Trash into Cash

Within just four months, the town of Oryol has built a unique plant to recycle industrial and household waste.

Most recycling plants in Russia and elsewhere have one major defect: when burning waste, they emit harmful dioxins into atmosphere.

The Russian company Ekoprom in choosing a suitable option for Oryol looked at the Balabanovo Plant in the Kaluga Region. Using a Russian technology this plant has made the recycling of rubbish an ecologically harmless process that turns waste into squared beams for use in construction.

However, the Balabanovo Plant recycles only timber waste, and the construction of a similar plant in Oryol, for instance, would cost 33,7 billion rubles.

Fortunately, Ekoprom's engineers found a way to build a plant complete with assembly lines at a fraction of the cost - a mere three billion rubles. The money was provided by the company itself and by an extra-budgetary ecological fund.

The new plant can process all kinds of industrial waste and household rubbish such as glass, polyethylene, waste paper and cans.

The plant's technology is being kept secret, but its trial phase has confirmed that the plant does not harm the environment, consumes very little electricity, and produces good quality building material. This material is non-inflammable, does not absorb moisture and does not mould. It is light and therefore convenient for use in construction; besides it is very heat resistant.

Ekoprom built a structure on its grounds from the new construction blocks to show what a dust-heap (8.5 hectares in area and more than 30 meters high) can be turned into.

There are countless scrap heaps of this sort, amassed over decades, on the outskirts of the town. After reaching its planned capacity, the plant will be able to cope with this trash within two or three years, and in the process provide cheap building material. The plant will operate in three shifts, with a hundred men or so working in each shift.

Unfortunately, the plant has been standing idle since last September because it lacks the additional 500 million rubles necessary for a final start-up. The town and company coffers are empty, but there is a lot of waste around that could be turned into money.

("The Moscow News")

Vocabulary Notes:

1. to emit испускать, выделять

2. option выбор

3. squared beams квадратные блоки

4. assembly line сборочный конвейер

5. trial phase фаза испытаний

6. to absorb moisture поглощать влагу

7. to mould гнить

8. heat resistant теплостойкий

9. to cope with справиться

10. shift смена

11. to stand idle простаивать

Ex. 19. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the major defect of most recycling plants in Russia?

2. Why did the Russian company Ekoprom look at the Balabanovo Plant, choosing a suitable option for Oryol?

3. What are the drawbacks of the Balabanovo Plant?

4. What kinds of waste can the new plant process?

5. What are the particularities of the plant's technology?

6. Why did Ekoprom build a structure on its grounds?

7. What material will the plant produce?

8. Why has the plant been standing idle since last September?

Ex. 20. Retell the text.

Ex. 21. Read the text.