Recycling

There are several videos showing the conversion of plastic to oil and, although this one is rather light on the finer technical detail, I think it's one of the better ones. As a particular supermarket says 'every little helps'.

The machine, produced in various sizes, for both industrial and home uses, can easily transform a kilogram of plastic waste into a liter of oil, using about 1 kW·h of electricity but without emitting CO2 in the process. The machine uses a temperature controlling electric heater instead of flames, processing anything from polyethylene or polystyrene to polypropylene (numbers 2-4). 

Comment: 1 kg of plastic produces one liter of oil, which costs $1.50. This process uses only about 1 kW·h of electricity, which costs less than 20 cents!   

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Money For Nothing

A guest post from Joe Public.

Such prescient lyrics, composed in 1985

"Money for nothin' and chicks for free 

Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it

Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb"

Who'd like to be paid, not for doing something, but for not doing something?

Charles Hendry, Minister of State for Energy, has stated recently that “in 2011 constraint payments totalling £12.1 million were made to wind farms through the balancing mechanism”. 

The Renewable Energy Foundation claims on its database the biggest recipient of constraint payments was Hadyard Hill wind farm in south Ayrshire which received £2,150,068 since 2010. It is operated by Scottish & Southern Energy on land owned by former presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament Alex Ferguson. According to his declaration of interests last year, he estimated his rental income to be between £40,001 and £45,000 a year.

REF's enlightening database is searchable & sortable. An invaluable tool.

It was Bob Dylan who sang:

"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind."

Meanwhile, in Hungary, a $billion-worth of Forints is being put to good use, in the ultimate recycling scheme...

Annually, Hungary recycles about $1 billion worth of old forints (currency of Hungary), and converts the worn out currency into briquettes. After which, these are distributed to different charitable organizations . The briquettes are used as a heating fuel. This unique government program covers up to a third of the expenses in heating some of the buildings.

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Is This the Best Example of Recycling You've Seen?

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Is This the Dearest Rubbish in Britain?

Moving waste from Skye to a landfill site near Falkirk resulted in one of the costliest disposals in Scotland, according to Highland Council.

Environmental services chairman John Laing said almost 8.000 tonnes were transferred last year because the island's landfill site closed in March 2007.

Transporting rubbish more than 200 miles was deemed a cheaper option than extending the site's life. Mr Laing said a more environmentally-friendly local solution was needed. Factors contributing to the cost of moving rubbish off the island include contractor fees and landfill taxes.

Efforts to curb the amount of waste having to be dumped include the possibility of burning it at a small-scale energy from waste (EfW) plant, which would provide heat to a number of properties.

Mr Laing said he suspected the cost of dealing with Skye's waste was higher than that for Inverness. With a population of 71,579 Inverness has about 59,000 more people than live in Skye and Lochalsh.

Why on earth did a council allow a landfill site to be closed without making sensible alternative arrangements for the disposal of rubbish? Highland and Islands council often complain that their overspend is due to the geography of their area, but they can't make that an excuse in this case. This is just incompetence - plain and simple. As for the green issue I won't go there.

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