Turning waste into valuables

Hi,
So this post was requested on Twitter after our September Top Tips about recycling. Today we will be talking about how to turn complete waste into something reasonably valuable. This is basically a form of upcycling but to a more extreme level.

1. Ecobricks

So, almost a year ago we did a post about ecobricks, but they are such a good example of turning waste into valuables that we decided to put it here anyway.
Ecobricks are a building material made from plastic. The waste plastic is washed and then compacted into a clean plastic bottle (also waste). The bottle becomes very hard and durable. Multiple bottles can then be used as bricks and cemented together.
The 'bricks' are strong and do not decompose. For more info, read our post where we go into more detail.

2. Metals

Although this may seem like something not worth the time. When you separate the metals in waste (for example an old car), you can get usable metal out of it. Seeing as metal doesn't decompose over time, it can be used again and again. Some manufactured items contain precious or rare metals which are actually quite valuable. So if these are separated from the rest of the waste, they can be sold for the same price as they were before being manufactured.

3. Leather

Some leather companies will use the hides of already dead animals for their leather production. These skins often come from the meat/dairy industry and would otherwise be considered waste. However, certain companies claim to use these skins and save millions of tons of waste from landfills. These claims cannot always be trusted, seeing as, after many meat production procedures, the animal skins would not be reusable. But at least it's a start.

4. Paper byproduct

There are now hopes of turning a byproduct of paper production into quite valuable chemicals that can be used to make nylon. This method would have environmental benefits when it comes to energy usage and chemical waste. About 50 million tons of 'kraft lignin' are created in paper production each year. It would normally be burned, producing carbon dioxide, which then fuels the climate crisis. So this new solution is very exciting.

5. Energy

So this is the most problematic option on this list. Turning waste into energy is a widely used solution. Normally waste will be burned creating light and heat, which can be converted into electricity. With the current energy shortages, this seems like a great solution. However, the burning of waste releases huge amounts of CO2. It also destroys materials that could have been reused. So, this is a quite controversial form of producing electricity. I am hoping to write a post where I talk about this in more depth, so keep your eyes peeled.

Your Green World Blog Team💚

Sources:

https://eitrawmaterials.eu/turning-waste-into-valuable-resources-recycling-as-a-major-pillar-of-raw-materials-supply/
https://www.ameslab.gov/news/new-process-turns-paper-manufacturing-waste-into-valuable-chemicals
https://www.rts.com/blog/what-is-waste-to-energy/

Image:
This image, owned by Redwin Law (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Comments

16.08.2020 Animal of the week: Elephant

Hello. On the 12th of August it was International Elephant Day, so we decided that this week's post should be about elephants. Elephants are the largest living land mammals. There are three types of elephant; the African bush elephant; the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. African elephants have larger ears, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears. Elephants use their trunks to breath, bring food and drink to their mouths and to grasp objects. Elephants' legs are like pillars. They carry the Elephant's massive weight. African bush elephants weigh 6000kg, Asian elephants weigh 4000kg and African forest elephants weigh 2700kg. Basically, they are very heavy.Elephants eat grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots. Elephants can live up to 70 years old in the wild. They communicate by sight, touch and smell. Sadly, these wonderful mammals are in danger. African elephants are listed as vulne...

Energy comparison: wind turbines

Hello, Finally, we are back with another energy comparison. Today we're looking at wind turbines. Wind power is a fast-growing renewable energy source. In the US, the wind power industry currently employs 120 000 people across all 50 states. It could grow to employ hundreds of thousands of people by 2050. 9% of the electricity in the US in 2021 came from wind turbines, that’s 136 000 megawatts. The wind power industry saves 329 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. General knowledge and categorisation We should probably start off by clarifying how wind turbines actually work and what types there are. I’m not going to give an in-depth description of how wind turbines work because I don’t want this post to turn into a physics lesson. To put it very simply, the wind turns the blades, which turns the rotor. The rotor then turns the generator, which converts the kinetic energy (movement) into electricity. There are obviously a lot more...

How well do you know the Arctic and the Antarctic? - Quiz

Welcome back to Green World, As announced last week, we're starting our new monthly series: quizzes! This post contains the questions, you have to write down the answers and compare them with the solutions right at the bottom of this post. Questions: True or False? The Arctic is not actually a land mass, it's a frozen ocean. How many people live in the Arctic circle? a) 500 000 b) 4 million c) 10 million True or False? Narwals don't actually have unicorn-like horns. That's just a legend. What percentage of the world's freshwater is frozen within the Arctic's ice? a) 10% b) 15% c) 20% True or False? The Arctic covers parts of 15 different countries. Scientists exploring Antarctica have measured winds of up to... a) 100 km/h b) 150km/h c) 200km/h True or False? The driest (natural) place on Earth is in Antarctica...

Energy comparison: solar (PV) panels

Hi everyone, Today I'm looking into the first on a long list of energy sources: solar (PV) panels. Are they actually sustainable and could they become our main energy source in the near future? After all, enough energy from the sun reaches the earth in 90 minutes to cover the entire world's energy consumption for a whole year! How they work There are a couple of ways to transform energy from the sun into electricity. The one we are looking at today is solar panels also known as solar photovoltaic technology. Photovoltaic (PV) technology is the key to solar panels. A solar panel is made of many PV cells. A single PV cell will produce 1-2 watts of power. They are very thin and are normally protected by glass and/or plastics. This is the best explanation I could find (click here for the source): When the semiconductor is exposed to light, it absorbs the light’s energy and transfers it to negatively charged particles in the material calle...

The life of ... an alcon blue butterfly

Hi everyone, Today we are going to be looking into the life of an alcon blue butterfly (Phengaris alcon). After mating, the females lay their eggs on marsh gentian, a blue-coloured wildflower. The eggs can only be laid on these flowers, as this is what the newly hatched caterpillars will eat. Although in some alp regions, they can also be found on willow gentians, a close relative of the marsh gentian. Once the caterpillars have hatched from the eggs, their main predator and danger are the ants that swarm below. But high on their plant homes, the caterpillars are safe. However, this isn't where the alcon blue caterpillars are going to stay forever. Eventually, they drop down to the ground using silk strings. With no protection, they are soon dragged off by the ants. The most amazing part is, the alcon blue caterpillars give off the same scent and chemicals as the ant larvae. So the ants take the caterpillars back to their brood chamber, wher...

Discussion || Should Everyone Switch To Electric Cars?

Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today, as I hop on the blog to discuss whether everyone switching to electric cars would really help the environment. In other words, should everyone switch to electric cars? This is the first part of a two-part series, discussing electric cars, so stay tuned for part two!! I would like to start this post by stating that I am by no means an expert. This is knowledge I have from my own experience, and from research I have done. If anything is incorrect please take it as it is and accept that this is a discussion and I am taking on board all opinions from reliable sources on this complex topic. Electric cars are a huge topic when it comes to sustainability and "saving our planet". There is no debating the fact that electric cars are better for the environment than diesel or petrol once they are on the road. But the production of them is often very polluting, with one study show...

The life of ... a koala

Hello everyone, Today we're talking about koalas. Also known as koala bears, koalas are marsupials. So they're actually not bears. Koalas, phascolarctos cinereus , are tree dwelling and probably best known for spending most of the day sleeping. They live for up to 15 years in the wild although captive koalas generally live for longer. Koalas have a stout, gray body and a cream-coloured chest. They have a broad face, small yellow eyes and big fluffy ears. In adaptation to climbing, their feet are strong and clawed. Adult individuals in South Australia weigh 14kg and are 60-84cm big. Their Eastern cousins are considerably smaller. Koalas are found in Eastern and Southern Australia, where they live in eucalyptus trees. They feed on the leaves of these eucalyptus trees, eating up to 1.3kg a day. With a body weight of up to 14kg, this means they eat just under 10% of their body weight every single day. However, the le...

June Top Tips | Fast Fashion and Consumerism

Happy June everyone! This month you'll get introduced to the topic of fast fashion. It is a big thing, not only because of environmental reasons but also touches on topics such as child labour and exploitation. We know this sounds pretty grave once again, but here is some good news (surprise, surprise!): You can do something! Read on to learn about what fast fashion is, where the problems are and what you can do better. 1) What is fast fashion?! Fast fashion is a term for the ever-changing demand and supply loop of the clothing industry. Every season people want to wear different things, and different clothes are in style. That leads to people buying clothes, wearing them as long as everyone else thinks they're great and then jumping to the next wave of clothes. The demand of the masses changes quickly and the clothing industry has to react just a step ahead of them to make money. The goal is to produce the wanted clothes as quickly, as chea...

10 Animals on the edge of extinction - you did not know about No.2

The Kākāpō ~ New Zealand's green teddy bear-parrot The Kakapo is a bird mainly found in New Zealand. It is a rather curious creature, a pretty big, green, nocturnal parrot that cannot fly and looks like a mixture of a parrot, a penguin, an owl and a teddy bear. Kakapos are on the verge of extinction due to their peculiar breeding habits, predators, and hunters. They are flightless and nocturnal and are the biggest parrots in the world. They can also live for up to 120 years! History Like most living creatures, the number of Kakapos in New Zealand was healthy before humans arrived. They waddled across the islands like nothing else. However, when people came to New Zealand, they started hunting the Kakapo for its feathers, meat and skin. They also brought alien species such as rats, weasels or cats that posed a threat to which they were not accustomed to. Their survival "trick" (not really a new thing, maybe the Kakapos like it old-fashio...

10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about no. 7 - tooth-billed pigeon

Hi everyone, We're back with another endangered animal. This time it's a pigeon, but not the kind that we're used to seeing in cities. The tooth-billes pigeon, didunculus strigirostris, is the only remaing species of the Didunculus genus and is one of the closest living relatives of the world-famous Dodo. The adults have chestnut coloured bodies and wings, a greenish head and neck with red skin around the eyes, reddish feet and an orange bill with a characteristic jagges tip (hence the name tooth-billed). They are 31-38cm long and weigh about 400g. The juveniles are duller with a brown head and a black bill. Tooth-billed pigeons are shy and are belived to live in small groups. These terrestrial birds are endemic to the islands of Upolu and Savai'i. They are Samoa's national bird and can be found on the local currency. In Samoa they are known as Manumea and are eaten on a local and national level, but not internationally. They ...

Green World

Search This Blog