Leftover food, tree pruning and other organic waste are usually reused in composting. But you can do more than that. Researchers at the University of Brasilia are turning what was going to waste into energy. Professor Edgar Amaral Silveira, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, says that the team is surveying the potential of different residues of agroextractive activities in the Cerrado.

Part of the tests were carried out in Portugal, in partnership with the Instituto Superior Técnico de Lisboa. Malt bagasse and pequi pits went through a gasification process and proved to have high calorific power, as explained by UnB Chemistry Department professor Grace Ghesti.

The researcher points out that the expectation is that the energy generated with the waste meets precisely who makes the disposal.

The amount of garbage is large but the reuse is still very small. According to data from the Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies, of almost 37 million organic waste produced in Brazil per year, only 1% is reused.

Source: Um só Planeta