According to a brief online search for background data, everyone in the US generates about 1/2 kilo of rubbish every day that isn’t capable of being recycled. This is the stuff that we will continue to have to put somewhere ‘out of the way’ whilst we develop a healthier attitude towards consumption.
Today’s invention is to tip it in the ocean…but not just over the side of a barge as we currently do. The material which we can’t recycle would be loaded into egg-shaped, reinforced concrete pods. These would be floated out to sea, and then allowed to sink. Each would be equipped with a water turbine and a cable to the surface. The fall would attain a terminal velocity of perhaps 30mph, generating a supply of electricity via the turbines.
At the bottom, the waste would be disgorged and the empty shell pulled slowly back to the surface for refilling. The pod’s shape would exhibit low drag, both on descent and on return to the surface.
