As a child, Ryan Integlia learned about the plight of people in some developing countries who worked — and lived — in garbage dumps. Now a recent graduate of theRutgers-Princeton Nanotechnology for Clean Energy IGERT PhD. Program, Integlia launched a nonprofit to help. I spoke recently with Integlia, co-founder of [em]POWER Energy Group. Below are excerpts from our interview.
What’s the problem you’re trying to solve and what’s your solution?
People are living in garbage dumps. The majority of the communities are children. They live in or directly in relation to garbage dumps. They’re mainly dependent on the garbage dump for their livelihoods. It might be a source of food. Generally, the structures they live in are made from materials gathered from the garbage dump. They work by sorting through the garbage dump to find recyclables. Most of the time in these developing countries, by the time the garbage gets to the dump it’s already been sorted through by multiple parties. There are no constraints on what’s in there. It’s dangerous. In some cases, the garbage dumps are on fire.
We focus on existing schools or clinics built in or adjacent to garbage dumps. We focus all our efforts there to create a renewable resource process. [The process consists of] sorting the garbage, gathering the recyclables, composting the organic material. The organic material can also be used in the biodigestion process. That would capture the methane and burn it to create electricity to power the school or the clinic. It could power a computer or a sewing machine. It’s basically upcycling the garbage...
