Panelist Lily Sander Jensen, Biofuels Denmark and part of the team developing The Industrial Symbiosis Kalundborg: We work with biomass but focus on bio-refinement. The refinement part is a critical part no matter what happens. I like C2C very much, but what about if the company that has to take the chair back scales down or folds? Then there will be nobody to receive the chair. What about Novo Nordisk that produces insulin? How can they get that back after consumption? Or the components of my deodorant, how will they be returned?
Martin Fluri: The chair does not have to be returned to the producer but that it is sent to somebody who can use the parts of the chair. You bring up fun examples. And in a number of areas we can do more than most people think. We can for instance get the phosphor out of our urine and or our feces if we need to.
The Swedish can put the dead body into fluid nitrogen so it becomes dust and put it into a coffin made out of potato material, thus no remains. But C2C is not a new bible that can take care of all the problems.
Lily Sander Jensen: Right now Phosphor is the big problem. Aren’t you focusing too much on this?
Martin Fluri: We need to be able to recycle phosphor. But we are also looking at many other materials such as iron.
Lily Sander Jensen: What about using GMO based biological solutions for refinement processes?
Martin Fluri: I’m not a natural scientist, I’m a sociologist, but in general we do not say no to GMO. It has to happen within a controlled area. C2C is related to companies, but a lot of the environmental issues are not specific to companies.
Panelist Claus Stig Pedersen, Head of Sustainability Development, Novozymes, and part of the Core Froup of the project In100years: Novozymes has entered into a process to Energize African agriculture by changing the process from “slash, burn, degrade, move method” of producing charcoal and a lot of other things into a method of “restore, sustain, prepare, plant” so Yusuf and his family in Mozambique can use biofuels instead of charcoal. In 2014 20% of the charcoal in Maputo will be exchanged with biofuels. C2C is a great set of principles.
We have all the knowledge and technology we need to create a sustainable life. The challenge is to organize it properly and to organize the human earth relationship. We need to change a lot of things: personal priorities, methods, habits, etc.