Remedies For Waste

December 15, 2008
The Wide Angle: Tech That Loves Trash
Now that you're an expert on plasma gasification, check out other innovative ways we're trying to deal with waste:

Super soil (bioremediation). This approach takes advantage of the reactions that take place naturally as micro-organisms, fungi, and bacteria in soil turn some scary pollutants into nontoxic compounds. At a Superfund site in Lake Park, Florida, environmental engineers are testing bioremediation to treat perchloroethene and other nasties that have been found in the groundwater behind a local business. Injecting carbon into the test wells appears to help move the process along.

Plant purification (phytoremediation). Since natural plants process waste and produce oxygen, they make ideal scrubbers for contaminated brownfields and even as caps for landfills. A study (PDF) by scientists at Central Queensland University in Australia set to be published in January suggests that plants can successfully reduce the amount of methane emitted from landfills and even thrive. While the practice has inherent risks, it's currently being tested down under.

Hybrid facilities (mechanical biological treatment or MBT). These treatment plants are part recycling facility, part waste management, part methane production using bacteria to feed on trash. See also "The Stinky Smell of Success." While MBT plants are still rather expensive to build, they're going up around the world. Last month plans for two new ones in the United Kingdom were announced.

Automated e-cycling. If you've got unwanted electronics you can take them to Goodwill for free and, through a partnership with Dell, they'll be properly recycled. The challenge with recycling e-waste efficiently is that there are so many components. Increasingly, intricately automated recycling facilities are popping up to tackle the complex process. Over the summer, plans were announced to build the first end-to-end e-waste recycling facility in India--a 100,000 square foot plant in Roorkee.