With all the talk of green building, sustainable living, and alternative fuel, burning trash seems so archaic. But, it's done, right off I-75. And as the incinerator's future is debated, another future issue is discussed - recycling. How about recycling as a business, for profit? Or, wait, how about waste-to-energy facilities for the refuse? These issues could be the future of Detroit's trash, and these industries could provide jobs and revenue.
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Several innovative programs are under way there, including efforts to start up a facility that will grind up Styrofoam — a material that otherwise has no value as a recyclable — and then mix it with cement to form lightweight panels with high insulation properties that can be used in construction.
For anti-incinerator activist Paul Connet, that kind of enterprise offers just one small example of what could be Detroit's future. The way he sees it, with the amount of low-cost land available here, and the high quality of the area's universities, it is easy to envision creation of a "recycling research institute" where professors and their students from a broad array of disciplines — from mechanical engineering to biology to architecture and more — could find new ways to reuse old materials and develop alternatives to other products that can't be recycled.
In a way, being so far behind the recycling curve is an advantage. With others having blazed a trail, the city can avoid pitfalls already discovered, and make a giant leap forward.
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