April 15, 2013

POWERING THE WORLD WITH WASTE

By 2025, the amount of waste produced by major cities is predicted to double, according to the World Bank. This means that annually, cities around the world will produce 1.3 billion metric tons of garbage. That staggering statistic leads to one question: Where will we put it all?

Australian businessman Anthony Pratt has plans to put that waste into your light bulbs, your laptop and even your microwave oven.

Pratt aims to one-day use household waste as a source of power and believes he could one day power major cities with his system. Already, Pratt has successfully built power plants beside paper mills in Australia and the U.S. These plants run on waste pulp obtained from the paper factories. As the pulp is burned, it produces enough energy to run the paper mills and gives off very few emissions in the process.

At this point, Pratt's plants still cost between $100 and $150 to power each year, but plans are in development to boost his current plants' energy-producing abilities. One day, Pratt hopes to be able to sell power from his facilities to local residents and then continue to open waste-powered facilities throughout the U.S. and Australia.

There is no word yet as to when Pratt's vision may become a reality, but plans like this do provide some hope that our planet won't become buried in mountains of waste in the years to come.