Microbes supercharged to devour particular types of waste–even the non-organic kind–makes too much sense for it to not happen. Of course, it’s easy for me to say since I don’t have to come up with the science to enable that process. Until we perfect the method, we must employ workarounds. The city of Dallas, for instance, is trying to effect a zero-waste recycling plan by 2040. From Nick Swartsell in the New York Times:
“If J. R. Ewing can quit smoking and promote solar energy, anything is possible in Dallas, environmental advocates say, even an ambitious plan to have the city recycling nearly all of its garbage by 2040.
‘If Dallas can have a zero-waste plan, any city can,’ said Zac Trahan, the Dallas program manager at Texas Campaign for the Environment, a group challenging the city’s reputation for big oil, big cars and big sprawl. ‘It can really be a huge opportunity to move toward a more sustainable Texas.’
Before the last of the plastic bags, crumpled papers and other urban tumbleweeds head to the recycling plant, the city will have to determine when to put into place the various steps of its plan, which the Dallas City Council formally adopted on Aug. 22. It will also have to address the lingering concerns of advocacy groups and business interests, like unintended environmental consequences and unfinanced mandates.”