NSF2026: Convergence Around a Sustainable World Without Waste

每年有1000万吨塑料垃圾进入海洋，13亿吨食物被浪费。 该项目将通过努力实现一个没有废物的世界来应对这些挑战。它将确定实现这样一个未来的基础研究需求和机会，这也是经济上可行的，社会上可取的，环境上可行的。 为实现这些目标，将举办一系列讲习班，使来自学术界、工业界、政府和非政府组织的许多学科的各种利益攸关方聚集在一起。 教育课程将为硕士课程开发，该课程将培训学生努力实现一个没有浪费的世界。 为了在本项目结束后继续开展研究，以实现一个无废物的可持续世界，一个研究协会的新部门将定期组织关于这一主题的会议，本项目将组织讲习班，其总体目标是通过趋同的透镜，审查支撑全球废物和资源消耗螺旋式上升这一紧迫挑战的根本驱动因素。从目前的努力中，一个重要的认识是，虽然工程需要通过开发相关技术发挥重要作用，但经济学、社会科学和环境科学等其他学科对于理解和开发适当的市场和社会激励也至关重要。各个学科需要建立联系，超越传统界限，走向深度融合的研究方法。在该项目中，多学科研究团队将探索创建和评估潜在解决方案所需的知识、方法、模型和数据的整合。与利益相关者共同创造知识将为新型商业模式、参与方法、政策选择以及创新的技术和科学进步提供信息，以实现无废物的可持续世界。拟议的研讨会将制定一个框架，以推进关于NSF大创意“没有废物的世界”的趋同研究和学术研究。“国际工业生态学会将设立一个新的部门，以促进发展，迎接这些挑战。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Every year, 10 million tons of plastic waste enter the oceans and 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted. This project will contribute to meeting such challenges by working toward a world without waste. It will identify the fundamental research needs and opportunities for achieving such a future that is also economically feasible, socially desirable, and environmentally viable. To achieve these goals, a series of workshops will held to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders across many disciplines from academia, industry, government and non-governmental organizations. Education curricula will be developed for a Masters program that will train students to work toward achieving a world without waste. For continuing research growth toward a sustainable world without waste beyond the duration of this project, a new section of a research society will organize regular conferences on this topic.This project will organize workshops with the overarching goal of examining the fundamental drivers underpinning the pressing challenge of spiraling global waste and resource consumption through the lens of convergence. An important realization from current efforts is that while engineering needs to play an important role by developing relevant technologies, other disciplines such as economics, social sciences, and environmental science are also essential for understanding and developing appropriate markets and societal incentives. Various disciplines need to forge links and transcend their traditional boundaries to move toward deeply convergent research approaches. In this project, multidisciplinary research teams will explore integration of knowledge, methods, models, and data necessary for creating and evaluating potential solutions. Co-creation of knowledge with stakeholder input will inform novel business models, engagement approaches, policy options, and innovative technical and science-based advances toward a sustainable world without waste. The proposed workshops will develop a framework for advancing convergent research and scholarship on the NSF big idea "World Without Waste." A new section will be established as a part of the International Society for Industrial Ecology to foster growth toward meeting these challenges.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.