By production managememnt (aka waste management)

By recognizing that there is value in the by-product (any by-product), we may have hope to maintain our living standard without adding more burden on the environment. Here is a suggestion:


Hope someone will fund startups making that happens

Every household should breed these flies

By Paul Olivier on Tue Jun 24 13:30:01 2003 source

Yes, the post is several years old, but still worth your time to read:

Imagine a bioconversion process that reduces the weight and volume of food waste by over 95% within a matter of just a few hours. The process requires no energy, no electricity, no chemicals, not even water. The process is totally self-contained. It produces no effluent, and aside from a small amount of CO2, it produces no methane or other greenhouse gases. The process is housed within a container that resembles a small plastic garbage bin. The unit has no moving parts and requires no maintenance. Since it must be emptied but once a year, it eliminates altogether the collection, transport and landfilling of food waste. It can be situated out-of-doors in a shaded area, and any number of units can be coupled together to handle unlimited quantities of waste. The process generates very little odor, and at the same time, it very effectively repels houseflies and other filth-bearing flies. The unit requires very little expertise or experience to operate, it sells for less than $35 US dollars, and it can handle the daily food waste of more than 25 people. The process not only generates its own heat, but it also regulates and stabilizes heat to assure maximal bioconversion throughout the winter months.

With such efficiency and benefit, shouldn't every household breed some? It is Soldier Fly, native to America, but has already spread to the rest of the world including Australia. The conversion is done by its larvae.

[it] poses no threat to humans and has never been associated in any way with the transmission of disease. Yet at the same time, this benign creature possesses one of the most robust digestive systems within nature. It thrives in the presence of salts, alcohols, ammonia and a variety of food toxins. Upon reaching maturity, it migrates out of the unit and into a collection bucket without any human or mechanical intervention. This self-harvesting grub represents a bundle of nutrients that rivals in commercial value the finest fish meal. This creature can also be used to process poultry waste as well as human and swine feces.

more at http://www.esrla.com/brazil/frame.htm

Treat Water, Make Energy

I am advocating the use of "by-production management" instead of "waste management" because this will shift our focus of the way of utilising the "waste".

Here is a good example. A single-chamber fuel-cell which uses "waste-water" as its energy source.

The single-chambered microbial fuel cell is essentially a plexiglass cylinder about the size of a soda bottle. Inside are eight graphite anodes (or negative electrodes), upon which the bacteria attach, and a hollow central cathode (or positive electrode). Electrons flow along a circuit wired from the anode to the cathode.

A steady flow of wastewater pumped into the chamber feeds the bacteria. Bacterial digestion of the wastewater's organic matter unleashes electrons into the electrical circuit and positively charged hydrogen ions into the solution. Those ions reduce the solution's oxygen demand, a key goal of wastewater treatment. The hydrogen ions also pass through a proton-exchange membrane to reach the cathode. Meanwhile, a hollow tube within the cylinder contains the cathode, which is exposed to air. At the cathode, oxygen from the air, hydrogen ions coming through the membrane and the electrons coming down the circuit combine to create water.

[...]

The single-chamber design is important, he said, because it facilitates a "continuous flow-through system," a design consistent with existing treatment systems.

By introducing air passively through the tube within the cathode layer, this model also greatly reduces the need for more aggressive – and energy-demanding – aeration schemes to treat the wastewater. Thus, as it creates electricity, it also reduces the need for it.

This is turning a cost-center (treating waste water) into a profit-center. Even better is the size of the device. It can be installed at our home and let's us reduce our energy bill. WoW!

Trash to Treasure

This video shows how IBM converts rejected wafers (which is a "waste") into valuable product for solar cells. Another "By-product" concept which helps IBM create over 1M per year!