Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 05/17/2012 - 11:08

Do you think the current problem of having too much waste (paper, trash, food) could be solved using the ways that your team is using currently at Tooklik? Is it realistic to think that we might be able to burn and melt down our waste in the rest of the U.S. too?

Gal, Per 2

Melissa Barker

Very interesting question Gal.I think one of the problems with our general food system is that we have far too much packaging. I am not really sure of the environmental impact of large scale incineration. There are communities in the lower 48 that burn their trash and places where they burn waste to create energy. There are a lot of interesting technologies in this area. I don't really know enough about these technologies to say if it could work large scale. Also there are many locations where composting organic waste is more ideal than burning it, so the nutrients can be reused say in the garden.
This would be an interesting area of research Gal.
Ms. Barker