Florida Polytechnic University’s Dr. Malak Anshassi has earned national recognition for her research advancing recycling, solid waste management and sustainability. She was recently appointed to serve as a recycling expert on a prestigious committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to address the pressing problem of waste reduction.
Anshassi, an assistant professor of environmental engineering, was selected to join the nine-member panel responsible for developing the consensus report “Municipal Solid Waste Recycling in the United States: Analysis of Current and Alternative Approaches.” Her role on the committee positions Florida Poly at the forefront of national discussions on sustainable environmental policy.
“This was an amazing opportunity, especially since such specific criteria must be met before you qualify,” Anshassi said. “They recognized my contributions to the scientific field while here at Florida Poly.”
According to the 208-page consensus report, requested by the U.S. Congress and sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the United States generates about 292 million tons of municipal solid waste each year, but only about 32% is recycled or composted.
Anshassi and the committee were charged with assessing the costs of different municipal solid waste recycling programs and identifying effective national policy options.
“Some of the most significant conclusions we found include the rising cost of recycling over the last few years, partly driven by trade dynamics within the U.S. itself and internationally,” Anshassi said. “The report also highlights the environmental benefits of recycling, and its social implications in terms of jobs that are produced, education about the recycling system and more.”
The focus of Anshassi’s research includes waste system investments in developing countries, residential recycling analysis, and the costs associated with eliminating residential recycling programs. Her National Academies work coincides with her publication in the top-tier journal “Nature Sustainability,” which focuses on interdisciplinary research in global sustainability.
The research examines the environmental benefits of reducing greenhouse gases and ocean plastics and improving global waste management.
“Waste management is a part of everybody’s life, at every age, and in every single sector across the entire globe, and there’s a big need for us to rethink waste management from being, ‘Here’s garbage, let’s just deal with it,’ to seeing it as a material resource,” Anshassi said, adding that her work aims to inform global environmental policy.
“At the end of the day, it’s about how we can inform our decisions better and how we can use science to back up our decisions,” she said.
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