So, the race is on to figure out what to do with our trash. The good news? 30% of our waste is actively being recycled. The bad news? The rest is still taking of space somewhere. I've read of several technologies that attempt to 'harvest' garbage from these sites and convert it into useful byproducts, but I've yet to see one as widely used as plasma arc gasification from Montreal-based PyroGenesis.

What am I talking about? Plasma arc gasification takes solid waste, shreds it, and then feeds into a furnace where extreme electrical charges bring the temperature above 3,000 degrees. From the article,

After an hour or so, waste material breaks down into its molecular building blocks, leaving three marketable byproducts: a combustible synthesis gas, or syngas, that can be converted into steam or electricity; metal ingots that can be resold and melted down again; and a glassy solid that can be processed into material for floor tiles or gravel. Plasma furnaces can safely handle factory and hospital waste, hazardous runoff, and even the oil sludge that comes off ships.

How about that? This process is especially useful for large ships at sea with very few opportunities to dock and dispose. The Carnival Cruise line uses a PyroGenesis system to reduce 5 tons per day of cabin waste and food on one of its vessels into a few pounds of harmless sand. The US Navy recently hired PyroGenesis to develop plasma waste systems for new aircraft carriers due out in 2015. As the article mentions, an estimated $40 billion is spent annually to transport, incinerate, recycle, and store waste in the United States alone. The opportunity to cash in on this industry is immense.

Hit the article for more, and let's hope that the days of ski-slope landfills are coming to an end.