Renewability and Sustainability: Current Status and Future Prospects

Renewability, recycling, and sustainability are burning issues in the world today. Survival of the planet and future existence of the human race depend on how these issues are handled. This article attempts to describe the current status and future outlooks of these three important topics, and their interconnections. The first part contains their definitions and brief descriptions. The well-known 3R, 4R, and 6R strategies are then discussed, including the more familiar ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ drive. Sustainable renewable practices are outlined. Different types of renewable materials are introduced, especially the more recent ones such as rapidly renewable materials, biorenewable materials, and bioplastics. This is followed by a discussion of renewable energies that appear to have the highest potential, including biomass, biofuel, and biodiesel. Environmental hazards and other threats to renewable resources are covered. Recycling practices are described that can prove to be sustainable. The last section is about newest renewable energy technologies such as marine energy and photovoltaics, describing their state of the art, advantages and drawbacks, and future prospects.