And now for something completely off base. I just Stumble!Upon'd a Digg story about some very exciting new tech. 74 year old Joseph Longo, founder and CEO of Startech Environmental Corporation has developed a revolutionary garbage disposal unit.

But this is no ordinary garbage compactor or hollowed out space rocket ready to send our banana peels into outer space!

It's a Plasma Converter.

What the hell does that mean you ask?
Well as described in Slice of Scifi it works its magic by;

"This annihilation process is described like something similar to the the big bang, only in reverse in that you get nothing from something, instead of something out of nothing. Inside a sealed vessel made of stainless steel and filled with a stable gas—either pure nitrogen or, as in this case, ordinary air—a 650-volt current passing between two electrodes rips electrons from the air, converting the gas into plasma. Current flows continuously through this newly formed plasma, , creating a field of extremely intense energy very much like lightning. The radiant energy of the plasma arc is so powerful, it disintegrates trash into its constituent elements by tearing apart molecular bonds."

So what becomes of all those torn apart molecules? They are turned into an obsidian-like glass used as a raw material for numerous applications, including bathroom tiles and high-strength asphalt, and a synthesis gas, or “syngas”—a mixture of primarily hydrogen and carbon monoxide that can be converted into a variety of marketable fuels, including ethanol, natural gas and hydrogen.

The only trash this little beauty cannot tear apart is nuclear waste as it is already in its natural atomic state. As a destructive child who still enjoys pulling things apart, this thing sounds like a wonderful toy!

You can find a full detailed review on popsci.com.

So! How long will it take for our local governments to bring this into the environmental election arsenal? At an easy $250 million per unit it's peanuts. Especially seeing as it can process roughly 2000 tons of waste per day which is apparently what an average large city will produce.

The byproducts can also be sold by the government or better yet put to good use fixing our roads, supplementing our power supplies or even our petrol bills!

Imagine a world without landfill and renewable energy provided by our own waste. Cool!


Credits: Image sourced from Popular Science.
Quoted from: Slice of Scifi