Today: Finding Uses for Unusable Materials Week 4, Lesson 10 Friday, September 25, 1998 Dr. Vincent Duffy - IEEM SOSC Science, Technology and Society 1

administrative v Today - ask questions about homework v please mark any questions you have on the back of your QOTD names sheet v last day to finish/update ‘a’ or ‘h’ grades by turning in written sheets v Monday 28th - no lecture v Wednesday 30th - report due, oral presentations v Oct. 2nd - holiday v 5th - sustainable development v 7th - review v 9th - evening exam (no lecture) 17

3 Recall: What has already been done? Innovations energy production from burning trash recycling paper too much trash!

Some Solutions to the general problem : too much trash n solutions u recycling u newspaper recycling u burn garbage to convert to energy n How about a more specific issue/innovation u examples 4

What is one way to reduce the amount of MSW in landfills? n see reading on recycling u source reductions - use less packaging u market incentives - subsidize recycling u reuse materials for other purposes u separation of recyclables at source; before collection; paper, aluminum, glass, plastic n Q.1. Finding uses for non-usable materials is an example related to what ‘tool for analysis’ that you know? u Social lag - it takes time to make improvements 6

Q.2 Why is not so much paper recycled? n Why? u quality of recycled paper sometimes not as good as new u paper recycling is not as cost effective as other recyclables u recycling equipment is too expensive u cost of making new paper is low compared with recycled paper u cost of making new aluminum is expensive by comparison to paper n Q2. cont. How to get more recycled paper? u laws, regulation, taxes, gov’t processing, u government subsidize; pay for used paper 7

Q.3 What complementary technologies exist for paper recycling? Complimentary technologies n Alternate question: u Suppose you could get the HK government to subsidize costs of some technology so that local businesses could buy machines w/ this technology for $1. n What machine/technology would it be? u shredding & processing used paper u space - capacity for de-inking machines u this would be a complimentary technology for recycling paper 8

Recall? Innovation: Automobile v primary result of autos, trucks: –better transport of goods, –people could live in suburbs work in city v secondary result: –too many used tires; –billions; this is a problem v social lag-response/adaptation to innovation –re-use tires as bits in road –or as barriers for sound reduction (see reading) 9

See illustration from reading (cartoon of sound reducing wall) 10

What could be a problem for using tire bits for road materials or sound reduction? n recall: problem of tires in landfills? u take up too much space u rodent infested u mosquito breeding n reused: road material, sound reduction n problem: u heat trapped in roads u and then……? u danger from fires 11

Insert ‘scrap tire plan…’ 12

n Q.4. What does the example about reusing old tires for sound reduction illustrate? Hint: ‘it is one of the tools for analysis’. u Secondary results - unexpected outcomes 13