundaries. This will be supplemented on how best to develop protocols in purchasing so to impact waste minimization up a supply chain, while concurrently developing strategies that allows producers to avoid environmental impacts from their choice of product design and intended use. Students will be able to prioritize alternative production processes through both a lens of carbon emissions avoidance and return on investment calculations.