Natural Resources
Our Natural Resources are for us to Use, Conserve, and Reuse.
After wise and considered “Use” (consuming no more than is prudent) a certain amount of waste material is sure to accumulate. What to do?
First of all, it seems advisable, at the point of accumulation, to sort and classify (This would be the responsibility of the person or organization involved).
Having periodically classified this waste material, the large metal-containing articles should be recycled to the crucible for reuse as raw material according to the type of the metal or metals. It is also quite possible that some of these articles could be reconditioned and put back into service. Nonmetallic, used materials such as Plastics, Fiber, Glass, etc, could be ground or pulverized, treated if necessary and used as filler in building materials, etc. Most types of plastics could be recycled to raw materials and used for other plastic articles. Kitchen garbage (plant material) could be flushed down the sewer through domestic Garbage Disposal units, either built into or added as an accessory to existing kitchens. This effluent would then be flushed, harmlessly into the local Sanitary Sewer system. Here at the sewage treatment plant, machine and chemical processing would reduce this sludge waste material to fertilizer products and eventually returned to the soil. Bathroom waste could be treated in a similar manner.
At the present time however, important research is being done in regard to the treatment and disposal of this bathroom waste. The resulting sewage liquids in all cases could be chemically treated in such a way that they would be non-contaminating.
The question now is inevitable; will this not cost a lot of money? Who will foot the bill for all of this?
In this case, as in many other issues affecting the general public, the Real Cost is governed by the overall benefits to be derived; the more the benefits, the less the apparent cost.
Now consider this: Naturally, energy in the form of Kilowatts of power would be required to make and maintain the above processing equipment. However, since energy, like the raw materials used, is cyclical, that is never used up or lost, but changed from one form to another, it seems to me that, in the end the only cost is in the wages and or salaries paid to the workers involved in the project. Since I am discussing this project in the context of a cashless economy, then the real cost is a matter of the will required to get the job done.
Nothing should be considered impossible if the results are projected to be beneficial.
Now for the final question: Why should we move our waste to someone else’s back yard, since technologists tell us that it can be recycled quite efficiently at the point of creation?
Nature I believe, can and will take care of most things in her own way and in her own time, if we would step aside from our own ego and let Her work her many “Magic Tricks”.
It is true, we mankind, in our ignorance, have not yet learned most of these secrets. This is indeed unfortunate because Mother Nature has many things to teach us regarding our relationship to her, as well as to each other.
Timothy Haystubble (Grass Roots Philosopher)