Translator: Peter van de Ven Reviewer: Tanya Cushman
I love getting wasted.
I just love getting wasted.
It's okay, I can say it.
My parents know; the neighbors know.
In fact, I'm wasted right now.
So I'll tell you a story.
When I graduated university, standing at a crossroads in my life,
my mother said to me, "Mad, do something that you love.
Do something that has value."
And so I thought to myself,
"How much value is there in getting wasted?"
Fast forward a few months,
Oh yeah, the landfill in Nudgee.
If you haven't before, I really recommend it;
it's great!
The deeper you go, the better it gets.
The longer you're there,
the more you realize that this trash, this crap, this waste,
could be part of a novel, innovative, sustainable
and immensely valuable part of the economy.
I like to call it the waste economy,
and I think it's a way we can all find value in getting wasted.
Millennials,
as individuals of my affliction have so affectionately been labeled,
have inherited three epic lifetime conditions.
The first, the rapid development of science and technology,
a crumbling global ecosystem
and a fragile, disconnected modern economy.
Splendid.
So the question facing my generation is,
Is there a way that economies can increase profitability
using science and technology while relying less on natural resources?
To me, as a biotech entrepreneur and a notorious tight-ass,
the solution was obvious.
I am part of a new global economy,
one that is not only novel and innovative but sustainable and immensely valuable.
It involves a complete repurposing of agricultural waste
for use in products of equal or greater value.
In fewer words - taking one industry's by-product
and transforming it into the raw product of another.
Now, this isn't my idea, not even close.
In fact, a few companies have been integrating this concept
for quite a while now.
My personal favorite is Ecovative.
Ecovative is a company in Green Island, New York,
who use agricultural waste to create packaging and insulation materials.
Ecovative take the mycelium from mushrooms and the plant fibers from seed husks,
fuse them together and create a material
similar in consistency to Styrofoam or expanded polyethylene.
Ecovative's product has the capability to turn the mushroom market
into the 28-billion-dollar Styrofoam-replacement market.
That's a thousand times added value
and the eradication of one of the world's most insidious pollutants.
Did we just dismantle
an established multi-billion dollar environment-poisoning industry
by repurposing agricultural waste?
Did we do it in a way that increases profitability
using science and technology to rely less on natural resources?
Now, don't be fooled into thinking these magic mushrooms are a once-off.
There are an abundance of local startups and researchers
working on turning your waste into gold.
In Brisbane alone,
sugar cane mulch into pharmaceuticals,
rotten fruit into A-grade cosmetics
and coffee grinds into diesel - just to name a few.
But ... yes, that's right,
"You don't know what you are talking about young lady.
You think you can waltz in here with your iPhones and your face flicks
and tell me that some clever apples can end ecological crisis?"
Well, that's sort of my point.
Crisis need not be the obstacle of a profitable economy;
crisis should be the catalyst that pushes them forwards
towards permanent, self-revolutionizing, self-extended reproduction.
No.
The fallacy lies in the assumption
that the cost of profit is tremendous amounts of polluting waste
stagnating in our landfills and filling up our oceans.
So, the economics of it all:
inefficiency is the enemy of capitalism.
Old mate father of capitalism, Adam Smith, once said,
"Any inefficiency that reduces profit-making
shall be eliminated by the market."
Now, I'm sure we don't have to resurrect old Adam to tell us
that the presence of waste in an economy represents a pretty huge inefficiency,
especially when the management of that waste
is costing us 350 billion dollars annually.
That's more than the annual aggregate spend of the Australian government -
or whatever they're calling themselves these days.
Yes, that's right,
each year we produce 2.2 billion tons of landfill.
Now, if my math is correct,
that's about [300 kilograms]
allocated to each and every one of us on the planet.
Why do you need [300 kilograms] of excess
just to mindlessly produce and consume?
This is the hidden deadweight loss of your existence,
and it's not going to stay hidden for much longer.
See, this concept is actually something that's ingrained in our evolution,
a concept that has driven us to the top of the food chain.
Take this bison for example.
Back in the Neolithic Age,
we had the flesh for meat, the hide for clothing,
the bones for tools, teeth for jewelry,
and whatever's left: dog food.
A contemporary may see this as taking one industry's by-product
and transforming it into the raw product of another.
See, this concept is something we are so familiar with,
but why are we so comfortable with avoiding it?
If we just repurpose 20% of our agricultural waste in Australia,
we would be looking at a total economic injection of 150 billion dollars,
based off waste cost saved
and new products created -
not to mention the tremendous benefit to the environment.
The 21st century has seen
some of the greatest developments in science and technology,
developments that will have undefined influence on our futures.
Yet something that perplexes me is
how we as a society are able to identify something
so abstract as ripples in space-time a billion light-years away,
and yet we remain so stumped
on the concept that by producing and consuming in the same unsustainable ways,
we'll continue to produce the same unsustainable results.
Here we are, happily sitting on the horizon of a crisis so unfathomable,
characterized by inefficient production systems and endless amounts of waste.
Alas, the problem does not lie in the lack of science
or even the lack of innovation;
it lies in the fact that it would take
an enormous restructuring of the global economy
to fix this fatal design flaw.
We would need to reinvigorate supply chains
that haven't really been altered since the Industrial Revolution,
tackling corporations, governments and social systems as we know them.
Simple task, really.
Personally, I think we are all far too complacent.
We are due for a new economic paradigm shift.
Revolution is born out of necessity.
Agricultural revolution,
industrial revolution.
Now it is time for a waste revolution.
Now, this reality doesn't have to seem like some far-off distant utopia.
As we know from our economics high-school classes,
supply is so sorely influenced by demand.
We need to demand more from our producers and suppliers,
demand they see the social, economic and environmental utility
of putting the environment above the bottom line.
We need to invest in companies doing something with their waste,
reinvigorating it back into the supply chain,
because I can assure you, you will see the dividends.
We need to support these local startups and researchers
that really are just trying to change the world without the fuss.
And most of all, we need to stop sitting on our hands
before we let this toxic complacency become our demise.
So, it's effective, it's necessary and it's going to make us billions.
So come on, Brisbane, it's a Saturday.
You tell me what is stopping you from getting wasted.
(Applause)