Closed-loop Supply Chain
Ideally, a zero-waste supply chain that completely reuses, recycles, or composts all materials. However, the term can also be used to refer to corporate take-back programs, where companies that produce a good are also responsible for its disposal.
Is it possible to have “zero-waste” in all cases? Is it possible to completely recycle, reuse, or compost all the materials from all the goods?
Yes, it is possible to produce zero waist…it’s all around us in nature. Humans are the inventors and only producers of waste.
Definitely not in all cases if we are talking about the materials that we used in our lifetime. At ceratin points, some materials are not recyclable/reusable. On the other hand, some materials takes hundred of years to decompose…
Nature doesn’t actively use everything in its storehouse, as far as I can tell. Hence, crude oil in caverns deep in the earth, the highly robust ground waters that are mixed with that crude oil, etc. Sometimes nature just “stores” materials for a long, long time. Is that zero waste?
Nature likely does use everything in its storehouse, we just may not understand that use. That crude oil likely serves a purpose we are not yet aware of. The eco-system produces no waste! To accept this you must accept the idea that waste is at once both superfluos and harmful. This is the definition of waste.