First assignment of group n° 056
Resources used by the team[modifier | modifier le wikicode]
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAr4BZM_Tzk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr_DGf77OhM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCdboG4DZBI
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/energy_resources/what_resources_rev3.shtml
http://mashable.com/2011/11/02/trash-tech-recycling/#d9Kt47cbGsk9
http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/benefits-of-plastics-recycling.htm
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Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NacKZeLvxKI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zHJun0r3Zk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BkcviD65Bo
http://www.journaldelenvironnement.net/article/quand-les-biodechets-vont-sortir-des-poubelles,62274
http://www.msf.org/article/france-msf-helping-3500-people-stuck-calais-jungle
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Videos:
http://garbologychallenge.weebly.com/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNIoyhhHyYA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg1tEKILiR4
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904583204576542233226922972
http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/reducewaste/coordinator/articles/Prevent.htm
http://www.networx.com/article/9-ways-to-keep-your-garbage-down
http://megadutch.com/Articles/garbage.htm
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Videos:
https://www.ted.com/talks/mike_biddle#t-9901
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmQby7adocM&spfreload=10
https://www.teachervision.com/recycling/video/74762.html#prettyPhoto/1/
http://articles.petoskeynews.com/2012-09-18/recyclable-items_33932608
http://www.economist.com/node/9249262
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Videos:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uwg6ei2V6-4
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/recycling-text
https://placesjournal.org/article/the-trash-heap-of-history/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_management
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Videos:
https://www.teachervision.com/recycling/video/74762.html#prettyPhoto/1/$
https://www.teachervision.com/recycling/video/74762.html#prettyPhoto[flash]/0/
https://www.teachervision.com/recycling/video/74762.html#prettyPhoto/0/
http://www.emagazine.com/magazine/collect-in-style
http://magazine.ouishare.net/2015/05/on-the-path-to-zero-waste/
http://makezine.com/2010/08/19/zero_waste_design/
http://www.emagazine.com/blog/put-down-that-bottle
http://myzerowaste.com/articles/throw-it-away/
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Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8w4hsRl-80
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-cWaRRLh3k
http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2015/09/22/la-culture-anti-gaspillage-a-la-japonaise_n_8174970.html
http://www.journaldelenvironnement.net/article/dechets-les-reformes-attendues-d-ici-fin-2015,62292
http://www.up-inspirer.fr/breve/150922443-ecologie-attitude-francais-a-loupe
http://www.consoglobe.com/gaspillage-monde-mangerait-faim-3025-cg
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Stop putting your future into the garbage!
What does it mean to clean a city?
One of the most common issues all around the world is the sustainable environment. As a matter of facts, the last ten years showed that every country is trying to improve their environment. But what cleaning a city does really means? For some people it is respecting the rules by throwing its garbage in the right place and sorting its waste and for the others the issue is much more than that. Indeed, cleaning a city is about three main principles: 1-Recycle: You can buy products made from post-consumer recycled material or try to recycle the maximum of product as possible. It is easy to participate to the improvement of the environment by recycling what you have at home. Those recycled products can be reuse and therefore the use of raw materials. You can recycle office paper, newspapers, magazines, batteries, used mobile phones, bulbs, Electronic and electrical waste (D3E), glass and plastic bottles and even more. 2-Reduce: This concept is very trendy nowadays and it is even easier than recycling your products. For example you can bring your own grocery bags to the store. As a matter of facts, in France and other countries, they are encouraging retailers to sell grocery bags that can be reused each time you come to the store and plastic bags have been withdrawn from the market. Use the same cup of coffee every morning when you buy a coffee in a store or even buy larger economy sized products in order to use less packing materials which will cost less at the end. 3-Reuse: The concept of free cycle is that you want to get rid of something and someone on the other side may need what you have. In this case your trash may be another’s treasure in the way that what you can’t sell can be donate. Therefore, you will reduce waste and improve someone’s life at the same time. You can reuse products for the same purpose, like plastic or paper bags for example.
- 1. What Problem do you want to solve?
According to a survey realized by the European Environment Agency, in 2014, Europeans were producing 481 kilograms of municipal waste. In alignment with this survey, we would like to consider waste not just as a problem but also as a resource. We actually want to improve the waste sorting process and therefore reduce significantly the existing pollution generated by: - The gas of dumpsites, such as the methane - The industries that create products from non-recycled plastic. Moreover, we will also decrease the deforestation caused by industries that create products from non-recycled paper. As a matter of facts, by using this waste, we will reduce the demand for extraction of new resources. Unfortunately, we are still a minority involved in this problem but we would like that people feel concerned and more involved in this issue since everyone is concerned by this situation. Even if natural resources are still present in our planet, this won’t be the case forever. Therefore, we need to focus and to think about our grandchild and all the future generations that will inherit our today’s negligence. According to a study realized by scientists in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published on June 24th, the consumption of natural resources by humans has increased considerably during the past 40 years. This rise led to a situation where the planet needs 1.2 years to restore what our generation consumed in one year. Human activities such as marine fisheries, fossil fuel burning and tree removal are dangerous for our planet and we need to find solutions to protect it as soon as possible.
- 2. Why does this problem exist?
By nature, humans are really careless with the problems of every day’s waste and trash. Indeed, the waste is the result of overconsumption and non-totally efficient use of everyday materials. According to UPSTREAM’S Issue Brief Unintended Consequences: Municipal Solid Waste Management and the Throwaway Society, researches revealed that conversely to what might be believed, the issue of trash is not a trait of the 20th century but does exists since the earliest times. Nowadays, production and consumption are the two dominant economic activities. However, because of manufacturing processes and community actions, those determinant economic activities deliver undesired materials. The truly thing about the 20th century is the complication of waste management. Indeed toxic components are becoming increasingly present in everyday products and those hazardous substances are becoming very challenging to deal with. As a matter of facts, the amount of waste keeps growing year after year, just as well as the resources consumption. Even if the government tried to raise public awareness and get citizens more involved in the process of recycling, those actions are obviously not enough since the problem of waste is still remaining.
- 3. What breakthroughs are you committed to creating?
We are committed to implement new dustbins, with technological equipment. People live from hand to mouth and don’t think about the long term future. Changing habits and mentalities will be our most difficult challenge. This is the reason why we want to develop a new project that will facilitate people’s daily lives and encourage them to sort effortlessly. Thanks to visual and tactile sensors, this equipment will be able to recognize different materials (such as glasses, cardboard, plastic etc.) and collected them separately. We’re committed to make the way of sorting process easier for everyone in our environment in order to recycle much more renewable resources. Moreover, companies will collect all the renewable resources in an easier way and therefore reduce the waste of sorting process. Also, we will introduce a whole process in order to solve nowadays preoccupation: The global warming. Henceforth, people won’t have to think about putting the right garbage in the right bin so non-renewable and renewable trash won’t be mix anymore. Indeed, we must have to solve the problem of overflowing landfills in order to protect the environment and therefore we will reduce our environmental footprint. Furthermore, we shouldn’t overlook to the economic impact. As a matter of facts, the state will spend fewer resources in order to build landfills and incinerators, so citizens will pay fewer taxes on the concern of waste. In order to carry on this project, we will need an important amount of resources. On the first hand, a significant budget estimated around 250,000€ will be required for research and development costs. This consequent budget can be justified by its technological complexity and the need of human resources (a consequent team of engineers and researchers).
Additional References: 1. The History of Waste: Do you want to be a garbologist? By Roberta Crowell Barbalace (http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/environmental/wastehistory.html) 2. Digest of Waste and Resource Statistics – January 2015 Edition Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/422618/Digest_of_waste_England_-_finalv2.pdf) 3. Waste: a problem or a resource? European Environment Agency - Published 01 Oct 2014 (http://www.eea.europa.eu/signals/signals-2014/articles/waste-a-problem-or-a-resource)
- Potential Expert:
Association ORÉE - oree@oree.org (likelihood : 3/5);
Centre de tri de Nanterre - Tél: 01.41.37.60.40 (likelihood : 2/5)