Waste is Power

- But do we have to burn it?

The project this week is about waste management and sustainable living, as an individual
and as a society. You will be asked to consider needs versus wants, the difference between
possible and plausible and what you consider reasonable. All while learning about science,
technology, engineering and mathematics through an applied real-world problem.

We have prepared 8 different subtopics to be distributed amongst the groups and this page
represents the starting point for one of these projects:

Problem:
Problem area:
There is power in waste, sometimes a lot of it. Plastic is made from oil and when it is treated
in a way that makes recycling impossible, you get to burn it.
Most countries, if not all, collect household, industrial and public trash in central plants that
processes it. In this process there is always a bit of waste that is either not recyclable, not
worth recycling or simply organic. Most of this can burn or produces flammable gasses
under the right circumstances.
In Denmark and many other places we use it for fuel in the combined power plant and
waste processing facilities called waste-to-energy plants, providing heat and electricity to
the cities around them. Is burning our waste the best way though and what are the
alternatives?

Problem definition:
What would be the most sustainable way, for humanity as a whole to handle the waste we
generate, that would also be plausible?

Suggested paths and questions to pursue:

- How much usable waste is destroyed because it is not worth moving?
- How much waste is not recyclable?
- What is needed to set up a processing plant like this?
- How perfectly can waste be sorted and what happens if it fails? Is perfect sorting a
reasonable goal?
- How much trash can neither be recycled or burned? What happens to it?

Sources:
http://www.volund.dk/Waste_to_Energy/How_it_works
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/28/burning-issue-are-waste-to-energy-plants-a-
good-idea
https://ramboll.com/services-and-sectors/energy/waste-to-energy

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https://zerowasteeurope.eu/2018/02/9-reasons-why-we-better-move-away-from-waste-to-
energy-and-embrace-zero-waste-instead/

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Criteria and specifications:
Present your findings/ideas and products to a group of smaller children on friday. You have
about 8 minutes for every round. There will be 8 rounds. Use your creativity to win the
contest, since the best group wins a present.
- In english
- 7-8 minutes per presentation
- An appealing presentation (maybe with interactive elements?)
- Use visuals and paper models or show experiments
- Understandable for younger children

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