D-Lab: Waste

A photo of a flock of black birds flying over a large hill covered in garbage.

A flock of birds flying over a landfill. (Courtesy of Justin Richie on Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA.)

Instructor(s)

MIT Course Number

EC.716 / EC.786

As Taught In

Fall 2015

Level

Undergraduate / Graduate

Cite This Course

Course Description

Course Features

Course Description

This introductory course will provide you with a multidisciplinary approach to managing waste in low- and middle-income countries, with strategies that diminish greenhouse gas emissions and provide enterprise opportunities for marginalized populations. You will focus on understanding some of the multiple dimensions of waste generation and management. Topics are presented in real contexts through case studies, field visits, civic engagement and research, and include consumer culture, waste streams, waste management, entrepreneurship and innovation on waste, technology evaluation, downcycling / upcycling, Life Cycle Analysis and waste assessment. Labs include building low-cost, small scale technology, field trips to waste-related institutions and businesses, art workshops and e-waste scrapping taught by practitioners, artists and waste enthusiasts.

Related Content

Kate Mytty, and Pedro Reynolds-Cuellar. EC.716 D-Lab: Waste. Fall 2015. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.


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