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    Waste and Recycling: Approaches Through Technology

    Uploaded by

    Bill Kuhl
    This presentation discusses approaches to addressing waste and recycling issues through technology. It provides data on the large amount of waste produced in the US each year, including electronics waste. The presentation explores how technology can help through recycling, using alternative materials to petroleum-based plastics, incineration to reduce waste volumes and produce energy, and composting to more quickly break down organic matter into topsoil. The goal is to raise awareness of challenges around waste and how technology may help manage these problems.

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    Waste and Recycling: Approaches Through Technology

    Uploaded by

    Bill Kuhl
    108 views19 pages
    This presentation discusses approaches to addressing waste and recycling issues through technology. It provides data on the large amount of waste produced in the US each year, including electronics waste. The presentation explores how technology can help through recycling, using alternative materials to petroleum-based plastics, incineration to reduce waste volumes and produce energy, and composting to more quickly break down organic matter into topsoil. The goal is to raise awareness of challenges around waste and how technology may help manage these problems.

    Original Description:

    Some of my ideas on how the huge amount of waste material can be handled through technology.

    Original Title

    Waste Recycling

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    This presentation discusses approaches to addressing waste and recycling issues through technology. It provides data on the large amount of waste produced in the US each year, including electronics waste. The presentation explores how technology can help through recycling, using alternative materials to petroleum-based plastics, incineration to reduce waste volumes and produce energy, and composting to more quickly break down organic matter into topsoil. The goal is to raise awareness of challenges around waste and how technology may help manage these problems.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    108 views19 pages

    Waste and Recycling: Approaches Through Technology

    Uploaded by

    Bill Kuhl
    This presentation discusses approaches to addressing waste and recycling issues through technology. It provides data on the large amount of waste produced in the US each year, including electronics waste. The presentation explores how technology can help through recycling, using alternative materials to petroleum-based plastics, incineration to reduce waste volumes and produce energy, and composting to more quickly break down organic matter into topsoil. The goal is to raise awareness of challenges around waste and how technology may help manage these problems.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 19

    Waste and Recycling

    Approaches Through Technology

    Bill Kuhl
    This presentation is one in a series of presentations to create
    awareness of how technology is being applied to address major issues,
    I am not trying to push any political agenda, only an awareness of the
    importance of science.

    Note: the data used in this presentation was mainly found through
    Internet resources, hopefully it is fairly accurate. There are people that
    will argue that recycling wastes more energy than it saves. My point is
    that there are big challenges in modern society and through technology
    such challenges hopefully will be more manageable problems in the
    future.
    Waste – What are the Issues
    •With increasing population and our pre-packaged lifestyle, there is an
    increasing amount of waste and fewer places to dispose of that waste.

    •When not disposed of correctly waste can be hazardous to the environment


    and our health.

    •Progress has been made in recycling many materials which saves room in
    landfills, causes less pollution, requires less energy, and saves on raw
    materials.

    •New “eco-friendly” materials have been created that do not require


    petroleum and break down faster in landfills.

    •There is much debate on whether we are running out of landfill space, not
    many people want to live near a landfill and in the past there have been
    issues of groundwater contamination from landfills.
    How Much Waste?

    •According to the Environmental Protection Agency the United States produces


    approximately 220 million tons of garbage each year.
    •This averages out to about 4 pounds of garbage for each US citizen each day.
    •This is equivalent to burying more than 82,000 football fields six feet deep in
    compacted garbage.
    How Much Waste?
    The Garbage Produced in the United States
    Each Year Could Fill a Line of Garbage Trucks
    Stretching from the Earth to the Moon
    Electronics Waste

    Especially in electronics, technology changes so fast that


    items often are discarded while still operational just to stay
    compatible with current technology.
    Electronics Waste

    •There are now a billion computers in use worldwide -- over 200 million in the
    United States.
    •In the United States the average life span of a computer is three to five years,
    30 million become obsolete each year.
    •Many of the computers end up as toxic waste allowed to degrade in landfills.
    Electronics Waste

    Monitors, particularly the older cathode ray tube monitors are one of the
    worst computer components to put in the landfill. Each one contains 3 to
    8 pounds of lead as well as mercury, cadmium, and chromium which are
    hazardous to the environment.
    Using Technology to Help Manage Waste Issues
    These are some of the ways I see the excessive waste problem
    tackled through technology:

    •Recycling

    •Alternative Materials

    •Incineration

    •Composting
    Recycling

    About 95% Less Energy is


    Needed to Make Aluminum
    from Recycled Sources than
    From Raw Materials
    Recycling

    Recycling a Single
    Aluminum Can Saves
    Enough Energy to:

    Run 100 Watt Light Bulb for Power a Television for 3


    Almost 4 Hours Hours
    Recycling

    More Space Could be Saved in


    Landfills by Recycling Paper than
    any Other Material
    Recycling

    If Each Person Re-used 1 Grocery


    It Would Save 60,000 Trees
    Sack for 1 Trip.

    Think of How Many Trees if


    Everyone used Re-useable
    Cloth Grocery Bags
    Recycling

    Plastic Bags made from


    Recycled Plastic rather
    than Raw Material Require
    2/3 Less Energy and Over
    80% Less Water
    Recycling

    Glass Containers Made from


    Recycled Glass Containers uses
    About ½ the Energy than Making
    from Raw Material.
    Alternatives to Petroleum-based Plastics

    Most plastic products are based on plastic that is petroleum-based. In


    addition to requiring a dwindling resource that powers most transportation,
    this type of plastic takes a very long time to break down in landfills.
    There are plastics known as “bioplastics”
    that are made from more natural resins
    such as corn, wheat, potatoes or algae.
    For food containers, alternative eco
    -friendly materials have been created
    from raw materials such as wood fiber,
    starch, and limestone.
    Costs for the eco-friendly materials has
    been slightly higher but with the increasing
    cost for petroleum and improvements in
    manufacturing technology for alternative
    materials the cost difference should disappear.
    Incineration

    Waste incinerators can reduce the volume of waste by over


    80%, pollution issues must be addressed and the cost is rather
    high. As a benefit steam heat and electricity can be produced.
    Composting

    The natural process by which microorganisms break complex organic matter


    into topsoil can occur more quickly through composting. There must be
    selection in type and ratio of waste material to maintain a good nitrogen to
    carbon ratio. Composting can be done on an individual basis or on a larger
    scale.
    Check Out the ScienceGuy Website: http://www.scienceguy.org

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