Waste to Value

Waste to Value is a bi-weekly podcast devoted to exploring the waste-to-value economy and celebrating the innovators who are creating economic and environmental value from harmful waste streams. Across markets and industries, builders and manufacturers are achieving some remarkable things, taking everything from forestry products and fabric to agricultural waste and so much more, and redirecting them into new materials that become critical feedstocks for the very things the human species needs to live and prosper. Hosted by Justin R. Wolf, an independent journalist working at the intersection of sustainable design, regenerative materials, energy policy, and climate justice, Waste to Value connects with manufacturers, technical innovators, and business leaders who are charting a regenerative future through restorative means, and giving shape to a new, ascendent industrial revolution.

Waste to Value is a business podcast hosted by Justin R. Wolf, with 6 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Justin R. Wolf hosts Waste to Value, a business show with 6 episodes published.

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  Episode #6

  From Liability to Asset: Addressing the construction industry's persistent waste problem | EPISODE 6

  Aug 7, 202641 minS1

  The built environment has a 600-million-ton waste problem. onstruction and demolition (C&D) waste - comprising large volumes of concrete, wood, drywall, glass, and even furniture - significantly contributes to landfill volumes, with approximately one-quarter total waste generated in the U.S. ending up in landfills. It is worth noting those figures come from reports that are selectively submitted to the EPA by state and local governments, and much of the data are more than a decade old. So, while the numbers aren't reliable, we know without question that the scale of the problem remains massive. One organization uniquely positioned to tackle that problem is Good Future Design Alliance (GFDA). The GFDA’s mission is to raise public consciousness around the problem of construction industry waste and its impacts on human health and climate change, as well as to advance the adoption of more sustainable practices in residential design and construction. For this episode I welcome the GFDA’s Executive Director, Kathryn Soter. Kathryn began her career in advertising and magazine publishing, including 23 years working at Condé Nast magazine group. Prior to her work with GFDA, she worked in business development for manufacturers supplying furniture, fixtures and equipment for residential and hospitality projects.

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  Episode #5

  Ep.5 Fixing a Climate Injustice: Transforming asbestos mine waste into decarbonized minerals

  Jul 24, 202635 minS1

  Baie Verte, in north central Newfoundland, Canada, is one of several communities that comprise the island’s Emerald Zone. In the 1950s, a large deposit of asbestos was discovered, and Baie Verte (French for “Green Bay”) was quickly transformed into a company town, with a large-scale asbestos mining operation that supported the community for the next three decades. Trina Barrett grew up in Baie Verte. Her father worked as a foreman in the asbestos mine. When the mine shut down in the 1990s, it left mountain-sized piles of un-remediated mine waste in her hometown, which Barrett calls “an environmental injustice.” Asbestos is a known carcinogen with respiratory toxicity; the orphaned mine waste also contains high concentrations of industrial and critical minerals. The company Barrett co-founded with Mike Sullivan, BAIE Minerals, develops and commercializes technologies that can remove toxic asbestos fibers and extract high-value minerals, thus transforming an environmental liability into a source of economic value.

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  Episode #5

  Ep.5 Fixing a Climate Injustice: Transforming asbestos mine waste into decarbonized minerals

  Jul 24, 202635 minS1

  <p>Baie Verte, in north central Newfoundland, Canada, is one of several communities that comprise the island’s Emerald Zone. In the 1950s, a large deposit of asbestos was discovered, and Baie Verte (French for “Green Bay”) was quickly transformed into a company town, with a large-scale asbestos mining operation that supported the community for the next three decades.</p><p></p><p>Trina Barrett grew up in Baie Verte. Her father worked as a foreman in the asbestos mine. When the mine shut down in the 1990s, it left mountain-sized piles of un-remediated mine waste in her hometown, which Barret...

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  Episode #4

  Ep.4 When a Tree Falls in the City: A new sawmill outside Boston taps the potential of urban forests

  Jul 10, 202635 minS1

  When we think about wood products and our domestic forests that supply them, we arrive at mental images of large swaths of forestland that populate the Pacific Northwest or the Southeast; those places that provide abundances of Douglas fir and spruce and southern yellow pine, but we rarely consider urban forests. Urban forests are critical components for keeping our cities cooler and safer. Street trees, city parks, arboretums, and the like help with stormwater management, restore biodiversity, and mitigate the effects of urban heat islands. But when those urban forests are thinned and trees are felled to create more space for recreation, or to protect raised utility lines, the wood itself gets chipped or sent away to get burned for energy production. The most recent estimates from the USDA Forest Service indicate that 46 million tons of sellable wood from urban areas is felled each year, most of which gets chipped, landfilled, or burned. There is a missed opportunity afoot; not one of those pathways – with the possible exception of biomass power generation – involves making something of tangible value that’s inversely proportional to the amount of waste being generated. The Massachusetts-based timber product manufacturer Tridome Structures is rethinking a pathway for urban wood. Very recently, the company opened a sawmill in the Boston suburb of Millis; this new subsidiary is called TimberWise. In this episode, I connect with Edward (TJ) Thompson, Tridome's co-founder and Director of Innovation, to discuss the TimberWise mill, and how this relatively small operation is changing how we manage urban forests.

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  Episode #4

  Ep.4 When a Tree Falls in the City: A new sawmill outside Boston taps the potential of urban forests

  Jul 10, 202635 minS1

  <p>When we think about wood products and our domestic forests that supply them, we arrive at mental images of large swaths of forestland that populate the Pacific Northwest or the Southeast; those places that provide abundances of Douglas fir and spruce and southern yellow pine, but we rarely consider urban forests.</p><p></p><p>Urban forests are critical components for keeping our cities cooler and safer. Street trees, city parks, arboretums, and the like help with stormwater management, restore biodiversity, and mitigate the effects of urban heat islands. But when those urban forests are thinned and trees are...

  ListenShow Notes

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