Blog 3

January 7, 2015

Covanta

Before I start with the real topic, just wanted to say this is the first time I actually decided to title my blog! Ha!  

Covanta! Incinerators! Recycling! Can the Genie just come out and grant our class three wishes so we can solve the issues. But if solving problems was that easy then we would be currently living in world where Global Warming would not be an issue and things would be sweet as a candy! I prefer chocolate, but no worries!

To start off, the Convanta Advance Recycling Center created the Convanta Indianapolis Energy-from-Waste Facility. This is the first completed Convanta in the entire continent of North America. The whole purpose of the Convanta is to make recycling more efficient. Exactly how does it do that? The Convanta understands that people do not always recycle or are fully educated about recycling (like me in the beginning of the course, I did not know that juices boxes do not belong in paper-recycling, the juices boxes contain several metals inside it that it is really hard to separate it!) so they allow the residents to dispose all the trash, which includes recyclable and non-recyclable trash, in one bin. The bin then is collected by workers, the workers take the trash to a facility that separates regular trash and the recyclable materials. In the end the recyclable materials becomes steam, which is used to power-up and give energy to the city of Indianapolis. This is a common-sense solution that no one pays for! People are not being charged for this but given the opportunity to actually help aid the world and in return get that energy back. This program has increased the opportunity of recycling up to 500%

Sounds like a great program right? Yes, but it also has some loopholes or flaws, which is what Aristotle would say. To start off, the fact that people do not have to worry about separating trash worries me but also makes me a bit happy. As I have mentioned, not everyone is educating about what items are recyclable, and how recycling just works.  To solve this issue the city should educate the residents and this can be done by flyers or if we want to save on paper send agents to door-to-door.  This method would take longer but it can save energy. In addition once we educate the residents recycling can be done by the residents and this way none of the good stuff will lose its value. The second problem with the Convanta is that what happens to the trash? Just because recycling becomes higher does not mean we ignore the trash. A percentage is just a number. In summary the Convanta has loophole but in redesigning the system the problem can improve.