Topic of the Week

Across the globe, towns and cities are drowning in their own mountains of trash. Landfills are growing every day, especially in rich societies. But growing garbage isn't just a problem confined to industrialized nations. It's also proving to be a challenge in developing and emerging economies. Still, one man’s trash is another man's treasure. In some communities, people are taking advantage of the valuable recyclable materials they find on land heaps – materials that are often in high demand in industries. But garbage has even bigger potential: the ability to generate electricity through biomass and to serve as a healthy fertilizer on fallow lands.