Caught by his own trap, man must now find solutions to manage the waste products he has himself produced. This task is all the more necessary with some waste having a life of hundreds of years (plastic bags) or a dangerous effect for hundreds of thousands of years (radioactive residues). Portrait of the waste situation before discovering how the rudologist can come in aid of the planet.
The world of waste in a few figures
The French geographer Jean Gouhier invented the term rudology (from rudus: rubble in Latin), which he placed at the “confluence of geography, sociology and economics.” Appearing in 1985, this science is the study and management of waste. Our world has need of it, as evidenced by figures on the subject which show that in industrialized countries each person produces on average 400 kg of waste per year… and this figure can reach 700 kg. Canada is more successful with an average of 225 kg, even though some provinces are showing sad records: 429 kg for Prince Edward Island and 358 kg for British Columbia. How are such figures explained? It is a model of society which since the Industrial Revolution has been based on production and consumption and which in the 21st century has fallen into mass consumption, the economy of obsolescence, preference given to replacement rather than repair. However, all is not so dark. We are witnessing a real awareness by the public authorities and citizens about ways to manage our economic corpses: burial and incineration are significantly reduced through selective sorting and, most recently, “potential waste wealth” which values it for the energy in contains. Another encouraging sign is the growth of Canada’s active population invested in the environmental field in general (364,000 employees) and in waste management in particular (35,000 people).
A real profession for a real problem
The rudologist’s mission is to plan, deploy and control waste management systems. Carrying out a project requires various and diverse tasks such as identification of waste, assessment of waste management suggestions and of the prioritization model (reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery or disposal), then deployment of the chosen solution, training and information for customers and employees, determining the procedures and costs in compliance with environmental rules and inspection and verification of facilities. The waste manager will work partly in the field (collecting samples, inspecting facilities, etc.) and in the laboratory (data analysis, customer recommendations, research…). He may work in a government department (municipal, territorial, provincial or federal), in an environmental consulting company, in a waste management company or in a major player in the automotive or health care industry, for example. To have access to this position, a candidate should have studied geology, biology, chemistry, the environment or water control, by following, ideally, a program such as waste management, environmental management, environmental sciences or environmental engineering.
This is man roped into the “manufacturing, waste management” cycle, at the antipodes of any other natural ecosystem that does not generate any waste. Thanks to the employee’s ingenuity and the citizen’s involvement, the earth should become green again in a few centuries… Ah, why did we not listen to Lavoisier at the time when he said, “Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed.”