The Business Of Trash | CNBC Marathon

CNBC Marathon explores the economics of waste management and how the United States is solving its trash problem.

In 2019, the North American waste management market reached $208 billion. Thanks to advancements in modern chemistry and support from municipal governments, landfills have seen astonishing financial success in recent years.

Burning waste to make energy is a $10 billion industry in the U.S., and the fastest growing part of the business is waste from big companies like Amazon, Subaru, Quest Diagnostics and American Airlines. They’re part of a growing corporate movement toward “zero landfill” as pressure mounts to reach sustainability requirements.

It’s estimated that every year, millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean through rivers, and as global waste generation increases, the problem is poised to worsen. But a host of companies from Baltimore, Maryland to Bengaluru, India are working on the issue, developing novel methods to capture trash from rivers before it reaches the ocean.

Dozens of electric vehicles are scheduled to debut in the next few years and over 300 million electric vehicles are expected to be on the world’s roads by 2030. The lifetime for an EV battery is estimated to be 12 to 15 years in moderate climates, but that doesn't mean the batteries end up in landfills when they die.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:48 How Trash Makes Money In The U.S. (Published July 2021)
15:59 How Amazon, American Airlines And Subaru Burn Waste To Make Energy (Published May 2022)
32:24 How To Clean Up The World’s Most Polluted Rivers (Published August 2022)
46:16 Where Do EV Batteries Go When They Die? (Published March 2023)

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The Business Of Trash | CNBC Marathon