[{"id":240,"title":"Coffee reuse and pre-consumer vs post-consumer waste recycling","sha":"057a6088f6fb1fb93f92d632ec182791","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"After it was reported that used coffee grounds could be converted into a useful product it was suggested in the Times Higher Education (10 Sept 2015) that this could be a reason for the end user of coffee to use fresh rather than instant coffee. As it can be reasoned that production of instant coffee and its reuse at a few sites would incur a smaller transport cost (environmental and financial) than distributed use of coffee grounds followed by collection and reuse at a central site, I conclude that it is possible that when the public is presented with a new recycling technology that some persons expect to handle and use the substance which is to be recycled rather than rely on an unseen recycling process which minimizes waste production in their homes and workplaces. This could be due to a desire by the general public to perform some tangible acts for the common good. Further research may be needed to discover how the public regard pre-consumer waste recycling when it is compared to the recycling of post-consumer waste.","created_at":"2015-09-28T16:17:20.168Z","updated_at":"2015-10-20T15:21:01.562Z","zenodo_id":62717,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.31511","subject":null,"tags":["coffee","reuse","recycling","pyrolysis"],"vote_count":2,"view_count":1,"score":2.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":66,"title":"Are we throwing away fresh water? How much fresh water is going to the landfills?","sha":"0a7757dab48c511e63c25d6de95708dc","user_id":258,"state":"published","body":"Several authors have worked and came forward with studies and papers on water use, depletion and virtual water. However little to nothing has been done to study how much water is throwed away and wasted on a daily basis in kitchens/households/offices around the world.\r\nIf we take an espresso capsule as an example, its weight after use is far greater than the more or less 10 grams we start with, due to the among of water content left in the capsule. Most users will throw the capsule away without let the water pour out. The same applies to frozen food and ice-cream containers, beverage cartons, diapers, etc.\r\nAlmost all food items contain water in their making in one form or another.\r\nBecause recycling habits and procedures vary wildly, one can easily imagine that several tons of water a day will end up in landfills, trapped inside containers unable to escape either by evaporation or by drainage. On top of that, today’s landfills are, from the most part watertight and compacted, further preventing water from reentering the natural water cycle.\r\nSo, how much water is wasted, in average, in this way? And how can be done to prevent it?","created_at":"2015-02-19T16:17:47.119Z","updated_at":"2016-08-15T15:06:15.290Z","zenodo_id":23147,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15528","subject":null,"tags":["recycling","water","waste"],"vote_count":1,"view_count":1,"score":1.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":false,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":436,"title":"Use of waste plastic as a reducing agent for iron ore","sha":"a68934a13a3acecaf3a25b551b5c7332","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"China's recent announcement that they will cease to accept large quantities of waste plastic has brought a growing crisis into sharp focus; global capacity for waste plastic handling is being rapidly outstripped by production. The clear solution is to find ways of profitably utilizing waste plastic, preferably involving total chemical conversion to non-persistent substances.\r\nOne possibility that has been previously neglected is that of using plastic instead of coal as a reducing agent for iron ore. The first criterion for a reducing agent is the chemical capacity to take up the excess oxygen atoms contained in hematite and magnetite. Polyethylene polymer has an effective chemical formula of (C2H4)n, and both Carbon and Hydrogen can be bonded to oxygen to form a range of stable compounds. The other criterion for a viable reducing agent is possessing sufficient chemical energy to drive the endothermic reduction of iron. Polyethylene has an enthalpy of formation of -(94.26n)kJ/mol and a Gibbs free energy of formation of -(36.44n)kJ/mol, giving it sufficient energy density for this purpose. In principle, therefore, it is perfectly viable to use waste plastic instead of coal for the reduction of iron ore.","created_at":"2018-01-18T09:36:12.903Z","updated_at":"2018-01-30T06:01:09.762Z","zenodo_id":1162364,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1162364","subject":null,"tags":["emissions","plastic","recycling","iron"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null}]