Farming Innovations in a Slum | Hacker News Reader

Farming Innovations in a Slum

afrigadget.com

9 pointswumi5 comments

Slightly related:

South Africa's Roundabout has devised a way to harness the energy generated by kids playing (ingenious in itself), as they spin on an outdoor merry-go-round http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/000446.html

Interesting story, but where does all of their non-organic waste go now that the waste dump is gone? They probably just have to walk further to throw it away somewhere else.

Does anyone have data on the economic feasibility of setting up plastic, glass, etc recycling plants in 3rd world countries?

I don't have data, but from my own experience (I am Brazilian, living in the US for 7 yrs) I can tell you that recycling is not very common simply because people reuse a lot of stuff rather than recycling. The concept of reuse is ingrained in the culture due to lack of money, and not only the poor, but the middle-class do it a lot too. Some examples:

* Product plastic containers are washed and reused to store food, instead of throwing them away. Plastic containers are made sturdier (sometimes even made out of glass and with nice designs) because the companies know people will reuse them, so companies see it as a kind of free product advertisement.

* Soft drinks and beer are commonly sold in big glass bottles, which are then taken back to the distributor, washed, and then reused (not recycled, but reused).

* Electronics: Because labor is cheap and goods are expensive, people fix equipments instead of throwing them away. Parts are reused to the max, and there is an entire after-market ecosystem for them.

Last time I visited my family, it struck me how smaller my mom's trash can in Brazil is compared to my trash can here in the US. It may sound like a dumb comparison, but illustrates my point that we generate way more trash over here (and I am actually pretty conscious about reusing stuff).

Interesting.

As a side note: Beer in bottles with refundable deposit is normal in affluent Germany, too. (And we have a much shorter word for the concept than English has.)

I build a Stirling motor out of cans once --- and it was quite a challenge to find beer cans in 2007. The government virtually banned cans for drinks.

Brazil isn't exactly a 3rd world country, but thank you for your input. A great example or using our resources more effectively.

I asked about the feasibility of recycling plants because I can recall seeing piles of trash (plastics, paper, cans, food, etc) in Indonesia all over the place. Even right next to some of the local shrines. Locals may reuse/recycle some items but it looked like most of their trash when into these piles that were often burned at some point in time. The thick black smoke billowing off of these smoldering trash heaps was disgusting and can't be great for the peopl e or the environment.

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