We would love to banish it from our conscience, just like all our negative feelings and unpleasant memories: the waste that each and every one of us produces every day of our lives. We toss our rubbish bags into the container or set them out on the street, bring our old mobile phones to recycling centres. Out of sight, out of mind: we let others collect, incinerate, and ship or bury our waste for us.

However, as in psychology, we can repress something, but it will eventually find its way back to us. As microplastics in our bodies. As electronic waste in Ghana. As munitions that are washed up on the Baltic coast decades after the Second World War. Or as a massive pile of rubbish in an incineration plant, exposing what we successfully block out in our everyday lives: the sheer volume of our legacy in the form of waste.

In this issue of our magazine, we attempt to follow the different types of waste as they embark on their respective journeys. We want to find out what happens once something has lost its value to us. Where does our waste go? Who makes a livelihood from it? Who bears the risks associated with the waste? And could some waste components still be of value?

Much of yesterday’s waste is considered a resource today. Whether electronic or radioactive waste: the idea of recycling is as compelling as it is obvious. Raw materials should remain in the cycle for as long as possible and be reused time and again.

However, the stories in this magazine show that there are no miracle cures. Recycling can extend the lifespan of materials, help recover raw materials and reduce the waste volume. Yet every material cycle comes with its own challenges, and each one produces some waste of its own.

This applies to radioactive waste in particular. New reactor concepts and reprocessing methods are fascinating and worthy of serious debate. They could eventually make an important contribution. Yet even if the most ambitious technological promises become a reality, some high-level waste will always remain. A deep geological repository is therefore not an alternative to recycling, but a safeguard needed to ensure the safety of humans and the environment in the near and distant future.

Waste is not just what we throw away. Waste is what is left when all is said and done. This magazine reminds us of our responsibility towards this waste.

Patrick Studer, Nagra’s Head of Communication