How Plasma can fix our waste problem | Tom Whitton | TEDxMontreal

What happens to garbage after we throw it out? Are landfills and recycling our only options? Plasma, the 4th state of matter, is one of the ways that innovative minds have developed to maximize energy and material recovery from waste. Tom Whitton shows us how we can avoid sending value-rich waste to environmentally-unfriendly dead-end landfills and discusses the barriers preventing its adoption. As we emerge from COP21 and seek long term solutions, plasma is a viable option to help solve our growing waste management problems.

Tom Whitton - Chemical Engineer and former City Councillor

As the Sales Manager with Pyrogenesis Canada Inc., and as a member of the board of directors at Écotech Quebec, Tom Whitton is interested in ecological preservation and the environmental impacts of consumerism. Although recycling and modern practices of waste management have considerably reduced the quantities of rubbish we produce, the mid-to-long term impacts of the system currently in place reveal flaws that are highly detrimental to our health and life on this planet. In light of this fact, Tom Whitton offers direct, hands-on solutions that, in other spheres, have already proven their effectiveness.

Mr. Whitton holds a degree in chemical engineering from McGill University and has worked in technology development for nearly 25 years. Mr. Whitton was also a city councillor in Deux-Montagnes.

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This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx