Carbon Footprint

Spilt Milk

One elusive white whale in the fight against climate change has been carbon capture: tech that could scrub carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, but hasn’t yet been developed at scale.

The trick is finding the right material that can bind to carbon atoms released into the air. Now, scientists from Clarkson University say they’ve found the best one yet — waste milk.

The unpleasant-sounding research, which was published in the journal Advanced Sustainable Systems, could help us control carbon emissions — and prevent the food waste that contributes to them.

Green Carbon

Currently, dairy farms throw away 50 million gallons of perfectly-good surplus milk every year, according to a Clarkson press release on the study. Instead of pouring it down the drain, the scientists found milk to be a cheap source of activated carbons — the porous material that sticks to carbon — which are more environmentally friendly than other sources being explored.

The UK Government is being urged to tax food producers according to the carbon footprint of their products, raising concerns that this cost would be passed onto consumers.

GEODIS' online emissions calculator that determines the carbon footprint of a freight shipment is freely available on its website.

Accessed via https://geodis.com/geodis_carbon_calculator/form, the calculator measures air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions generated by an individual shipment’s journey, comparing the performance of different modes of transport (air, rail, road, sea, inland waterway, etc.).

For each shipment of goods, the calculator gives an overview of the various options, making it an invaluable aid in choosing the most environmentally friendly transport, said GEODIS. At the same time, the tool performs calculations that take into account the goods being shipped, their origin, destination and mode of transport before providing a quantitative evaluation.