What to do with waste Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What to do with waste - Essay Example To imagine, the amount of wastes being generated in hundreds of million to billion tonnes per year on a global scale should be alarming to the point we could not at all afford to neglect the issue and show meager efforts toward resolution of the encompassing matter. Actually, no exact statistical figures convey the immense number that must be dealt with since there are unreported cases of waste generation in several countries yet we can only be certain of the fact that waste quantities increase as they vary in direct proportion with human activities, material and energy consumption, as well as the widely experienced technological growth through time. The world has long struggled at managing waste disposals and treating wastes due chiefly to insufficient funds and appropriate fields of study that lack resources in terms of skilled researchers or interested experts who may be visualized together as solid passionate teams in creating ideas and innovating systems that efficiently address waste problems. Given this ever-worsening scenario, thus, we are brought to ask in serious enthusiastic tone â€Å"What do we and can we really do about our wastes on this planet in order to save mother nature, human health, and probably settle other critical concerns thereafter?† At one aspect, we can think of the fossil fuel crisis that affects almost everyone in the world and consider the equivalence fossil fuels make with contemporary wastes. By common knowledge, we are aware that fossil fuels are derived from organic remains of prehistoric plants and animals that undergo natural process of anaerobic decomposition. It normally takes 700 million years for decaying plant and animal matters to be fossilized upon exposure to extreme levels of heat and pressure. So how exactly would wastes, in relative measure, account for the risks of fossil fuel depletion? The point of advantage lies at discovering wastes as possible substitute for fossil fuels based on similar useful compo nents such as coal, natural gas, oil, or petroleum which may be recovered from a bulk of wastes’ organic composition. A successful content analysis must illustrate, by comparative studies, how wastes could feasibly become a good alternative for such non-renewable source of energy as their commonalities basically indicate that wastes are rich in carbon, hydrogen, and other elements capable of evolving heat energy upon combustive mechanisms. Once we have wholly figured such feasibility of producing energy with wastes through large volumetric yields of hydrocarbons, the next approach would be to come up with practical tools and methods relevant for the task. Hence, realizing the full potential of wastes in the context of possibly replacing fossil fuels should in part respond to the main query. Moreover, in the attempt to carry out energy conversions via exothermic reactions with wastes in solid and gaseous states, it would be necessary to establish medium to large-scale fuel pla nts just as what Dr. Martin Linck proposed to do in aiming for a 300,000-gallon per day production of fuel. An article written by Earth Times online columnist Dave Armstrong entitled â€Å"What to do with waste? Make our own fossil fuels!† notes Dr. Linck’s attendance and discourse during the 244th meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia where a scientific breakthrough known as the Integrated Hydropyrolysis and Hydroconversion Process (IH2) was introduced. According to Armstrong, â€Å"IH2 was developed by Dr. Linck’s Gas Technology Institute (GTI) in Des Plaines – Hydrogen from the waste and many cheaper catalysts move the processes by which the ‘feedstock’ raw materials are converted into the oily products.† Apparently, in this setting, wastes enter a type of modern technology which would manufacture gaseous hydrogen and oils as ready-to-use fuels. At this stage, we may further extend thought to the probability of ad opting designs for fuel production at optimum level and we may to some degree be glad on