by Kent M. Sherry, Executive Director
Several weeks ago I wrote an article about the revolutionary Plasma Converter. The most efficient method on this planet of disposing of garbage, medical waste, chemicals, old ammunition, paint, sewage, everything but nuclear waste, for less money than it takes to build operate, and sustain a landfill for life. What process on earth can take shredded trash and convert it to hydrogen gas and molten glass without releasing any pollutants into the air. Imagine, no smoke, no flames, no ash, no radiation, just usable byproducts. A reporter, observing the plasma conversion process through an LCD monitor with a live video feed from inside the converter remarked, "A vivid magenta glow fills the screen as I watch the plasma torch vaporize a bucket of cellphones and soda cans. A hopper at the top of the vessel dumps another load into the plasma reactor, and seconds later, it vanishes too".
Imagine not having to set aside acres of valuable farm land for the disposal of diapers, drums of seeping chemicals, old bottles, and other unusables. Every year, America generates about 450 million cubic yards of trash, enough to bury 26,000 football fields in a layer of garbage ten feet deep. On top of that, more than 7.6 billion tons of industrial solid waste is generated annually in the United States. That is the equivalent of more than 8,500 Golden Gate Bridges, more than 2,000 Empire State Buildings, or 1,200 Hoover Dams.
For the majority of people, trash is probably pretty low on the totem pole of priorities. Throwing everything away and relying on a hauler to take the waste to a landfill is a quick and easy means to an end. With landfill waste disposal costing up to $80 per ton, companies are taking a closer look at the expenses associated with waste handling, collection, hauling, and disposal, and discovering that waste reduction and recycling actually help to save money and improve profitability.
So why hasn't the plasma converter taking off? It has taken ten years of research and development to make it work. While the technical capability was available during the 1980s, the concept for a product was not. In other words, just because the trick could be done didn't mean it was worth doing. Trucking garbage to dumps and landfills was still cheap. Environmental concerns weren't on the public radar, and landfills and incinerators weren't yet widely seen as being a public menace. Some people at that time thought, when you mentioned that you were working with plasma, it had to do with blood and HIV.
In 1997 the U.S. Army began working with a company named after the TV/Movie show Star Trek. Called Startech, the army became the company's inaugural customer, buying a converter to dispose of chemical weapons at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. A second reactor went to Japan for processing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, really nasty stuff that has been found in fish throughout Ohio and along the shores of Lake Erie. Tom's River, N.J. is investing heavily in plasma converters to convert old tires into ethanol. (Imagine how many millions of old tires are stock piled across Ohio or buried in landfills right here in Clark County.) New York City is also investing in plasma converters to vaporize the city's garbage.
Even though Startech is now perfecting and beginning to market community size waste disposal units, there will always be a need to recycle. The problem with recycling is, it doesn't pay for itself. Wouldn't it be much easier and more cost effective to simply change the molecular structure of aluminum cans, copper pipe, or plastic bottles? Turning new and usable products.
Progress towards the creation of a more sustainable future depends alot on how we handle our waste. Because the cost of raw materials and other resources are expected to rise over the next few years, there will be an even greater incentive for industries to make products that are more efficient and can be used over and over again. The plasma converter is only one of a number of technologies that will help play a major role abating the production of green house gases.
Recycling alone is helping to make mother earth a little healthier. Instead of dumping wastes into steadily decreasing landfills (the number of landfills dropped from 8,000 in 1988 to 1,654 in 2005) many local governments like Clark County, have established recycling centers for homes and businesses. Others have created materials exchange programs to assist businesses to find outlets for unwanted materials or to convert waste byproducts into usable products. For example, Methane gas, generated by the Treemont City Landfill, is being sold to Navistar as an effective way to save on the cost for energy.
We need to encourage our government to invest in the plasma conversion process. In the future, it will be hydrogen that will power our cars, buses, and planes. Clean burning Hydrogen does not pollute. Plasma converters do not pollute. Why are we standing around talking about other less palatable means of disposing of our waste?
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