A concept worth sharing: Enhancing the process that would occur naturally in a landfill by concentrating different types of UV light in an EM radiation resistant receptacle — or, a next level trash can.
Imagine what that would achieve for waste reduction, with materials like ‘forever’ plastics never even entering the typical waste management system. The larger endgame would be significantly contributing to upgrading waste management by simply eliminating a lot of it. That said, materials composition has to change as well, so as to have a definite breakdown or shelf life.
It can take different kinds of waste years, decades, hundred of years or even supposedly thousands of years to break down under the ‘normal’ circumstance of photodegradation, under the sun, in a landfill.
The proposed device, the trash can of the future now, amplifies that process with UVB and UVC light. And we actually don’t get much of that day to day from the sun. In other words, let’s move that trash to closer orbit.
Of course the material composition of the receptacle is very important to ensure safety and effectiveness, to amplify the lights within it while containing any electromagnetic radiation and even absorbing it. One such included material could perhaps be a graphene coating. (1) This is a single 2D layer of graphite, which was one of the first minerals to form in the universe. So it makes sense that form or ‘allotrope’ of carbon would be equipped to handle solar rays, from an evolutionary standpoint.
Another less exotic but no less amazing option is: ALUMINUM, which the current prototype is making use of. Aluminum foil even shows promise for being an effective reflector AND absorber. (2)
The point here is making the construction easy, so that anyone could make it at home, a process in addition to being a product. For the moment, climate action supersedes traditional economy. And I certainly feel this is a strong enough concept to put to further testing, especially academic and industrial laboratories.
So at home of course it’s important to be careful handling UV Lights, sometimes used for sanitation, yet they are relatively safe — especially compared to X-rays and Gamma rays, which would not do the job anyway because of wavelength. By the way, did you know that lightning produces gamma rays? (3)
Anyway, the UV lights are enclosed within the receptacle. And in order to enhance the speed of degradation or decomposition, the intensity, wavelength and reflectivity of the light(s) are important. There could very well also be other factors of importance such as pulse duration or other catalysts.
I’m still ordering parts for the prototype but so far the component concepts add up. Worst case scenario, I spend a little bit of money and it doesn’t quite work. Best case scenario is that it works great with some tweaking and I continue sharing my findings. Unlike my re-design of the speed rope, I consider this idea to be really important and something the world needs. It probably won’t take that much funding to finish the prototype, but manufacturing it obviously would.
That’s my offering for the 2023 MIT Solve Climate Adaptation Challenge and it’s great to get the idea out there for consideration and possible funding or eventual production, although as you can see in the link, the original description is a different. I was unable to edit my solution after a certain point, closer to the evaluation deadline. The new updated version described here is much safer and more practical, translatable for portable and home use. The words “novel chemistry” can be updated to “novel photochemistry!” I’m certainly thankful for the platform’s inspiration to work on this idea and contribute to the larger scope of bringing important environmental and systemic upgrades closer to materialization.
- https://physicsworld.com/a/cool-graphene-composites-block-em-radiation/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9231098/#:~:text=Among%20the%20potential%20metal%20powders,the%20UV%20radiation%20in%20sunlight.
- https://universe.nasa.gov/news/220/whats-made-in-a-thunderstorm-and-faster-than-lightning-gamma-rays/