Old
rubbish - new ideas
There are
uncountable millions of tonnes of rubbish which have been dumped in
landfill all over the world. These festering holes are the hidden
dustbins which nobody wants to know about.
And
they produce vast
amounts of methane which is one of the worst greenhouse gases.
A British company is now in the forefront of the
effort to tackle
this
problem.
Advanced Plasma Power
has
formed a
partnership to dig up an enormous landfill site in Belgium. They will
recycle half the municipal waste and convert the rest into renewable
electricity - enough to supply 60,000 homes. This project, which will
start operating by 2014, is the first of its kind in the world.
There are plenty of landfill sites in Britain which
could be exploited by this new technology. If we go on dumping waste,
we will run out of space by 2018. Landfill taxes are due to double over
the next five years to try to delay the inevitable.