You’ve probably heard that billions of cups and containers go into landfills each year, but did you also know that the global sales of bottled water was over 174 million liters in 2011? Also, did you know that 90% of the cost of bottled water or more goes into things other than the water itself such as bottling, distribution and marketing?
The fifth International Engineering Invention & Innovation Exhibition (i-ENVEX 2014) in Kangar just wrapped up and the goal medalists beat out more than 87 entries with their project on the production of bio-products as a source of energy and waste water treatment.
The goal medalists are from the UCSI University chemical engineering and the students names are Jing Ren, Selvaraja, Chun Man and Shapnathayammal. The team, including Teoh Kai Wen developed an alternative fuel source that helps overcome fossil fuel dependence, and also reduces the pollution resulting from fossil fuel production. “It combines both the immobilization of cellulase enzyme (attachment of cellulase to a solid support) and functionalization (surface modification) of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) processes,” Jing Ren explained. Jing Ren also said that: “The past few decades have seen cellulase enzyme being used as the catalyst in industrial processes but large quantities are often involved and the associated purchase cost for raw cellulase is very high”.
The raw material used in this project was palm oil sludge, which was usually disposed after palm oil production. The chemical engineers converted the waste into different products, “bio-oil” and “biochar” by processing the palm oil sludge with pyrolysis.
Tokelau, a New Zealand island has an abundance of coconuts but the same can’t be said for other natural resources that help us survive. For this reason, Tokelau’s leader Foua Toloa announced in 2009 that the island will switch to using coconuts and solar power to provide all of the energy for the island. At the moment, diesel is administered to the island from New Zealand to meet the island’s electricity demands (about 42,000 gallons annually). In addition to diesel, gasoline and kerosene is also imported to the island.
In Tokelau, most of the population has modern appliances, including satellite TV and Internet. It’s astonishing to think that the island can run off of solar power and coconut oil but we applaud Foua Toloa and Tokelau for being so bold.
The new energy plan is to transfer most of the islands’ power generation to 93% photovoltaic solar arrays and biofuel from coconuts will supply the remaining 7% of power generated in Tokelau. Some say that this effort is purely symbolic but we should note that this is part of an effort amount South Pacific island nations to encourage renewable energy systems.
This gem just came on the web, besides the awesome graphic design and the fact that this is paperless environmental education this infographic is just jaw-dropping.
Landfill waste can be reduced from 40% to 30% by the year 2020 if people bought and sold reusable materials or salvage materials. RecyclerFinder.com makes it quick and easy to find recyclers near you for salvage materials and over 10 more categories of materials!
The cost savings of buying second doors, hardware for your home, tiles, cabinets and more is amazing. People who are into DIY or artists should also checkout a salvage yard sometime. Beyond the finds that you can give a new home, RecyclerFinder.com is also a great way to turn scrap into cash!
People who recycle in the U.S. and Canada will get money back for unwanted items and materials by simply finding facilities and making a few calls to find out how much they would be able to pay you that day!
The next time you need to recycle or dispose of cardboard, bottles, cans, plastics, metal, e-waste, construction and demolition debris, concrete, wood, hazardous waste, paint and more visit RecyclerFinder.com!
Bad environmental news such as the Great Pacific garbage patch, and the recent findings of plastic pollution in the Great Lakes had this writer wondering what would be a good treatment for the plastics that many people use and pollute the environment with. Our research found an amazing company called Blest.co.Ltd. which turns plastics such as polypropylene, polyethylene and polystyrene back into oil! When using one of Blest.co.Ltd.’s machines, the user simply places acceptable plastics in a chamber, presses a few buttons and watches as the recycling gets heated and the steam gets distilled resulting in mixture oil. The mixture oil can be further processed to make gasoline, kerosene, diesel oil, and heavy oil. The link to order your own Blest machine is here: http://www.blest.co.jp/index-english.html
To make matters even better, Blest’s Founder and CEO, Akinori is so passionate about this machine that he visits children in developing countries and other parts of the world to change their perspective about trash and to educate them about recycling. Akinori converts plastics into oil in front of children’s’ eyes because he is so inspired by preserving the environment for children. To see Akinori and this fabulous invention, please play this video and prepare to be amazed:
The Basel Convention is a United Nations treaty that was signed in 1989 to control the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal. The treaty helped define hazardous wastes, outlined how hazardous wastes are disposed and set guidelines such as approved facilities by city governments.
It’s been said that one event that prompted the Basel Convention was the Khian Sea waste disposal incident from 1986-2000. The Khian Sea cargo ship (which was registered in Liberia) was loaded with 14,355 tons of non-toxic ash from waste incinerations from the US. The story goes that a US company that handled the waste subcontracted a shipment to dump the ash in the Bahamas, however, the Bahamian government turned down the ash and so, for over one year the Khian Sea searched for a place to dump the ash. Many regions of the world refused to accept the ash and since the ash was even refused from the original area in the US from where it was received, in 1988 the crew dumped about 4,000 tons of the waste in Haiti as “topsoil fertilizer” and fled before they could pick up the ash as the Haitian commerce minister ordered. The Khian Sea then moved on to regions such as Morocco, Sri Lanka and Singapore where the captain testified to dumping about 10,000 tons of ash into the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
Here is an image of the home port of the Khian Sea in Philadelphia:
Yesterday morning, a NASA “mega-rocket” and a spacecraft video was posted on the web and it explained that NASA plans to test this new rocket later this year. This would be the “largest and most powerful rocket in history” so Orion will fly farther than any other spacecraft has in 40 years. Experts say that Orion has a somewhat old-fashioned design which is reliable as well as cost effective. Orion can also stay in space for over 6 months.
Orion is designed to deliver up to four astronauts even further into the solar system than ever before. Orion might go to the moon, asteroids and eventually Mars. For those familiar with the Space Launch System (SLS) seen here:
China’s food safety problems have no better symbol than the illegal and utterly disgusting problem of gutter oil. Cooking oil is used heavily in Chinese food, so some street vendors and hole-in-the-wall restaurants buy cheap, black market oil that’s been recycled from garbage. You read that correctly. Enterprising men and women will go through dumpsters, trash bins, gutters and even sewers, scooping out liquid or solid refuse that contains used oil or animal parts. Then they process that into cooking oil, which they sell at below-market rates to food vendors who use it to cook food that can make you extremely sick.
This video, produced by Radio Free Asia, shows in excruciating detail how a couple of gutter oil vendors go about their work. It starts with the couple scooping sewage out of the ground, and it ends with unwitting Chinese consumers chowing down on the end product:
To reiterate, this is illegal, something that Chinese authorities are trying to stop and not used by all street vendors. But it’s also thought to be widespread. Being reprocessed garbage and sewage, gutter oil contains all sorts of untold carcinogens. Many of the operations, like the one shown in the video, are small-time. But there’s enough money to be made that some producers go much bigger.
In April, Chinese authorities uncovered a gutter oil production ring that spanned 13 cities and over 100 people, who somehow acquired rotten animal parts and boiled down the fat into oil. The sting, which came after a five-month investigation, yielded 3,200 tons of the stuff; authorities estimated the black-market producers had already sold a stunning $1.6 million worth of their product.
Food in China is delicious, and gutter oil typically is used just in some street food stalls or cheap, hole-in-the-wall dives. But it is a reminder why authorities there are deeply concerned about food safety issues.
A barge moving through Galveston Bay collided with another ship Saturday afternoon, spilling over 168,000 gallons of marine fuel oil. The spill is particularly devastating, even though it isn’t the largest in recent memory, because Galveston Bay is a migratory bird habitat and shorebird season is fast approaching. On top of that, the type of fuel that spilled is particularly difficult to clean up. The ship was being towed when it collided with the other vessel, though there are no details at this point on how the collision occurred.
The ship contained about 924,000 gallons of the thick, tarry fuel known as RMG 380, but officials say that only one of the barge’s tanks was breached. The six crew members on the ship are all accounted for and are in “stable condition” according to the Coast Guard. Although the wildlife habitats that surround the area are at risk from contamination, the nearby town of Texas City is reportedly not at risk.
my green halo 