The 7 Wonders of Green Building

A Good use for Cigarette Butts

Disposing garbage is still very common in Malaysia despite the many public campaigns against it. Environmental awareness is very poor here.Streets in the capital cities are clean but most of the others are dirty.We are profoundly influenced by our surroundings. If the area is clean, we take the innitiative to find a trash bin.

I would like to emphasise the after life of a cigarette. Cigarette butts are widely seen on the streets and in the drains. These will then flow into our river system and eventually to the sea. Toxins that contains in the cigarette filters is very harmful to the environment. According to a report  by the Health Ministry that 33 million sticks of cigarettes are used daily.

A 30 year old University dropout came out with an idea to recycle these ciggarette butts into a money making venture by turning them into industrial plastic and compost fertilisers.Tom Szaky CEO of TerraCycle had this idea and made it into reality. Cigarette butts are collected by volunteers and is being sent to TerraCycle. A separation of the cigarette filter and tobacco residue takes place. Compost fertiliser is made from the tobacco residue meanwhile the filter is turned to industrial plastics products such as pallets and ashtrays due to its chemical content in the cigarette filter.

It takes between 1,000 and 2,000 butts to make a plastic ashtray, and more than 200,000 to make a garden chair. Not that there’s any shortage of supplies: 37 percent of the world’s litter is in cigarette butts, with up to a couple trillion thrown out yearly, Szaky said. - See more at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2013/01/29/recycling-entrepreneur-stubs-out-cigarette-garbage/#sthash.LTici4X0.dpuf

How about a venture like this in Malaysia? I'm very sure an initiative as such would create a positive impact in our country and indirectly reduce cigarette dispose significantly.

Used Tyres

New goods are manufactured on a daily basis and is introduced to the market. Products are refined in the sense of quality, performance and its outlook in order to gain public interest.

To be more specific, I would like to emphasise on the tyre industry. Tyre is made of rubber and metal. In Malaysia, we now import our rubber supply to manufacture tyres for vehicles. Every single day, thousands of vehicles are on the road to get consumers like us from one point to another and from this day to day routine alone, the tyre wear in each vehicle increase. When it wears out completely, it needs a change.

So, what ever happen to that used tyre? Well it goes back to manufacturers that recycle used tyres and put it back up into the market. What about tyres that are still in good condition? Do they get recycle too? No they don't. They are resold at a lower price to consumers. However, consumers are uncertain of its quality and durability, as tyres are the soul to keep vehicles running on the road.

I myself use “2^nd hand tyres” or recycle tyres for a fact that it performs exactly the same as a brand new tyre. Firstly, it cost cheaper than the market price out there. Second, it is still usable. Car enthusiasist have a particular lifestyle in having the latest sport rims that the market has to offer. Thanks to them, this is where you can still find good condition tyres for a fraction of the market price and have a similar lifetime to a brand new one.

Although prior knowledge on tyres are vital, but anyone can differentiate between a good condition tyre and a worn out tyre or just compare one with a brand-new tyre.  The demand for new tyres will always be there, but most of the unused ones are still out there lying in a shop or perhaps waiting to be burned.

So my point here is, seek or you shall not find.

Have you ever thought of Solar Energy?

The strive to make and maintain our depleted environment by our own activities either economically or socially, has taken a wider dimension throughout the world. We tend to focus more on our own economic benefits in the expense of our environment. Hence leaving it vulnerable to sustain our lives and the lives of other living things.

Most of us do not know that the more we destroy nature, the more nature will retaliate on us, for example, the more we cut the trees, the more we are exposed to the sun radiation leading to weakness in our skin. However, we can also use nature to fix itself. 

Think of the sun radiation, of what use can it be to us? The obvious answer to this question is the solar energy from the sun.On the contrary, have you ever thought of it before? If not, then we can exploit this source of energy by using the Photo voltaic (PV) technology. In return, we get a clean and renewable source of energy, hence reducing the carbon emission which results from burning fossil fuels.

  

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