HYON’s Contribution to Reducing Material Decomposition

Material decomposition is affecting the environment. But how exactly? It's not just simply dumping material in a landfill. There are other challenges facing the environment such as; leakage of harmful chemicals that pollute the water and ground, inefficient use of land for unnecessary materials, and causing environmental pollution due to global warming.

With this in mind, we believe that large corporations are major contributors to the massive amounts of material waste because their surplus is being discarded into landfills. The problem with surplus is that even if an item has not passed its expiration date or does not have it at all, it is still thrown out due to lack of space. Only a few of these items are truly sustainable, but HYON is here to help better understand the importance of material circulation and our solution to reduce the decomposition of materials.

Paper

Paper is used by everyone, most especially by organizations for various reasons. These include notebooks, notepads, envelopes, sticky notes, labels, etc. It is 100% biodegradable and only takes a few weeks to a month (about 2-6 weeks) to decompose. It can be recycled up to 7 times before it can no longer be made into another product. More interestingly, the higher the quality of the paper the more you can make using its recycled fibers. But the problem with this is the volume and quantity as it takes up more space in landfills than any other product.

Plastic

Plastic is complicated. It can decompose, but not 100% and in some cases can take anywhere from 2 years to 1 million years to fully break down. Add to that, there are also 7 different types of plastics, each with its own rate of decomposition.

Let’s look at an example of plastic straws. Most plastic drinking straws are made from polypropylene which on average takes 200 to 450 years to break down. Traditional plastics break down in landfills through the process of photodegradation which is when UV radiation from the sun undoes the chemical structure of plastic to break it down into smaller pieces over time. However, most plastics are exposed to little sunlight in landfills due to them being compacted, covered with a layer of soil, then compacted again each day to make room for the next day's waste.

Wood & Metal

Furniture and technology are essential items that companies use to fulfill their daily business activities. Most of these items are made out of metal and/or wood which varies in decomposition time.

Metal is non-biodegradable and there are two main types: aluminum which can be recycled an unlimited amount of times but can take about 80-100 years to decompose; and stainless steel which can also be recycled infinitely but takes around 100-1000 years to decompose. However, large pieces are known to be not susceptible to decomposition.

On the other hand, wood takes less than metal to break down. It takes approximately 13 years for a standard wooden chair to decompose and this increases when it is painted. Plywood can take 1-3 years depending on the weather conditions plus if it contains glue, then it slows the process even more.

At HYON, we understand the growing problem of material decomposition and the negative impacts it has on our environment. We believe in a world where all materials are used again and again, rather than being discarded. That's why we work to develop sustainable solutions that can reduce material decomposition and create a circular economy.

By implementing sustainable asset management at your organization, all surplus items are cycled through our six-step sustainability model of discover, circulate, sell, donate, and recycle. These six steps ensure that surplus items are used and re-used at every stage, reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills taking years to decompose.

We're creating a sustainable future to address the environmental impact of materials. We are delivering an alternative for people to be aware of their impact and make informed decisions about how they can reduce it.

For more information on sustainable asset management, visit hyon.ca/enterprise.