Recycle

Recycling is defined in the Websters Dictionary as a process which 'Converts (waste) into reusable material or Returns (material) to a previous stage in a cyclic process.

Did you know that -a society's energy consumption is reduced by recycling...Glass, Steel, Aluminium, newspapers, Plastic and even Used Batteries -ALL can be recycled today! What are we giving back to our future generations? Do you children not deserve more? Lets join hands and lets Recycle!!

Recycling is  done in three stages..first the old products are collected , sorted, cleaned and made ready for recycling or processing.Then manufacturing of new products from the raw material is done and Finally, the process ends with the purchasing of recycled goods by the consumers. 

So why is Recycling Important??

• It is an Ethical deed.
• It makes optimum use of our waste.
• It saves Energy thereby reducing our Carbon Footprint
• It saves Natural Resorces so they can be around a while longer.
• It reduces Pollution and other harmful elements destroying the Enviornment.
• It helps us reap great Economic benefits.

Lets take a look at the Global Recycling Scenario...what are countries around the world doing, what are their collaborated efforts on Going Green.

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recycles about 31% of its waste with New York, Virginia and a few other states leading the way.
• In China, Beijing hopes to increase their recycling rate from 10 percent to 90 percent whereas four Chinese cities, including Qingdao, Guiyang, Xining, and Jiaxing are working with Japan on a urban-waste recycling up until 2015.
• Japan has a 360 Billion Dollar Recycling Industry. As it is a country with barely any natural resources , reycling programmes are the need of the hour and Necessity becomes the Mother of Invention.Japan recycles nearly 50% of its total waste.
• In Germany 'Not Recycling' is punishable by law. Apartment Buildings have five types of rubbish bin  which are colour coded- a yellow bin for packaging, a blue bin for paper and cardboard, bins for glass and a black bin for the rest of the rubbish.
• In Dharavi India, Recycling is a major source of income as almost 200,000 people make a living by creating their own Recycling factories. $0% of E waste in India is recycled and is mandatory by law. The E-waste Rules 2010 — drafted by the the Ministry of Environment and Forests came into effect on May 1, 2012. Using plastic bags is punishable by law and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has been empowered to implement the ban and register complaint against violators. 

Here are some Interesting Recycling Facts:-

• It is said that every person creates around 4.7 pounds of waste every day.
• Recycled glass containers can save about 9 gallons of fuel.
• Another amazing fact - recycled paper produces less air pollution than if it was made from raw materials.
• 125 recycled aluminum cans save up enough energy required to supply power to one home for 1 day.
• Glass never wears out and can be recycled forever. A glass bottle takes approximately 1 million years to decompose in a landfill site.
• A recycled glass bottle can save enough energy to run a computer for 25 minutes.
• Recycling an aluminum can preserves enough energy required to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours or a TV for 2 hours.

Recycling plastic is a method of recovering scrap or waste plastic and processing it into a product that is both useful and different from its original state. Such processing could mean melting down plastic furniture to make bottles and containers.

Plastic is difficult to recycle...it needs greater amount of processing as compared to other objects like metal and glass. Heating alone is not enough to melt plastic. Plastic is non biodegradable but now there is change and plastic can be recycled just as efficiently  as other products.

The important thing is to identify the type of plastic it is so that it can get segregated properly and then be recycled. Lets get a lowdown on the types of plastics identified. 

• Plastics PET or PETE (polyethylene Terephthalate) Found in: Soft drink, water and beer bottles; mouthwash bottles; peanut butter containers; salad dressing and vegetable oil containers; ovenable food trays.Recycling: Picked up through most curbside recycling programs.  Recycled into: Polar fleece, fiber, tote bags, furniture, carpet, paneling, straps, (occasionally) new containers. 

PET plastic is the most common for single-use bottled beverages, because it is inexpensive, lightweight and easy to recycle.

•  Plastics HDPE (high density polyethylene) Found in: Milk jugs, juice bottles; bleach, detergent and household cleaner bottles; shampoo bottles; some trash and shopping bags; motor oil bottles; butter and yogurt tubs; cereal box liners Recycling: Picked up through most curbside recycling programs, although some allow only those containers with necks. Recycled into: Laundry detergent bottles, oil bottles, pens, recycling containers, floor tile, drainage pipe, lumber, benches, doghouses, picnic tables. 

HDPE is a versatile plastic with many uses, especially for packaging. It carries low risk of leaching and is readily recyclable into many goods.

• Plastics V (Vinyl) or PVC  Found in: Window cleaner and detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, cooking oil bottles, clear food packaging, wire jacketing, medical equipment, siding, windows, piping. Recycling: Rarely recycled; accepted by some plastic lumber makers. Recycled into: Decks, paneling, mudflaps, roadway gutters, flooring, cables, speed bumps, mats.

PVC is tough and weathers well, so it is commonly used for piping, siding and similar applications. If you must cook with PVC, don't let the plastic touch food. Also never burn PVC, because it releases toxins.

• Plastics LDPE (low density polyethylene) Found in: Squeezable bottles; bread, frozen food, dry cleaning and shopping bags; tote bags; clothing; furniture; carpet. Recycling: LDPE is not often recycled through curbside programs, but some communities will accept it. Plastic shopping bags can be returned to many stores for recycling. Recycled into: Trash can liners and cans, compost bins, shipping envelopes, paneling, lumber, landscaping ties, floor tile.

LDPE is a flexible plastic with many applications. Historically it has not been accepted through most American curbside recycling programs, but more and more communities are starting to accept it.

• Plastics PP (polypropylene) Found in: Some yogurt containers, syrup bottles, ketchup bottles, caps, straws, medicine bottles.Recycling: Number 5 plastics can be recycled through some curbside programs. Recycled into: Signal lights, battery cables, brooms, brushes, auto battery cases, ice scrapers, landscape borders, bicycle racks, rakes, bins, pallets, trays.

Polypropylene has a high melting point, and so is often chosen for containers that must accept hot liquid. It is gradually becoming more accepted by recyclers.

• Plastics PS (polystyrene)Found in: Disposable plates and cups, meat trays, egg cartons, carry-out containers, aspirin bottles, compact disc cases. Recycling: Number 6 plastics can be recycled through some curbside programs. Recycled into: Insulation, light switch plates, egg cartons, vents, rulers, foam packing, carry-out containers.

Polystyrene can be made into rigid or foam products -- in the latter case it is popularly known as the trademark Styrofoam. Evidence suggests polystyrene can leach potential toxins into foods. The material was long on environmentalists' hit lists for dispersing widely across the landscape, and for being notoriously difficult to recycle. Most places still don't accept it, though it is gradually gaining traction.

• Plastics Miscellaneous Found in: Three- and five-gallon water bottles, 'bullet-proof' materials, sunglasses, DVDs, iPod and computer cases, signs and displays, certain food containers, nylon. Recycling: Number 7 plastics have traditionally not been recycled, though some curbside programs now take them.Recycled into: Plastic lumber, custom-made products.

A wide variety of plastic resins that don't fit into the previous categories are lumped into number 7. A few are even made from plants (polyactide) and are compostable. Polycarbonate is number 7, and is the hard plastic that has parents worried these days, after studies have shown it can leach potential hormone disruptors. 

White Poison: Asbestos

Posted on April 14, 2013

As a child i remember my summer holidays in my grandfathers old house. Those were unending days of leisure and one can still recall how time stood still in those long summer afternoons when we played on the kitchen floor. My grandma’s kitchen brings back memories of exotic smells, of food being eaten hot as it was cooked. But that ended when my grandma died after a long spell of suffering caused by asbestos related poisoning and subsequent lung cancer….you see the roof was not cemented but was made of old asbestos sheets lined next to one another. It was the fumes from the microscopic fibers that she inhaled and ingested over the years that had a devastating effect on her health.

According to International law, Asbestos is listed as a category of controlled waste under Annex I of the Basel Convention on the Control of Trans boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. Banned in 60 countries worldwide including the European Union, Asbestos is India’s next biggest killer.

Known for years as the poor man’s material and popular for its use in construction due to its high resistance to heat and fire, asbestos use  in India continues to grow. 

Asbestos fibres are used in the cement industry located in 18 different parts of the country. It also has its uses in the textile industry and in the mining and milling industries of Andra and Rajasthan. Despite its hazadrous nature the Indian government gives incentives and makes Asbestos artificially cheaper.New factories are coming up near Vaishali in Bihar despite opposition from NGO’s, local workers and the Human Rights Commission. 

The country is now the world’s second largest asbestos market, behind only China, consuming nearly 3,50,000 tonnes . The industry generates more than $850 million a year in revenue, and directly employs 3,00,000 people. Indirectly, it supports as many as three million more. Backed by a powerful lobby and government consent asbestos use in India has risen by 83 percent. Serving the poor, this hazadrous material is imported in tonnes from Russia and Canada.

A study by two Delhi researchers suggests that by 2020, deaths from asbestos-related cancers could reach one million in developing countries. So what exactly is Asbestos poisoning?? Shortness of breath,  a dry cough and a tightness in the chest is what a person exposed to Asbestos will feel. These are the first symptoms. 

Main health problems attributed to asbestos include

• Asbestosis - A lung disease first found in textile workers, asbestosis is a scarring of the lung tissue from an acid produced by the body’s attempt to dissolve the fibers. The scarring may eventually become so severe that the lungs can no longer function.
•  Mesothelioma - A cancer of the mesothelial lining of the lungs and the chest cavity, unlike lung cancer, mesothelioma has no association with smoking.
•  Cancer - Cancer of the lung, gastrointestinal tract, kidney and larynx have been linked to asbestos. The latency period for cancer is often 15–30 years.

Disturbing facts about Asbestos use

• India is the largest importer of Asbestos. Most of it is used in making corrugated sheets which sell for as little as 300 INR.
• More than 100,000 people in India are employed by companies producing Asbestos.
• An estimated 55,000 workers are constantly exposed to the harmful effects of Asbestos unaware of the dangers.
• Economic development and construction are the reasons for the overuse and easy availability of this resource. 

Hybrid Horizons in India

Posted on April 2, 2013

India is finally accepting Hybrids. This year the Indian automotive giant Mahindra and Mahindra launched their hybrid hatchback- the E-two-oh.(read E 20). This hybrid is a better version of the previous prototype launched by Mahindra way back in 2001. The earlier one did not gain popularity and acceptance due to performance and capacity issues. The new Mahindra E 20 is a step ahead of that.

Designed and styled by Dilip Chabbria himself, the new Reva looks futuristic and has features that promise to attend to the earlier shortcomings. Its on road price in New Delhi is 5,90,000 INR and the car will be phased out in 8 cities through 29 dealerships with its manufacturing plant being in Bangalore.

Given below are the features of the Reva E20.

• The Reva E20 has more space as compared to the earlier version and can seat four easily.
• It has an air conditioner, power steering, music system, a power outlet USB port .
• The E20 is powered by an electric motor with the lithium-ion batteries.
• It has a range of approximately 100 kilometers on a single charge and a speed of 80 kmph.
• The Reva can be charged from a power outlet and full charging takes 8 hours. The batteries come in three sizes-small, medium and large.
• The electric car promises  a running cost of .50 paisa per km as it is nearly one tenth of a same size petrol car.
• It does not require servicing but an annual check up of the batteries will do.
• The batteries come with a three year warranty or 60,000 kms and the one time cost of replacement is Rs 1.5 lakhs.
• The car comes with three apps for your smartphone- reva e20 , life with e20 app and the E20 connectivity app. The apps help to lock/unlock the car with the smartphone and also help to turn the AC on or off. Besides this you can check battery charge and enable GPS on your smartphone for better directions.

Buying the Reva E20 comes with multiple benefits as the Delhi Government like in other countries has slashed the prices of the road tax in half and also offers a refund on your Vat of 12.5%. A 15% subsidy on the base price is also offered. 

India has spent a whopping 230 billion INR to increase hybrid vehicle production in the coming years. It plans to target a production of an ambitious 6 million vehicles by 2020, most of them being two wheelers. 

Google’s new Talking Shoe

Posted on March 31, 2013

So now fashion has a new address…Google, the Technology giant who has enabled the world to remain better connected with the Google glass and has now decided that you need to be turned into this super slick tech personality by having a shoe that talks to you constantly and that too in a British accent. 

As crazy as this new cool innovation may sound it is one of the smartest yet. A result of a project dreamed up by Google and Adidas this new sneaker appears to be a normal shoe at first glance but as you look closer you’ll see that there’s a speaker connected to the tongue that’s capable of speaking 250 phrases.

Motivating you to move the shoe has phrases like -” This is super boring” when you are seated and ”Call 911 because you’re on fire!” when you are motivated.There’s also a phrase that describes how you feel when you are excited -”I love the feeling of the wind in my laces”. This interaction is part of the intention of Google to interact with your body and subsequently with the world (Read Google glass) .

Wearable technology is snazzy with the generation next as the user is on the go and yet comfortable with the idea of wearing and interacting with small devices. These the company hopes,  will then go on to become an inherent part of the users personality. 

The Talking shoes come with an accelerometer, gyroscope and Bluetooth capability to connect to your smartphone. It can measure your activity levels and movement and the speaker on the shoe then comments on your activity from the 250 phrases it is allowed. 

The company claims that the shoe is a prototype and only in its testing phase. It is not to hit the markets anytime soon. 

Numbness is something most of us have experienced in extreme cold weather conditions. The loss of sensation and the inability to feel something can set off the most unexpected paranoia and fear in humans. One feels doomed and at a loss and it is almost as if one has lost the ability to communicate with the world. Imagine if a robotic finger could replace this inability to sense in a dire jiffy. Scientists at Syntouch have developed a robot with tactile sensory abilities to differentiate and identify different surfaces and textures. The official name "Biotacs" enables a robot equipped to discriminate between 117 different textures with greater than 95% accuracy. The robot has been able to outperform even human sensitivity in certain conditions.

SynTouch LLC (Los Angeles) and the University of Southern California have developed an advanced tactile sensor modeled after the human fingertip.They hope that this technology and its applications can launch the field of "machine touch." This year the company has sold almost 100 of its Biotac sensors to researchers in the fields of medicine and academics. This is an effort to further explore the navigation and the use of this device in other fields as well.

The Biotac comes complete with human like skin and this can be easily replaced if damaged or torn. The Biotac can be mounted onto a prosthetic hand and the user can handle delicate objects easily and reliably. 

The company Syntouch is among the top ten robotic companies in the world. While developing the Biotach , the robot was trained on 117 common materials gathered from fabric, stationery and hardware stores. It was able to intelligently identify the material 95% of the time . Biotach is also trained to detect three kinds of inputs -temperature, texture and force with vibration. The temperature can help it to distinguish metal from glass, texture will help it identify a button from its surrounding panel thereby mimicking the human fingertip. The programming of the Biotach is based on these three inputs. Such technology is called Haptic technology and is currently being developed to enable millions of handicapped people to touch and feel with human dexterity again.  

HULC expands to medical industry

Posted on March 27, 2013

Imagine if Iron man or the incredible Hulk could loan their abilities to Human soldiers or to handicapped war victims enabling them to walk upright again. Such a thought and dream could very soon be coming true as assembly lined Exoskeletons might hit the market changing fantasies from the realm of science fiction to that of the real world. In a project which started in 2000 by the Berkeley Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory the HULC or the Human Universal Load Carrier was developed by Professor Kazerooni and his team at Ekso Bionics.

In 2009, Lockheed Martin acquired the design licence from Berkeley and later the company signed a $1.1m contract with the US Army Natick Soldier Center for testing and evaluating the HULC design.

The HULC as the exoskeleton is originally called is an anthropomorphic, hydraulic powered titanium exoskeleton designed for the army to help combat soldiers to carry loads of upto 200 pounds at speeds of 10 miles per hour with minimum strain on their bodies. Because the exoskeleton operates on lithium polymer batteries its power-saving feature enables the system to support maximum load even when the battery power is low.

http://www.army-technology.com/videos/1425032752001.html

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The HULC is designed with brilliant flexibility and muscle power and doesn’t require any external control mechanism. It is controlled by a micro-computer installed within the system which enables sensing of the user’s requirement. Then it adapts to the situation accordingly. Its packaging is flexible too allowing for the HULC system to removed and packed-up in 30 seconds. Its parts enable the wearer to be exchanged in minutes for greater compatibility. 

Now Lockheed Martin has a new venture with  Parker Hannifin the biggest manufacturer of motion and control devices and is launching new ventures and finding new uses and customers for these bionic suits. The company plans to make inroads into the medical industry especially for those who have a spinal injury and suffer from the inability to walk upright. 

The Ekso Bionic device for spinal patients will look like a black metal skeleton standing on foot pads. Electric motors will amplify the strength in the weak limbs of the wearer and computer sensors will provide the guidance. This model also targets those users who have lost the ability to walk. 

It will go on sale in 2014 at a competitive price of 52.000 euro approx. 

In the natural living world and the universe , Nuclear fusion is a huge reality. It is a reaction that takes place in the stars. The Sun creates all its energy from a nuclear fusion and without the Sun our world would be a very dark and cold place. Temperatures at the core of the sun are ranging between 10 to 15 million kelvin and it is here that vast amount of energy is created by the combination of Hydrogen and Helium atoms. Nuclear Fusion is the perfect energy source. 

For years environmentalists and political honchos have grappled with the reality of fossil fuels burning out. Fear loomed large of peak oil and dependence on Middle East and the governments of the world pushed boundaries to scramble for fossil fuel alternatives. Then came shale oil and tar sandand the hope of the future energy reserves shone bright and secure. Imagining the end of energy crisis is a dangerous mistake as even the most optimistic predictions can leave a very uncertain future.

Solar, Advanced fission and nuclear fusion are the best alternatives we have for surmounting our energy battles.  All three have the most promising future but unfortunately we don't have innovative and advanced technology to capture and create and continue utilizing this energy source. Governments must catch up with the great research being done.

Of the three Nuclear Fusion is the perfect energy source. Fission involves the splitting of one heavy element into two lighter ones and each reaction along with producing energy also results in radioactive products some of which can stray in the atmosphere for tens and thousands of years. That is why nuclear reactors are built in remote areas This prevents exposure to deadly contamination. The Fukushima accident in Japan has raised a lot of fear of nuclear contamination.

Fusion on the other hand has a number of benefits. Some of which are listed below. 

• Fusion power would provide much more energy for a given weight of fuel than any technology currently in use.
•  The fuel for fusion primarily deuterium exists abundantly in the Earth's ocean and seawater is easier to access and more plentiful than fossil fuels.
• Fusion power has many of the benefits of renewable energy sources like being a long-term energy supply and emitting no GHG's
• Fusion could provide very high power-generation density and uninterrupted power delivery because it is not dependent on the weather like wind and solar power.
• Fusion reactors create far less radioactive material than a fission reactor, the material it would create is less damaging biologically, and the radioactivity "burns off" within a time period.
• And finally, a nuclear Fusion reaction has a very low accident potential as a nuclear fusion requires precisely controlled temperature, pressure, and magnetic field parameters to generate net energy which would stop functioning if the reactor were damaged.

De-extinction to revive and restore

Posted on March 20, 2013

Jurassic Park the movie was one of its kind…it made history not only in terms of the money it made but also the concept and the idea of bringing back species long dead was both fascinating and and incredulous. Something similar is being proposed by Dr. Stewart Brand, an environmentalist  for four decades Brand is already well known for creating the Whole Earth Catalog, The WELL, the Global Business Network and the Long Now Foundation. Now this evangelist  wants to re-create — or “de-extinct” — a few animals that’ve disappeared from the planet.

Imagine if the woolly mammoth and the Sabre tooth that you’ve so loved in ice age, the movie were to walk the face of the earth again. Or imagine the passenger pigeons are brought back from extinction by way of a new Bio-genetic technology.This revolutionary technique has been proposed by Brand and is backed on the basis of a ten year research conducted by a team of Spanish and French scientists who almost brought back an extinct wild goat known as Pyrenean ibex back to life.

The process of De-extinction is based on a very simple premise. DNA samples of the extinct species are located from museums or even from ancient fossils, it is withdrawn and injected into a healthy surrogate who can comfortably give birth to the extinct species. In case of the wild goat, the scientists made 56 attempts to impregnate a present day goat , the de-extinct goat was born , it survived a few minutes and then died due to a severe genetic mutation.

But the process of De-extinction raises a whole lot of moral, ethical and philosophical questions. Do we even want to bring back species that have been extinct ? what is the use of reversing the evolutionary process? will the new species that have been brought back be able to adapt and survive in the new eco system or will they alter it completely? These species which are extinct are gone for a reason- the very basic one is that they failed to survive in the time and the circumstances that they lived in . 

Stuart Prim  at the Nicholas School of the Environment emphasizes on the impracticalities of de-extinction and why conservation should take precedence. According to him bringing back the species will do more harm than good because along with the species one will have to think of recreating the ecosystem and the environment for them to thrive in and recreating nature is a very complex task.

This focus on de-extinction should be justified only if we a a proper environment to bring back the species and the focus should be more on better conservation as a strategy.  The reason that drives the species to be extinct is the continued expansion of humans into their environment. this is the issue that should be tackled first.

China’s Internet Firewall

Posted on March 22, 2013

In 2012, China was leading the way for developing countries as its internet user count hit 600 million. In a country of 1.3 billion people that is saying a lot. Do the Math. In fact official data shows most of the users connectivity is through mobile devices. An ever increasing number of people in China stay online using micro blogging services and social networking sites. It is estimated that by 2015 China will have more than 800 million Internet users, many of which will be from rural regions. The Chinese have their own versions of the Western Micro blogging sites. Renren is the equivalent of Facebook, Baidu=Google, Sina Weibo=Twitter, and Youku is the equivalent of Youtube. 

This in a situation when the nation imposes strict internet censorship on its users. China’s internet firewall is the country’s system of online restriction. The new government and the new leader worry about the power the internet holds, curbing its free use will not only restrict and control free publishing but will also put an end to any potential threat to the single party communist regime. This is an age when China promises economic reforms and better living standards to its citizens. 

The National Peoples Congress (NPC)  has passed a new law asking users toregister their real names with the internet service providers. Earlier the citizens did not have to do so and could use alternate pseudonyms to register. This new tightening of internet usage is “intended to better protect Internet users’ privacy and provide a legal basis for safeguarding online information safety to ensure the healthy and orderly development of the Internet”, an NPC spokesperson has claimed .

China’s internet firewall is the result of online expose`s of the officials wrong doings on Chinese micro blogging sites. Internet users have often used the sites for anonymous complains about corruption and official abuse. Citizens who at times wish to speak in complete confidence about a specific individual or company’s misconduct cannot do so now.

In a report published by “Reporters without borders”, it seems a large number of governments are resorting to cyber crime, surveillance  and intrusions on dissidents and journalists to curb the freedom of speech. This report is published on the eve of World Day against Cyber-Censorship. Syria, China, Iran, Bahrain and Vietnam are the top five nations who regularly conduct systematic online surveillance. This is a serious violation of human rights. 

At the Big Tent Activate summit held in New Delhi on Thursday, Eric Schmidt the Executive Chairman of Google described China as the most egregious example of a nation attempting to control the internet. In his interview with Guardian’s Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, Schmidt talked about the New York times computers being hacked by the Chinese. 

One wonders at the potential and danger of this information which is being surveyed and can only hope that it does more good than harm.