Finding value in getting wasted | Madeleine Van | TEDxQUT

As the future health of our environment becomes increasingly volatile, waste management is more important than ever. Can dumps be turned into goldmines? Can rotten fruit be converted into luxury products? Madeleine Van discusses the hope of a new economy that can reduce pollution and increase revenue. Madeleine Van is a bio-tech entrepreneur working on converting agricultural waste into high value products. She is a sustainable economy advocate and hopes to see the entire agricultural industry repurposing their waste products in the next 10 years. Madeleine is educated in the areas of economics, biology and law.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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,

and I'm getting pretty wasted
down at the dump.

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,

I can smell the pessimists
in the audience.

"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)