Waste Into Resource

The Mr Fusion Energy Reactor seen in the Movie Back to The Future which converted household waste into power may seem like a pipe dream but Imaging if we could convert our waste into a resource? wouldn't that be neat?

Currently we view rubbish as a waste product and a hassle to dispose of but couldn't we actually be using it as a resource. Imagine that every landfill being full of resources, free for the taking. Instead of a land fill it could be a mine of resources just sitting there.

But your probably thinking Does it take some special futuristic devices to utilise our trash, well no, it just takes a bit of good design and ingenuity.

If you look at ecosystems their is no waste it all goes back into the system supporting other forms of life, it is only when it is running inefficiently or when a vital organism is missing that we get waste.

Here are some examples of completely enclosed ecosystems with plants and animals living in harmony.

"Nothing enters or leaves the container, such as food, air, water or waste. The only elements required are light and heat. The light causes the micro algae to produce the oxygen and food for the Opae'ula, which in turn produce carbon dioxide and nutrients for the algae to grow.

Our planet is a closed system in which living organisms are sustained: a Bio-Sphere where nothing leaves or enters except sunlight."

So if we could design our cities like ecosystems then we would be able to use our resources efficiently and produce zero waste, like Buckminster fulller said "doing more with less".

Check below for some video clips of ways waste could be used as resources.

The other question is how big can our cities be if they expect to be sustainable? what size of city is sustainable? so next I am going to look at settlement studies

We need to look at our cities as a whole system rather than individual units