The Challenge of Global Waste

Our planet faces many environmental pressures today, chief among them is an increasingly urgent need to re-use waste and clean up the environment. The GETH Technology Solution addresses two of the most pernicious waste streams facing humanity; end-of-life tires and unrecyclable waste plastics.

TIRES

We humans discard approximately 1,000,000,000 used tires every year. This adds to the millions of tons of discarded tires that have been piling up around the world with minimal disposal solutions or re-use options readily available. These used tires present significant health hazards to the communities where they are found because they collect rainwater and become breeding grounds for disease carrying rats and mosquitos. They are also prone to catching fire, and when they do they are extremely difficult and costly to extinguish, and they can burn for years releasing huge plumes of toxic smoke containing carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide.

PLASTICS

Across the entire economic spectrum, from ‘developing’ to ‘developed’ nations, we humans generate on the order of 130 million tons of plastic waste every year. With plastic recycling rates hovering just under 10%, over the last decade we have deposited more than 1 billion tons of waste plastic either into landfills or it has ended up littering the landscape. To make matters worse, our oceans are becoming the largest landfill on earth. Scientists estimate that by 2025 our oceans will contain 250 million metric tons of plastic trash. The environmental impact of this problem is enormous when you consider that 60% of the protein consumed around the world comes from the ocean.