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Every year, tens of millions of the 1.4 billion cars on the world’s roads are decommissioned. While the ferrous and other metals that constitute about 75% of a vehicle by weight can be readily and profitably recycled, the remaining mix of plastics, glass, composites, complex materials, fragments and contaminants are mainly destined for landfill as automotive shredder residue (ASR). For every car, approximately 100–200 kg of ASR is disposed of in landfill, posing a growing technical and environmental challenge worldwide. The recovery of the ASR for high-end application is the focus of this study, aiming to optimise the use of these valuable resources and minimise the extractive pressure for raw materials, a future green manufacturing, contributing towards a zero waste circular economy. As the dissolution of carbon into iron is a key step in the manufacture of iron-carbon alloys, the feasibility of utilizing the waste polymers within ASR as sources of carbon in different areas of pyrometallurgical processing was investigated. Polypropylene and rubber, in a blend with metallurgical coke, were used as carbonaceous substrates and the slag-foaming phenomenon was investigated via the sessile drop technique in an argon environment at 1,550°C. The results indicated the rubber/coke blend achieved significantly better foaming behaviour, and the PP/coke blend exhibited a moderate improvement in slag foaming, in comparison to 100% metallurgical coke. The overall results indicated the incorporation of ASR had significant improvement in foaminess behaviour, increasing furnace efficiency.

Every year, tonnes of flower waste from religious places is dumped into India’s holiest river Ganges, polluting it to virtual death. Pesticides and insecticides used in growing these flowers mix with the water, affecting millions of lives through water-borne diseases. Most others may just lament these facts, Ankit Agarwal and Karan Rastogi, childhood friends from Kanpur, used them as inspiration to innovate. Two years of relentless experimentation led to a brilliant idea; that of recycling the flower waste. They founded HelpUsGreen® in 2014 to convert the waste into bio-fertilisers and lifestyle products. Widely appreciated and heavily awarded now, success has not come easy for this well-educated duo. HelpUsGreen® processes hundreds of kilos of flower waste, creating employment for hundreds of underprivileged women. An entirely bootstrapped project with no carbon foot print, the venture hopes to revive the Ganges through Flowercycling®. Currently at 8.5 tonnes per day and at the tipping point of scaling, HelpUsGreen® hopes to process over 50 tonnes of flower waste per day by 2020. Apart from the environmental impact, HelpUsGreen® has achieved huge societal impact, employing over a thousand women who did not previously have formal employment. What also makes the social entrepreneurs stand apart is their entrepreneurial market savviness. They have positioned their products not at the sympathy market but at the high-end premium market. Their products sell under the name ‘Phool’. HelpUsGreen® has set its eyes firmly on spreading operations across 2,000 kilometres along the Ganges and creating over 25,000 jobs for women.

Composite slabs are gaining wide acceptance in many countries as they lend themselves to faster, lighter and more economic in construction buildings. The strength of composite slabs system relies on the bonding action between the concrete and the steel deck, the shear connections and the cross-sectional resistance of steel beam. However, structural behaviour of composite slab is a complex phenomenon and therefore experimental study is often conducted to establish the actual strength of the structure under ultimate load capacity. The main objective of this study is to determine the structural behaviour of composite slab system until ultimate limit state. Total of two specimens are examined in order to obtain failure mechanism of the composite structure under full load capacity. A new design approach of composite slab for roofing system are proposed in this study to construct a composite slab system that can float in the water but not wash away by flood. The lightweight materials in this composite construction are cold-formed steel and foam concrete. The system focuses on the concept of Industrialised building system (IBS) to reduce the cost and construction time.

As the bell rang, sounding the beginning of the school day, Ji-Sook (Elizabeth) entered the classroom, her pink tweed coat and mittens still frosty from the snow outside. This was Ji-Sook's second year of school in Canada and her first year at Streamside School. She really liked it here and loved her teacher, Ms. Song Lee. Ms. Lee was always sharing stories with the class about her experiences growing up in another country as well as her arrival to Canada and growing up in small towns where Ms. Lee was often the only Chinese person in her school. Listening to Ms. Lee's stories helped Ji-Sook think about Korea and her family there.Removing her coat, Ji-Sook moved quickly to hang it up, her dark curly bobbed hair bouncing as she skipped. Her newly permed hair felt different, but she liked the way it looked. Today Ji-Sook was wearing a favourite outfit, a knitted sweater with a matching plaid skirt. After hanging up her coat, Ji-Sook turned to face the class and noticed that along with her teacher, Ms. Lee, was Ms. Mitton and Ms. Simmee. Ji-Sook was surprised to see Ms. Mitton and Ms. Simmee at school on a Tuesday morning for they usually came in the afternoon. She greeted them happily and took another close look around the room for Ms. Jean. Ji-Sook asked Ms. Mitton where Ms. Jean was; Ms. Mitton smiled and reminded Ji-Sook that Ms. Jean would be coming Wednesday afternoon. Ji-Sook remembered to ask if Ms. Mitton would read with her during shared reading time.Ji-Sook knew it was going to be a very special day. Yesterday afternoon Ms. Lee had reminded the children that in the morning they were to begin a wonderful art project and create their own Starry Night paintings. Quickly Ji-Sook removed the book about Van Gogh, which discussed his Starry Night painting, from her backpack and, before everyone was seated, showed Ms. Lee and Ms. Simmee her book from home. The night before, she and her mother had spent time reading the book aloud. Ji-Sook felt it was much easier to read aloud in Korean than in English. Today's art lesson was out of the ordinary for she loved being able to bring things from home that fit with what they were learning in the classroom. And today was very special.Before going to her desk, Ji-Sook retrieved the poetry book that had a picture of a boy peering over the end of a sidewalk,¹ Ji-Sook hurried to her desk and sat down and waited for Ms. Mitton to join her for reading. Seated with three of her classmates at a table composed of 4 desks, she smiled at Nathan, Grace, and Dana. There was so much to be excited about as she knew that after school today there were parent teacher interviews. Ji-Sook knew her mother was not working at the deli shop and was going to come to the interviews with their neighbour who would translate for her. Ji-Sook so loved it when her mother came to school. Once Ms. Mitton arrived, she and Ji-Sook spent a few minutes reading aloud together before Ms. Mitton went to join Ji-Sook's friend, Hailey, who had also asked Ms. Mitton to read with her. Ji-Sook continued to read and look at the drawings in this wonderful book.Adjusting her headset and microphone, Ms. Lee asked Ella, the class's ‘star-of-the-week’, to tap on the desks of each group to indicate that they were to come to the sharing area. Ji-Sook waited excitedly for Ella to tap her group's desks and then she hurriedly joined Grace, Nathan, Dana, and the rest of her classmates on the foam mats by the picture window. Ms. Lee began the art lesson by showing examples of Starry Night paintings completed by the students she had taught last year. Ms. Lee then shared the rubric with which Ji-Sook and her friends could assess their paintings. Ji-Sook knew that Ms. Lee worked with Mrs. D, the other Grade 3 teacher, and that students in both classes would be making the paintings. Once Ms. Lee finished explaining the steps of their art lesson, she asked Ji-Sook if she would like to come and share the book she brought from home.Sitting at the front of the class in Ms. Lee's chair and wearing her microphone, Ji-Sook read aloud from the book. The book was in Korean and Ji-Sook scanned each page quickly before explaining to the class bits and pieces about Van Gogh's life. Ji-Sook, reading from her book, explained that Van Gogh cut off his ear because he couldn’t draw his own portrait properly. Ms. Lee later returned to this detail and asked about how this piece of information in Ji-Sook's book was different from what they had previously read about the artist. The children remembered that Van Gogh cut off his ear for a woman he loved and had offered his ear as a gift to her. Ms. Lee asked the class to think about these two different pieces of information. Following this question Ms. Lee asked what the children might do to ensure the information they found was accurate. Logan suggested that reading many sources would help.Ms. Lee then drew the children's attention to Ji-Sook and said that as Ji-Sook read she was doing two things at the same time. She asked the class what they thought she was doing. Mya suggested Ji-Sook was reading and then talking. Picking up on Mya's point, Ms. Lee emphasized that Ji-Sook was reading in Korean first and then translating what she read into English. Ms. Lee asked Ji-Sook if she would like to read aloud in Korean. Ji-Sook momentarily hesitated but responded with a smile when her classmates encouraged her. Ji-Sook read one page aloud. She read quickly and the rhythm of how she read aloud in Korean sounded very different from her reading skills in English.Paper and crayons were distributed. Ji-Sook, Grace, Nathan, and Dana were quiet as they began their Starry Night paintings. Looking over the rubric that Ms. Lee had explained, Ji-Sook understood the first step today was to plan the sky and landscape of her painting. She knew the sky was to be about 2/3 of the paper and that everything she drew was to be in small dashes. It was important for the sky of her painting to look like it was moving. Ji-Sook was aware of Ms. Lee moving about the classroom, helping her classmates check, whether or not, the sky in their paintings was approximately the right size. As everyone worked, Ji-Sook heard Ms. Lee remind the class to press hard with their crayons so that the paint would have something to cling to as it dried. Taking Ms. Lee's advice seriously, Ji-Sook pressed firmly each time her crayons touched the paper, and soon her right arm grew tired. Ji-Sook now had a better idea about what Ms. Lee meant by this art project taking a long time to complete. (Interim research text based on field notes,² November 21, 2006)