Sanivation is currently operating in Kenya, placing mobile toilets at households and sending a collection agent to pick up the buckets of waste twice a week. The waste is then taken to the Sanivation center, where a solar concentrator heats the biosolids over 70 degrees Celsius to remove pathogens in the waste. The waste is then further dehydrated in an agglomerator, and turned into charcoal briquettes that are used as fuel for burning.

Professor Veena Sahajwalla directs the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) at UNSW Australia, delivering scientific and engineering advances in sustainability of materials and associated processes in collaboration with industry. Veena is revolutionising recycling science to enable global industries to safely utilise toxic and complex wastes as low-cost alternatives to virgin raw materials and fossil fuels. As Founding Director of UNSW’s Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology, Veena and her team are working closely with industry partners to deliver the new science, processes and technologies that will drive the redirection of many of the world’s most challenging waste streams away from landfills and back into production; simultaneously reducing costs to alleviating pressures on the environment.

In Denmark, every new wind farm must be partly owned by the people

Japan is a leader in floating solar power.

Australia’s recycling industry has been in crisis ever since China stopped taking our waste in 2017. Now local scientists have developed a home-grown solution they claim could make all plastic recyclable and eliminate our stockpiles of waste.

This innovative power plant in Ethiopia burns waste to produce enough energy for up to a quarter of homes in the capital city, Addis Ababa.

The plant also produces water, eco-friendly bricks and creates hundreds of local jobs.

In the film, Global Managing Director, Samuel Alemayehu, talks us through how the project works and the impact and benefits it has for Ethiopia.

“E-Ferry Ellen”, the world’s largest all-electric ferry, has made its maiden voyage connecting the island of Aerø, population 6,000, to the rest of Denmark. The route is 22 nautical miles long.

The ferry, which now connects the Danish ports of Søby and Fynshav, was built at the shipyard on the island of Als through a partnership between Aerø Municipality and the European Union. The project is part of Danish Natura, which aims to provide environmentally friendly transport for local residents. It was initiated in 2015 and was funded by the EU through the Horizon 2020 and Innovation Program.

The ship, capable of carrying 30 vehicles and 200 passengers, is powered by a battery system with an unprecedented capacity of 4.3MWh provided by Leclanché SA (SIX: LECN), one of the world’s leading energy storage companies. The operators estimate the electric ferry will save over 2,000 tons of CO2 per year in its operation.

China has now completed one of the largest airports ever conceived – the USD $12BN Daxing International in Beijing.

Recent innovations in engineered timber have laid the foundations for the world’s first wooden skyscrapers to appear within a decade, a feat that is not only achievable—according to the Centre for Natural Material Innovation—but one they hope will beckon in an era of sustainable wooden cities, helping reverse historic emissions from the construction industry.

The research team based at the Faculty of Architecture, is interdisciplinary, composed of architects, biochemists, chemists, mathematicians and engineers, who specialise in plant-based material, including cross-laminated timber, arguably the first major structural innovation since the advent of reinforced concrete, 150 years ago.

These turbines offer a unique design alternative to harnessing wind energy.