Turning Trash Into Tourist Traps

A Dutch engineer has devised a simple solution to the growing amounts of waste society generates: he suggests solidifying waste in a concrete-type material and using the resulting slabs to build pyramids.

Roelof Schuiling of Geochem Research BV, has made the suggestion that it is possible to solidify waste into a concrete-type material and using the resulting slabs to build pyramids that not only deal with waste disposal but could become tourist traps and major landmarks for our cities. Schulling's concept appears in the current issue of the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues There is some precedent for the idea, award-winning works of art have been made from the most outlandish of materials; for example Chris Ofili's depiction of the Holy Virgin Mary encrusted with elephant dung and Damien Hirst's pickled tiger shark representing life and death to the unmade bed of Tracey Emin and the unspeakable bodily fluids of avant garde duo Gilbert & George. Schuiling idea evolved from feeling that it is "dangerous and unsustainable" to simply bury solid toxic waste in lined deposits underground, which is current best practice. A better option would be to first be immobilise the waste by mixing it with a cement and immobilising additives to reduce the possibility of toxic materials leaching into the earth and ground water. Then this solidifying material were shaped into slabs, these might be stacked to form a pyramid surrounded by a lined ditch. "Such a system is sustainable, easy to control, and does away with the need for an extensive and ‘eternal’ monitoring system," Schuiling explains. A water-repellent coating would keep any leaching of materials from the pyramids to an absolute minimum, while periodic monitoring of the runoff could be used to control any potential hazardous leakage. "These pyramids, erected in prominent places, could serve as a tourist attraction and become a source of income rather than a continuing financial burden," Schuiling adds. Schuiling explores the possibility that these large-scale structures might be used as the foundation for building dwellings, office buildings, and leisure facilities, particularly in flood-prone regions. Either way, they would be monument to the vast amounts of waste generated by the throwaway society in which we live.