Upcycling – An Alternative to Recycling

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See on Scoop.it – Waste Waste Everywhere

Upcycling is different from Recycling. Recycling is the process of changing discarded materials into new products to prevent waste.  Upcycling is the practice of converting waste materials or usele…

Salman Zafar‘s insight:

reatment of aluminum cans is the closest to a true upcycling model. These containers can be melted down and made into brand new cans, and in the process save over 90% of the energy required to make brand new cans from scratch. This cycle can be repeated forever, reducing energy consumption and effectively removing aluminum from the waste stream.

See on www.cleantechloops.com

SWM Scenario in Iraq

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See on Scoop.it – Waste Waste Everywhere

 Iraq is estimated to produce 31,000 tons of solid waste every day with per capita waste generation exceeding 1.4 kg per day. Baghdad alone produces more than 1.5 million tons of solid wastes each year.

Salman Zafar‘s insight:

Rapid increase in waste generation production is putting tremendous strain on Iraqi waste handling infrastructure which have heavily damaged after decades of conflict and mismanagement. In the absence of modern and efficient waste handling and disposal infrastructure most of the wastes are disposed in unregulated landfills across Iraq, with little or no concern for both human health and environment. 

The World Beyond Your Trash Bag

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Originally posted on Earthling Nature:

by Piter Kehoma Boll

It’s been a while since I had the idea of writing a post about the garbage problem, but it’s difficult to find the best way to start it, so let’s try to simply talk and see how it flows.

Some months ago, as part of a field activity, I visited with some colleagues and a professor some places intended to manage waste. At first we thought it would be a boring day seeing garbage everywhere, but it wasn’t boring at all. In fact it was very enlightening.

After that day, I can say for sure that we have no idea about the horror caused by our garbage. We are used to simply throw our waste in the trash bag and let the truck take it away, just as it would miraculously disappear and everything would be fine. Well… that’s not what happens.

We visited a landfill…

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How to Deal with Healthcare Wastes

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Originally posted on The Confused Environmentalist:

I’m not a big fan of hospitals.  Oh, I know the great things that they can do to keep us healthy, but they make me nervous. I’m not exactly sure why.  It could be because I don’t understand the medical lingo.  It could be because of the pain and suffering that I know lies behind the patient doors and I am unable to offer any assistance.  It could be a variety of things, but most recently it is because I have witnessed the tremendous amount of waste and inefficient energy use that flows out of hospitals and I am unable to see how to offer sustainable recommendations without risking a decline in quality patient care.  There’s a fine line between a sterile first-time use of medical equipment and  a sterilized, re-manufactured second-time use of the same equipment. I’m not exactly sure why, but as a culture we have in our minds…

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Wasting of Seas

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Originally posted on Robert Kyriakides's Weblog:

We think of the oceans as being so vast that they can absorb whatever we humans throw at them or into them. For centuries sailors have tossed their garbage into the sea, and as we humans have burnt more and more fossil fuel, so the by-product of combustion, carbon dioxide, has been absorbed by the ocean turning it very mildly acidic. We have run sewage pipes into the ocean, letting our waste that has been processed by our bodies into the seas, and have discovered that it is better to let the waste discharge into deeper water, we have from time to time extended our sewage runs.

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