Waste hierarchy is a pivotal tool used in decision making. Ranking waste management options according to what has the best outcome for the environment. The five stages of the waste hierarchy are Prevention, Reuse, Recycle, Recovery and Disposal.
Fibre From Familiar Fruit Bananas are the most common fruit consumed worldwide. In 2019, the banana export market produced 21 million tonnes of fruit. This is less than 20% of the total global banana production market. A majority of bananas produced globally are not for export but for in-country consumption. The banana plant has a…
Reforming waste. How can we retrieve valuable materials from e-waste and multi-component materials in rural and remote locations? All Recycling Is Local We make significant efforts to know where our food is coming from. Is it not time we knew where all our waste goes? In January 2018, China implemented a ban on the import…
Clean Water Daily access to clean potable water is a global issue. UNICEF and WHO state that globally, 1 in 3 people do not have access to safe drinking water. Worldwide, 2.2 billion people lack access to safe in-home drinking water services. 4.2 billion people are without safely managed sanitation services, and 3 billion people…
Curitiba City, Brazil Curitiba City is the capital city of Paraná state, in south-east Brazil. The city has a population of approximately 1.95 million. Around 3.7 million people live in Curitiba’s metropolitan area. With over 80 million m² of preserved green area, this is equivalent to 41m² of green space per city resident. Curitiba is…
Sustainable Grass Bamboo are the fastest growing plants on earth. They utilise unique rhizome (underground stems) to self-multiply. This allows some species of bamboo to grow up to 0.91m or 3 feet in one day. Due to its fast growth, bamboo is a useful construction material. Engineered bamboo is created from the laminated and treated…
Marine Debris Every year, global production of plastic is rising. In 2019, the amount of plastic produced globally was approximately 368 million tonnes. This is 9 million tonnes more than in 2018. In our article Floating Island of Plastic Waste, we discussed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is 1.6 million square kilometres or three…
At Viable AlternativEnergy “green” (sustainable/ recyclable/ alternative) projects, products and ideas “give us life”. People who create and design new products with these concepts in mind inspire us. The annual Green Product Awards look at products designed to support the change towards a green way of living. They choose products for their aspects of design,…
Waste Hierarchy The Amended Waste Framework Directive (EU) 2018/851 put in place by the European Parliament establishes waste prevention and management legislation and policy. This directive includes the fiscal incentives for the application of the waste hierarchy. In this directive, ‘waste’ is defined as any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or…
The Decline In Biodiversity The loss of biodiversity in the food and agriculture sector threatens global food security. Furthermore, the decline in bees and pollinators are another major worry. Our reliance on pesticides and agrochemicals threatens our ecosystems and clean sources of groundwater. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) of the United Nations states that…
These top articles from Viable AlternativEnergy focus on sustainable, environmental and socially conscious projects, products and ideas. Please join us, as we recap our 7 top articles from 2020. 1. Cubo Modular Bamboo Housing This top article was a favourite with our readers from the Philippines. Cubo, created by Earl Patrick Forlales is a modern,…
In 2018, “What a Waste 2.0” the Urban Development Series produced by the World Bank gave a snapshot of global solid waste management until 2050. Organic waste comprised 56% of the total waste composition for low income countries, from an annual total waste volume of 93MT per year (million tonnes) or 5% of global waste…
Sustainable Waste Management Amager Bakke, also known as CopenHill, brings a sustainable waste management solution to the doorstep of city living. CopenHill is the cleanest waste-to-energy power plant in the world, on the industrial waterfront of Amager, Copenhagen, Denmark. Amager is Denmark’s most densely populated island. The Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant covers 41,000m² and rises to…
The average photovoltaic (PV) solar panel has a lifespan of 25 years. Solar panels contain glass, polymers, aluminium, silicon, lead, cadmium, tellurium and gallium. These potentially hazardous materials require specialised waste treatment at the solar panels end-of-life. In 2016, the International Renewable Energy Agency estimated there were 250,000 tonnes of global solar panel waste. In…
Hydrogen Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe. The power source that most stars burn to produce energy. First observed by Paracelsus around 1525 when experimenting with metals and acids. In 1766, Henry Cavendish isolated a gas 7-11 times lighter than air. Antoine Lavoisier named hydrogen in 1783, Greek for born…
In 2018, Professor Gérard Mourou (École Polytechnique) and Professor Donna Strickland (University of Waterloo) jointly won half of the Nobel Prize in Physics for ground breaking inventions in laser physics. “For their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses.” Chirped Pulses Professor Mourou and Strickland’s technique uses Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA), which they initially imagined…
What is Sustainable Art? Sustainable art encompasses a wide range of artistic concepts, everything from thought-provoking environmental critique to studios working with carbon neutral or green footprint objectives. Additionally, using reclaimed materials, eco-friendly methodologies, and restorative practices. The artists below delve into this realm of sustainable, conceptual, eco-art. Contemporary Artists Tan Zi Xi @MessyMsXi (Tan…
What is the future of renewable energy? Last week Planet of the Humans a documentary presented by Michael Moore and directed by Jeff Gibbs was released on YouTube. The documentary painted an alarming picture of renewable energy in the United States. We are not here to discuss money or politics. However, we cannot throw away…
Chewing gum is consumed by millions of people every year. Over £14 billions spent on chewing gums globally. Like Marmite, you may love it or hate it. Singapore has banned its import since 1992. However, over £60 million was spent to clean up Britain’s streets of carelessly disposed of chewing gum in 2018. The mastication…
Precious Plastic Universe (Precious Plastic version 4) launched on Tuesday 7th January 2020. At Viable AlternativEnergy, we’ve been waiting anxiously for this new update since August 2019. With earlier versions of Precious Plastic (version 2 and 3), followers have primarily used the information shared as educational tools or for small-scale projects. A major limitation was…
Viable AlternativEnergy posts focus on environmental and socially conscious projects, products and ideas. Please join us, as we recap our 7 top posts from 2019. 1. Kamikatsu – Japan’s Zero Waste Town The first municipality in Japan to promote a zero-waste policy. Residents sort waste into 45 categories. Kamikatsu municipality managed to recycle 81% of…
The Reppie Waste to Energy plant in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is the first Waste to Energy plant in Africa, completed in February 2018. Reppie Waste-to-Energy Facility. Image: Stuartkribki | CC BY-SA 4.0. | Wikimedia. Reppie is locally known as Koshe (Amharic for dirty). The Koshe dump site in the southeastern part of Addis Ababa and is…
Costa Rica is set to achieve over 98% of electricity generation from renewable sources for the fifth consecutive year. In 2019, the National Center for Energy Control (CENCE) declared that Costa Rica should generate around 98.84% of its electricity from a variety of renewable methods. Hydropower accounts for 67.5% of the country’s renewable energy. Wind…
Precious Plastic is an open source platform that shares their findings on how to solve plastic pollution. This project was created by Dave Hakkens from the Netherlands in 2013. The video below gives you a background on this project via the version 3 launch. We are patiently awaiting the updates that will come with the…
Tyres are complex products consisting of more than 200 raw materials. These different raw materials make it difficult for tyres to be recycled. Around the world several artists have been inspired by tyres and are very effective in sculpting old used tyres. Truly turning waste into art. A few artists from around the world include…
The Coradia iLint is the first passenger train powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The train was by designed by Alstom teams in Salzgitter, Germany and in Tarbes, France. Electricity is generated by hydrogen fuel cells when hydrogen and oxygen combine to produce water. This makes the cells a promising zero emissions, energy source that…
DFAB House shows the potential of digital fabrication. Through the brilliant collaboration between architecture, construction, and science. DFAB House is the first house of its kind. Designed, planned and built, using digital processes.
In 2004, all waste generated in Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital went to landfill. Presently, Ljubljana diverts 80% of its refuse from the landfill. Furthermore, 68% of this waste gets recycled. Ljubljana won the title of the 2016 European Green Capital award. This was a major win because Ljubljana was the only nominee out of the 5…
Sugru is a tool that helps to strengthen the reuse step of the European waste hierarchy. The five steps are “Prevention, Reuse, Recycle, Recovery and Disposal” respectively. Often times it is extremely difficult to repair items for reuse. Sugru is a mouldable, flexible, temperature resistant, waterproof and durable glue. It is able to harden in…
Share Shed– a “library of things”. A place where you can borrow useful items like: sewing machines, household appliances, camping, gardening and sporting equipment and so much more! Would your local community benefit from a library of things?
Binners’ Project supports the most marginalised people in urban areas. Helping them to create an income from the collection of redeemable containers and other things from bins. Enabling these groups of waste pickers to sustain their livelihood and to divert waste from landfills.
Bite, brush and repeat. An environmentally friendly alternative to plastic toothpaste tubes. They make this toothpaste pill from natural ingredients. Additionally, all the packaging is recyclable, thus reducing waste to landfill.
Kamikatsu, Tokushima Prefecture, was the first municipality in Japan to promote a Zero Waste policy. The residents sort waste into 45 types in 13 categories. The municipality managed to recycle 81% of all their refuse in 2016.
In The Netherlands microgrid communities are pioneering a new approach to generating and sharing energy. This would mean neighbourhoods of the near future could produce their own renewable power.
San Pedro La Laguna is the first community on Lake Atitlán. Also, the third municipality in Guatemala, to ban the use of plastic bags. The new provision is stringent. The provision outlaws plastic straws, Styrofoam containers and all packaging material made of polystyrene.
Wecyclers allows people in low-income communities to capture value from their waste. This Lagos based company provides a door to door collection service. Giving households a chance to generate value from waste. Also providing a reliable supply of raw material to the local recycling industry.