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September 13, 2006
Zapping Trash
Ever wonder what happens to all that stuff you throw away? It has to go somewhere and usually winds up in a nearby landfill. Some of it decays over time, but sooner or later, the landfill gets full and you have to start another one.
St. Lucie county in Florida has a better idea - they're going to vaporize their trash; not just the new trash, but all the trash they've been collecting.
They're building a facility that will use plasma arcs to turn trash into gas and rock-like material. The gas will be used to fuel turbines to create electricity, which will power the plant and be sold back to the power grid. The sludge from the wastewater treatment will be turned into a melted organic matter that will harden into slag and solf for use in road and other construction projects.
By zapping their trash at more than 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit they expect that they will delete their current landfills within 18 years.
I don't know if it'll work, but it's something to think about as we each create our 4.5 pounds of trash each day.
Posted by Jesse at September 13, 2006 11:38 AM