Every Tuesday morning my kind neighbour walks up my steep driveway, selects the correct bins and wheels the heavy loads down to the street. On Wednesday evening she pulls the empty bins back up the driveway. I am very grateful.
Bin night is a ceremony, a sequence, religiously performed in cities worldwide. Consider then the drama
of changing a system so intimately penetrating our daily lives. Consider the combination of imagination,
science, technical know-how and sheer authority needed to make this happen. The whole experience could stand as a metaphor for human civilisation.
Thinking along these lines, local scientist Francois Malherbe introduces a new contribution to Gully
News. In this first article he unpacks the chemistry of composting, a key element in the change to the waste disposal system. He sees it in the context of all the processes that keep planet earth in balance. As well, he suggests we change STEM to STEAM. Read on.
Anne Boyd
