Challenge
"You have established an island with cities, town, and farmlands. You have created businesses, public buildings, and transportation routes. But you have overlooked one important aspect of keeping a safe and clean environment: your waste!! Every process that happens will have waste. Here are some types of waste that you need to be prepared to dispose of without hurting the environment:
Human waste
Garbage or solid waste
Hazardous chemicals
Use of pesticides and fertilizers - Runoff from farmlands, lawns, etc
Air pollution - factories
Water Pollution
Animal Waste from farms"
Human waste
Garbage or solid waste
Hazardous chemicals
Use of pesticides and fertilizers - Runoff from farmlands, lawns, etc
Air pollution - factories
Water Pollution
Animal Waste from farms"
Our Solution
Challenge 1-
Initial notes -
Food waste that is compostable - large composting site
Food waste that is not compostable (salt, fats, oils, meat) - landfill
Plastics - recycle all that is possible the rest goes in landfill.
Glass - recycle
Rubber - melt down and reshape into another tire???
Ceramics - landfill
Human waste - sewage treatment plants
Animal waste - use as fertilizer
Tin - ship to country that is having a war(they can turn it into equipment), recycle
Hazardous waste - we have a facility that takes care of it.
***reuse as much as possible
Waste people produce in their houses -
20,000 pounds total on our island of human waste per day (the average person produces 1 pound per day)
3,650 tons of human waste per year
5 pounds of solid waste per day per person and 1.5 tons per year
How will we take care of this?
We have a community trash, recycling, and composting station. Everyone is responsible for taking their own waste to this area and sorting it. There are people who work to maintain these stations. When someone comes and deposits their waste they get a ticket. They only get the ticket if the workers note that everything recyclable was recycled and everything compostable was composted. This ticket must be brought to the capital at the end of every week for inspection and approval. If someone does not present their ticket (showing that they did not dispose of their waste properly) they are fined 100 scroll. If someone has a good reason for not having a ticket they are let off the hook. The money that comes from people's fines is used to pay the salaries of the waste station workers and the maintenance of the stations. If there were no fines payed for a certain week the salary money comes from the money that we get from tourists (they have to pay to be transported to our island).
Human waste - we burn it and collect methane from it which we sell. We have a series of piping systems that lead to the sewage treatment plant where it is burned.
Landfills - we did a big hole one acre in size on one of our small islands. They will be 40 feet deep and lined with clay, plastic, and stone to prevent leakage from the waste. We dump in the day's waste and use an electric Denni dump truck (the owner of the Denni dump truck service toured our island and agreed to let us use three dump trucks) to crush it. We then cover one week's waste with a layer of dirt which we pack over it. We have holding ponds that collect the run-off water near the landfills. This water is not used for bathing, drinking, watering plants or anything else because it may be contaminated. Once a landfill fills up or gets too big we plant grass over the top and dig a new landfill. The workers who run the machines get 600 scroll every week. It costs 200,000 scroll every month to run the landfill (machine upkeep, worker salaries, waste management, etc.). This money comes from he taxes people pay every month for their waste. Everyone is taxed 500 scroll per month.
Waste produced by public facilities, biospheres, and factories -
Clothes factories waste - extra cotton and extra dyes. The cotton waste can be composted or re-used. The dyes are plant based. We will put the extra dyes in little bottles and sell them in the general stores for 1 scroll per bottle so children can do craft projects with them.
In our factories we use a water wheel to power our spinning machines.
We don't export clothes so we only make as much as we need (making sure we don't have too many workers always watching the looms!).
Biosphere waste - weeds and other foliage can be composted. We have one compost pile in every biosphere. Every week the compost in the piles are transported by the "1bio-waste management workers" to the "2composting city" (look below for more info). Once the waste is mostly decomposed we spread it on our gardens to add nutrients to the soil.
Public facility waste - Packaging from stores, litter, price tags, etc. paper, glass, and plastic waste can be taken to the 3recycling city by "4recyc-waste management workers." All other waste will be taken to the landfills by "5bad-waste management workers."
These workers transport the bio-waste (compostables) from the compost station every Friday to the compost city. They also turn the compost piles (bring the bio-waste that was at the bottom of the compost pile to the top) every week to make sure that all the compost is getting sufficient sunlight to decompose. They are payed 50 scroll per week if they do their job. This salary is given out by the founder of their city who carefully monitors their work throughout the week.
This is a place on the far south side of our island (a very sunny place to help decomposition) that has lots of compost piles. One pile for every week. When a pile has turned back into dirt it is transported by the bio-workers to the biospheres and farms. The farm workers and biosphere workers decide which plants and gardens are in the most need of extra nutrients and they spread the compost there every week.
The recycling city is an area on one of our small islands that has a large facility to recycle waste. Everything is sorted there. If something is still usable it is sanitized by the recyc-workers and transported to the stores to be sold at a discount. Things that are broken go through the typical recycling process - sorting, washing, getting chopped up into smaller pieces, melting, and re shaping. It costs 2,000 scroll per month to do this (it takes machines to chop the waste, machines to mold the melted waste, and the salary of the workers is 600 scroll per week). This money comes from the money we earn from biosphere exports.
The people who work on the recycling island and the people who transport the recycling from the stations in each city to that island.
The workers that take care of the waste that can't be recycled, reused, or composted. They drive the dump trucks, work at the waste stations in each city, and give out tickets. and Salary = 600 scroll/week.
Hazardous waste (batteries, cleaners, paints) -
We reuse all of it that we can. The rest we export to the United States and pay them 20,000 scroll (10,000 dollars) per month to take care of it for us. We ship it by air using our cargo plane (bad-waste management workers take it) to the U.S. which costs 10,000 scroll per month. This money comes from people's waste taxes.
Air pollution - we have no air pollution from factories. We use water and electric power.
Use of pesticides and fertilizers - the only fertilizers we use are cow manure (placed under soil) and compost - not harmful to the environment.
Animal waste - we use not of it in the farms to fertilize our crops. The waste from the biospheres can just stay where it is and decompose like in nature! Pet waste can go with the human waste. We have waste-catchers that hangs from the back of every horse harness or saddle. These bags are emptied everyday into the landfill.
Water Pollution - we have no bad chemical run-off that pollutes our water.
Initial notes -
Food waste that is compostable - large composting site
Food waste that is not compostable (salt, fats, oils, meat) - landfill
Plastics - recycle all that is possible the rest goes in landfill.
Glass - recycle
Rubber - melt down and reshape into another tire???
Ceramics - landfill
Human waste - sewage treatment plants
Animal waste - use as fertilizer
Tin - ship to country that is having a war(they can turn it into equipment), recycle
Hazardous waste - we have a facility that takes care of it.
***reuse as much as possible
Waste people produce in their houses -
20,000 pounds total on our island of human waste per day (the average person produces 1 pound per day)
3,650 tons of human waste per year
5 pounds of solid waste per day per person and 1.5 tons per year
How will we take care of this?
We have a community trash, recycling, and composting station. Everyone is responsible for taking their own waste to this area and sorting it. There are people who work to maintain these stations. When someone comes and deposits their waste they get a ticket. They only get the ticket if the workers note that everything recyclable was recycled and everything compostable was composted. This ticket must be brought to the capital at the end of every week for inspection and approval. If someone does not present their ticket (showing that they did not dispose of their waste properly) they are fined 100 scroll. If someone has a good reason for not having a ticket they are let off the hook. The money that comes from people's fines is used to pay the salaries of the waste station workers and the maintenance of the stations. If there were no fines payed for a certain week the salary money comes from the money that we get from tourists (they have to pay to be transported to our island).
Human waste - we burn it and collect methane from it which we sell. We have a series of piping systems that lead to the sewage treatment plant where it is burned.
Landfills - we did a big hole one acre in size on one of our small islands. They will be 40 feet deep and lined with clay, plastic, and stone to prevent leakage from the waste. We dump in the day's waste and use an electric Denni dump truck (the owner of the Denni dump truck service toured our island and agreed to let us use three dump trucks) to crush it. We then cover one week's waste with a layer of dirt which we pack over it. We have holding ponds that collect the run-off water near the landfills. This water is not used for bathing, drinking, watering plants or anything else because it may be contaminated. Once a landfill fills up or gets too big we plant grass over the top and dig a new landfill. The workers who run the machines get 600 scroll every week. It costs 200,000 scroll every month to run the landfill (machine upkeep, worker salaries, waste management, etc.). This money comes from he taxes people pay every month for their waste. Everyone is taxed 500 scroll per month.
Waste produced by public facilities, biospheres, and factories -
Clothes factories waste - extra cotton and extra dyes. The cotton waste can be composted or re-used. The dyes are plant based. We will put the extra dyes in little bottles and sell them in the general stores for 1 scroll per bottle so children can do craft projects with them.
In our factories we use a water wheel to power our spinning machines.
We don't export clothes so we only make as much as we need (making sure we don't have too many workers always watching the looms!).
Biosphere waste - weeds and other foliage can be composted. We have one compost pile in every biosphere. Every week the compost in the piles are transported by the "1bio-waste management workers" to the "2composting city" (look below for more info). Once the waste is mostly decomposed we spread it on our gardens to add nutrients to the soil.
Public facility waste - Packaging from stores, litter, price tags, etc. paper, glass, and plastic waste can be taken to the 3recycling city by "4recyc-waste management workers." All other waste will be taken to the landfills by "5bad-waste management workers."
These workers transport the bio-waste (compostables) from the compost station every Friday to the compost city. They also turn the compost piles (bring the bio-waste that was at the bottom of the compost pile to the top) every week to make sure that all the compost is getting sufficient sunlight to decompose. They are payed 50 scroll per week if they do their job. This salary is given out by the founder of their city who carefully monitors their work throughout the week.
This is a place on the far south side of our island (a very sunny place to help decomposition) that has lots of compost piles. One pile for every week. When a pile has turned back into dirt it is transported by the bio-workers to the biospheres and farms. The farm workers and biosphere workers decide which plants and gardens are in the most need of extra nutrients and they spread the compost there every week.
The recycling city is an area on one of our small islands that has a large facility to recycle waste. Everything is sorted there. If something is still usable it is sanitized by the recyc-workers and transported to the stores to be sold at a discount. Things that are broken go through the typical recycling process - sorting, washing, getting chopped up into smaller pieces, melting, and re shaping. It costs 2,000 scroll per month to do this (it takes machines to chop the waste, machines to mold the melted waste, and the salary of the workers is 600 scroll per week). This money comes from the money we earn from biosphere exports.
The people who work on the recycling island and the people who transport the recycling from the stations in each city to that island.
The workers that take care of the waste that can't be recycled, reused, or composted. They drive the dump trucks, work at the waste stations in each city, and give out tickets. and Salary = 600 scroll/week.
Hazardous waste (batteries, cleaners, paints) -
We reuse all of it that we can. The rest we export to the United States and pay them 20,000 scroll (10,000 dollars) per month to take care of it for us. We ship it by air using our cargo plane (bad-waste management workers take it) to the U.S. which costs 10,000 scroll per month. This money comes from people's waste taxes.
Air pollution - we have no air pollution from factories. We use water and electric power.
Use of pesticides and fertilizers - the only fertilizers we use are cow manure (placed under soil) and compost - not harmful to the environment.
Animal waste - we use not of it in the farms to fertilize our crops. The waste from the biospheres can just stay where it is and decompose like in nature! Pet waste can go with the human waste. We have waste-catchers that hangs from the back of every horse harness or saddle. These bags are emptied everyday into the landfill.
Water Pollution - we have no bad chemical run-off that pollutes our water.
Route in green that the waste pick-up will take and the locations of the waste stations.