That is the question David Dixon is currently working on. He’s doing an internship with the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. The Dutch government is looking for ways to capture and recycle harmful greenhouse gases that are present in building insulation materials and released during demolition work. “The EU introduced legislation on this type of waste management in February, but it’s quite complex. There’s no consensus even on the definition of waste. Is it waste if someone no longer wants it, or is it waste if it can no longer be used?” At the moment, he’s mainly involved in the project through Teams, but Dixon plans to work full-time at the ILT office in Utrecht this summer. He’s not doing it for his studies; he won’t earn academic credit, only an internship fee. But that’s not his priority, he says. “It’s about gaining work experience. And it looks good on your CV.”
Milkman
He was raised in a “fairly liberal family” in Meerssen, South Limburg. They mostly ate organic food, a habit he has maintained. “I want to stay as connected to nature as possible, like people used to be with their own animals and crops. And returning bottles to the milkman – very sustainable. We’ve lost touch with that through industrialisation.” He only eats organic food, but going vegetarian is a step too far for him? He laughs. “We definitely don’t eat meat every day.” By “we” he means himself and his father, whom he has lived with since he was 18 years old. Before that, following his parents’ divorce when he was 4, he lived with his mother, who went on to have two more children with her new partner: Dixon’s half-brother and half-sister. “I have two fathers – a biological one and a non-biological one.”
Legos
Has he always been interested in chemistry and the circular economy? “Looking back, yes. I remember once being at McDonald’s with my father and asking him what my Happy Meal toy was made of. Plastic, he said. I was shocked. I thought plastic was soft, like sandwich bags. Or when I asked my stepfather what water is made of. He used Legos to explain atoms to me.” In high school, though, Dixon chose to specialise in economics. His grades weren’t good enough for him to specialise in physics and technology. “At the time, I was totally preoccupied with other things, like girls and hanging out with friends.” He was held back twice in the fourth year and wasn’t allowed to continue to the fifth and final year of HAVO (senior general secondary education). This meant that vocational training was his only option. He enrolled in a course in precision mechanics, working with metal to manufacture parts for technical equipment.
After completing the course, Dixon enrolled in a biometrics programme at a university of applied sciences. “I thought I liked biology. Biology combined with technology sounded super interesting to me.” But it wasn’t a success, and he quit after the first year. After that, he went back to working with his hands for a year. First in the chemical industry – “back to working with machines”, he says enthusiastically – and then as a technical drafter at another company. But he wasn’t as happy there: “Sitting at a desk all week isn’t for me.”
Climate change
And now he’s enrolled in the Maastricht Science Programme at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Dixon also joined the faculty’s Green Team, part of the Green Network, which promotes sustainable initiatives within the university. “Like giving all faculty buildings green waste recycling bins. Until recently, I genuinely thought that was my idea”, he grins, “but it turns out that PreZero (a waste management company) had already been in discussions with the university about it for a while.” But will any of it make a difference? Many people would be disheartened by the news on climate change. Not Dixon, though: “I see an upward trend in awareness of the problem, and an increase in sustainability policies. If we keep it up, I think we’ll manage to turn the tide.” That said, big polluters like Shell will have to get on board. “They’re working on it – they have to. It’s paradoxical: they’re the cause of the problem, but they also hold the solution.”
He wants to “do his bit”, too. Ideally in a role bridging the gap between policy and implementation, like in his current internship position at ILT. “It’s nice that everyone is coming together to create laws, but the laws also need to be enforced.” But first he’ll pursue a master’s degree – in something related to the circular economy, that’s for certain.