Arthur Huang - turning trash into building products (1 Viewer)

[Linda]

Arthur Huang is one of those "smartest people in the room" guys. This Taiwanese engineer created a company, Miniwiz, to turn the trash we throw away into building products.

One of the more publicized ventures was turning old athletic shoes into bricks used in the construction of Nike stores. A recent project is the TrashPresso, which is a pop-up machine that turns plastic and fabric into floor tiles. Its mobile construction and solar power allow it to move to remote areas.

Like the on-site construction recycling machine that turns construction debris into bricks, the Miniwiz company is creating building supplies, furniture, and consumer products like sunglasses from waste materials.

Our ideas about normal or typical construction still is based on first generation products such as timber, which has an enormous impact on the environment because there always is a struggle to protect old growth forests. Change comes slowly to established businesses, and in most cases, it happens when people become aware and vote with their wallets.

This type of work is of great interest to me because I want people to have access to a decent place to live, as well as clean water and electricity.

http://www.miniwiz.com/home.php

 

[Lila]

I can imagine a future building site where a machine is set up before the demolition. Once pieces are taken down, they are fed into the machine which turns them into various usable products... sort of a combination of wood chipper (turns wood into chips used in plant beds, etc) + 3D printer (turns plastic into any shape that is programmed into it)

Finally, we'd have a way to reduce those garbage piles

Of course, a really good one... perhaps a few generations down the road... would have the capability of accounting for chemical and biologic changes in waste (extracted minerals that are poisonous in their current form, medications that currently get into our water, etc) not just the physical changes (squished products that can be used as bricks, tiles, etc, otherwise unchanged). Hurrah to Miniwiz for getting things off the ground!

I am looking forward to that future