SCRAP-scraper || Waste-to-energy SkyScraper
SkyScraper design with sustainable and new technology
Mumbai, a sprawling metropolis spread over 600 sq. Km has had an unimaginable population growth rate figure of 983 percent in a span of 100 years, according to the data collected in 2011. This can be attributed to its long history of migrants pouring in the island city, triggering a sensitive battle of entitlement of land, much of which has been reclaimed from the sea. In 2012, Mumbai alone accounted for 6.11 % of the waste produced by the entire country. It is estimated that each resident produces 630 grams of waste on a daily basis which might touch 1 kg in the coming years. This leaves us with the alarming question of ‘where do we dump’ in this land-starved city. More unanswered issues lurk not too far when we think about the greenhouse emissions by the unsanitary landfills of Mumbai and the life-threatening diseases produced by them.
Scrap-scraper stands tall in the ocean, at a safe distance from the city, housing research labs to conduct experiments and apply technologies of treating waste. It allows people to travel up along its many chambers for a tour, as well as becomes a visual icon to be viewed from the city’s coastline.
Scrap-scraper erected in the ocean, close to the coast, promises to not only house the city’s daily waste, but act as a large treatment plant of the same. It employs several systems to function simultaneously to treat different wastes channelled from the city. The tentacle-offshoots collect several types of segregated wastes including household organic waste, industrial discard, recyclable plastic and metal, etc. which is first sent to the underwater storage units, before being pumped up into different cells for treatment and appropriate conversion like organic waste into biogas. The central core which travels right till the seabed, deposits treated biodegradable sullage at the bottom to become food for marine life. The liquid waste is purified parallelly by passing it through various stages of treatment before being let out like a fountain from the topmost outlet, which hits the turbines attached at the periphery of the Scrap-scraper to produce hydroelectricity to be used for the functioning of the systems and surplus energy given back to the city. The building boasts a cellular network of polymeric fabric pods that act like salt collecting pans, spread like a mesh just above the water surface which would desalinate the ocean water trapped in these pockets naturally, using the sun’s energy. A docking system allows garbage dumping boats to attach themselves temporarily and empty the trash carried from inland.
Project done in collaboration with : Vaishali K, Rupal R, Krittika J, Parth P, Shagun S, Dev M, Nihar S
