Australia: A technology that turns garbage into new materials

Recent research by Professor Veena Sahajwalla at the University of New South Wales in Australia has made the dream of turning waste from old cars into new materials.

Australian journalist Sahajwalla, director of the Center for Sustainable Materials Technology and Research (SMaRT), says the new technology uses non-recyclable parts of older cars. The silicon in glass, carbon in plastic parts, along with small steel pieces, passes through a reactive cycle to produce a completely new silicon alloy.

Photo: daniel-fisher.co.uk

The technology was announced at a conference in the United States. The new alloy will be studied by scientists, carefully evaluated before putting into practical application.

Professor Sahajwalla also won the 2012 Australia's Challenge for Creativity Award for inventing old tires to produce steel.

This invention has been used by one of Sahajwalla's partners, OneSteel Company, to help reduce the millions of old tires that are buried deep in the ground by waste that can not be recycled. The technology of turning tires into steel is also used in many commercial production lines in Sydney (New South Wales) and Melbourne (Victoria); At the same time exporting to Thailand.

The two technological processes have great appeal on a global scale, stemming from the fact that the cost of separating raw materials and handling millions of tons of waste is too high.