I'm not sure if this is the right place but I figured I needed to make known an interesting method developed to deal with waste;
This is a design whereby [any] waste is disintegrated by a plasma arc with such intensity that you get, at the end, a gas [which can be used for power] and metals and silicates [which could be used for roading].
I think it's something we should look into rather than continue using landfills for our waste.
Submitted by Alan J on 11 July 2009 19:15:28
Comments
That's very interesting. Is this the technology that is used to deal with tetrapak laminated boxes (like UHT milk cartons)? A whiole ago someone posted a YouTube link here showing how tetrapak cartons were dealt with, but unfortunately the video was in Portuguese (I think) so I couldn't understand it! Fortunately 'Plasma' seems to be one of those universal words...
As for the technology, I think that sounds great. However I do think that we need to deal with our waste a lot more at the source rather than waiting until it becomes 'wasted' then looking for ways to dispose of it. We can't just expect to carry on living our lives in a manner that takes scarce resources and throws them away.
This looks like an interesting solution for the end of the line - but I would much prefer to see social and cultural changes at the beginning of the cycle to prevent waste to start with, rather than technological solutions at the end of the cycle.
Submitted by Lindis on 15 July 2009 14:19:02