Japan is faced with the huge task of cleaning up after the earthquake and tsunami.  There are tons of rubble in a mixed mess of materials. The problem is to get rid of it quickly and recycle as much as possible. The big pieces are easy to separate, Things like blocks of concrete, cars, and structural steel. But what to do with the rest of it. Normally the rest of the material would be dumped into a landfill or burned. But there is a huge opportunity to do things differently. The smallest pieces of waste can be run through a shredder and run through a commercial garbage separator. That would separate out the metalic and glass components. any sand would end up with the glass.  The rest of the material would be things like wood, plastic, and garbage.  There is a process called Thermal Depolymerization. In the simplest description of the process, the material is heated and the vapors are re-distilled back into liquid fuels. Basically a synthetic diesel fuel. About 15 percent of the energy produced is used to run the plant. The other 85% is now a very clean, sulfur free fuel oil. My belief, is that this kind of process would be at home in any city. There is no reason we should be sending anything to a landfill. We have the technology to recycle everything in some way. Thermal Depolymerization is the last piece of the zero landfill puzzle. The process can use tires, garbage, plastic, paper, even medical waste and manure. The process breaks down hazardous wastes and even hard to destroy prions. Companies are trying to commercialize the process, But it’s not the huge moneymaker that investors are looking for. But it is the kind of solution that should be implemented in all cities just to reduce the amount of stuff that goes into the landfills.