In an age defined by resource scarcity, economic constraints and environmental urgency, leadership in wastewater management is no longer about mere compliance or disposal. It’s about vision. The cradle-to-cradle philosophy, where waste is viewed not as a burden but as a resource, offers a transformative model for wastewater treatment plants and private industry. This shift…
Subscribe to receive transcripts by email. Read along with this episode. Every gallon of wastewater flowing through a municipal sewer contains recoverable energy, nutrients, and water—assets that the linear “flush and forget” model has long treated as problems to dispose of rather than value to recapture. Meet Kevin Shafer, who has spent more than two…
While the U.S. has moved toward policies that are less friendly to the environment and consumers, the European Union has been updating its rules to make products easier to repair. These changes can help American consumers, even if they never visit Europe. The EU Right to Repair Directive was finalized in July 2024 and will…
According to science, it was unexpected in 2008 when the famed Northwest Passage across the Arctic Ocean, which links the Atlantic to the Pacific, opened at the same time as the Northeast Passage. The Northeast Passage was expected to open first due to the Coriolis effect. As the world turns to the east, in the…
When you need a new laptop, phone, or TV, think about buying refurbished. It used to seem risky, but now there are trusted marketplaces with certified, warrantied products that work like new, often for 30% to 70% less than retail. The refurbished electronics market has grown into a $62 billion global industry in 2025, according…
The global economy faces a challenge with circularity. The Circularity Gap Report 2024 from the Circle Economy Foundation and Deloitte shows that just 7.2% of materials used worldwide are recycled or reused, a drop from 9.1% in 2018. Even as awareness grows, the amount of recovered and recycled materials has actually decreased by 21% in…
Subscribe to receive transcripts by email. Read along with this episode. Global investment in the energy transition reached $2.2 trillion in 2025, up 5% from the previous year despite political headwinds intensified. Peter Fusaro has watched this market evolve from a niche curiosity into a systemic financial concern. As founder of the Wall Street Green…
Streaming video is now a regular part of life for billions of people. In 2024, Netflix users watched 94 billion hours of content, and over 122 million Disney+ subscribers streamed about 28.4 billion hours. Since video streaming makes up 60 to 70 percent of global internet traffic, it’s more important than ever to understand its…
From an environmental standpoint, reusing a product is almost always preferable to recycling it because reuse gives products a second life without consuming additional manufacturing resources. However, companies have been promoting recycling rather than the reuse of a single consumer product for years. That product: printer cartridges. The urgency of cartridge reuse and recycling cannot…
Read a transcript of this episode. Subscribe to receive transcripts. What we call waste is really just misallocated feedstock—raw materials waiting to be cycled back into the next generation of products and packaging. According to research by the World Economic Forum and United Nations Development Programme, the circular economy could unlock $4.5 trillion in new…