1 of 34

1

Drawdown Georgia Project

Marilyn Brown, PhD, NAE, NAS, CEM

Regents and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainability

School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tracking Climate Solutions Seminar Series:

#4: Recycling & Circular Economy

November 3, 2022

For more information: https://cepl.gatech.edu/node/203

Transformers into Plant Stands

Source: Max Pinckers for The New York Times

Used Clothing into Insulation

Source: Max Pinckers for The New York Times

Good afternoon. My name is Marilyn Brown, and with support from RCAF, I have been leading the DDGA research program since 2019, in collaboration with colleagues at Georgia Tech, other Georgia universities and Colleges, and NGOs across the state. Today’s seminar is part of our initiative to track (and activate) the deployment of climate solutions in the state we call home.

I will start off this webinar by giving an overview of our seminar ‘series’ and will highlight some of Drawdown Georgia’s recent accomplishments.

Then we will turn to today’s two fantastic speakers: Dr. Beril Toktay and Emma Brodzik.

They will share their thoughts about the opportunities and challenges of moving to a circular economy in Georgia.

This session is being recorded and your mics and videos will be muted throughout.

Please use the chat option to ask questions or comment. We will have a Q&A session after both of the speakers have presented. Several graduate students are keeping an eye on the chat and will identify questions. The speakers can answer them during the Q&A session.

2 of 34

20 DDGA Climate Solutions & Tracking

Sept 15 (1-2pm): Composting & Reforestation

by Jeff Mullen, Jacqueline Mohan

Oct 14 (2-3pm): Rooftop Solar

by Bryan Jacob, Jeff Pratt

Nov 3 (1-2pm): Recycling and the Circular Economy

by Beril Toktay, Emma Brodzik

Oct 6 (1-2pm): Electric Vehicles

by Rich Simmons, Anne Blair

Nov 17 (11am-12pm): Heat Pumps and Retrofitting

by Garry Harris, Jeff Smith

Learn more about the roadmap of 20 solutions, go here: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2100008118

Also here: https://climatesolutions.gatech.edu

3 of 34

Recycling is one of the most popular pro-environment behaviors

Georgia's total net emissions

declined by 5% from 2017 to 2021

The average carbon footprint per capita decreased by 10% from 2017-2021

Majority of Georgians (55%) recycle regularly

For more info: https://cepl.gatech.edu/researchtoaction

https://drawdownga.gatech.edu/

Emissions Tracking

We then created an emissions tracker (led by Bill Drummond-SCARP) – that is updated every month for each of GA’s 159 counties. It is driven by the principle that "You can't manage what you can't measure."

Most of the GHG reductions came from the use of cleaner fuels to generate electricity.

The average carbon footprint per capita dropped by 10% to ONLY 21,054 pounds – the weight of 5 standard cars (Accord).

So, the State dropped by 5%, per capita dropped by 10%--the difference is due to more "per capitas" in Georgia.

Finally, we are now turning to the systematic tracking of solution activation. This includes opinion surveys of climate solutions in Georgia (in partnership with Professor Cory Struthers at UGA). Here we learned that recycling is one of the most popular pro-environment behaviors in Georgia.

A Climate Solutions tracker is now under development. Our approach to its design and content will be influenced by what we learn from this seminar series.

4 of 34

Marginal Abatement Cost Curves for 20 high-impact solutions

Georgia can meet the 50% reduction goal of the Paris Climate Accord.

To learn more about the “MACC”, go here: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2100008118

5 of 34

Marginal Abatement Cost Curves for Recycling

Low abatement 2.0 MtCO2e

High abatement 4.1 MtCO2e

Cost of Abatement of 1 t CO2e in 2030

(in $2017)

Low cost

- $23 /tCO2e

High cost

- $43 /tCO2e

Georgia’s recycling rate is just 6.6%

U.S. avg is 22.6%

(The area of box represents the solution cost)

By increasing the overall recycling rate to 13-20% by 2030 through recycling 25-50% of the currently disposed paper, plastics, metals and glass , the Achievable Potential is estimated at Reduction of 2-4.1 MtCO2e in 2030.

While it is a popular approach, Georgia’s recycling rate is just 6.6% - far below U.S. average of 22.6%.

We estimated our baseline - the total potential emissions to be reclaimed from recycling - as 8.1 MtCO2e in GA in 2030.

By increasing the overall recycling rate to 13-20% by 2030 through recycling 25-50% of the currently disposed paper, plastics, metals and glass, the Achievable Reduction is estimated to be 2-4.1 MtCO2e in 2030.

Sources and method: Used published data from literature to estimate average waste stream for Georgia, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Waste Reduction Model (WARM) to calculate the energy savings and CO2 savings from increased recycling. The results were then used to calculate the cost of avoided generation as part of estimating the private costs and benefits of recycling associated with the recycling of paper products, glass, plastics, and metals.

6 of 34

Today’s Presenters:

Dr. Beril Toktay, Professor, Scheller College of Business

Faculty Director, Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, Georgia Tech

Emma Brodzik, Zero Waste Project Manager, Office of Solid Waste Management & Recycling, Georgia Tech

Topics for Discussion Following their Remarks:

Data sources and methods to track solution adoption
Key places and people who are demonstrating success
Critical infrastructure and enabling policies
Consideration of disadvantages communities and equity
Potential for accelerating adoption
Business leaders and others who should be consulted

7 of 34

Recycling & The Circular Economy

Regional waste generation data

Global waste flows and economics

Levers for change

8 of 34