Nanocycling

In the longer term, "Nanocycling" is a holy grail of this kind of thinking. Yet it is as at Feb 2004 almost unknown. Nature doesn't bother with the crude recycling that we do, melting down materials under huge heat and remoulding them, it works at a molecular level, disassembling incoming food and reassembling it into the forms the organism needs. Nanotechnology is hurtling towards goals of molecular-level assembly, but there is literally no work being done on nano-disassembly.

What one can envisage is an industrial plant looking like a big warehouse, with unsorted waste going in one end, and pure raw materials coming out of the other. Clearly there are energy and cost barriers, but it is a seductive solution because design for recycling-as-we-know-it would not be necessary.

Next >>