Research Project Title: Research Report on NYUAD’s Waste Management
Research Project Description:
The goal of this summer research project (published here on NYUAD’s website) is to create a comprehensive report about actual processes of NYUAD’s waste management, and to develop a plan for improvement, and future integration of the existing plastic recycling machines into NYUAD’s and its service providers’ waste management. We are specifically interested in creating flow-chart diagrams on existing processes, analysing and mapping out the use of the actual in-use waste management area, gathering numbers from the different providers, and to learn about the different destinations that NYUAD’s waste goes to after it leaves campus (for example landfill sites in the UAE, recycling in Asia, etc.). Continue reading “Open position for Visiting Undergraduate Researcher (UAE-based)”
A group of four NYUAD students went on a self organised excursion to the Philippines, to work on several ideas for a social enterprise to support underprivileged children in the region of Manila. Felix took the opportunity to join the students to visit several sites, and to meet with Precious Plastic Philippines. Within a three day visit of course nobody can claim to know the city, but it is enough time to get a long lasting impression of the cities’ dynamic environments and its amazing population. Below you can find a few of those impressions from the travel.
As part of the Precious Plastic WANA Conference 2018 the NTSI Lab organised a mangrove and beach clean-up as a communal event on Abu Al Habl Island (Abu Dhabi, UAE) in the afternoon of December 19, 2018. Twentyfive participants shuttled from Yas Marina with a motor boat (boat owner: Captain Tony) to the nearby island to collect waste. An introduction to marine wild-life and the local flora and fauna was given by Arabella Willing (Emirates Wildlife Society – WWF). Most of the found waste resulted from partys of boat owners that regularly use the island for weekend trips. The collected bottles, cans, construction material (mostly styrofoam) from close by construction sites, plastic bags, cigarette filters, BBQ equipment (incl 2 BBQ grills) and broken picnic furniture amongst other equipment was taken in boxes back to NYUAD campus to be seperated and recyceled if possible.
Plastic Fantastic, curated by Professor Felix Beck, New York University Abu Dhabi, Engineering Department, and Marie-Claire Bakker, Zayed University, features work from more than 30 artists, created in reaction to the insidious nature of our reliance on plastic.
December 16 – December 19, 2018 NYUAD, Project Space
Plastic-based technologies have transformed the modern world. From IV tubing to blood bags and air bags; electric cables to computers; synthetic clothing to carpets—it’s impossible to imagine a world without plastic. Plastics have ushered in an age of innovation and convenience, but have resulted in a catastrophic environmental crisis. Out of the 480 billion plastic bottles purchased in 2016, only 7% were recycled. 100 million tons of plastic waste are suffocating the oceans, and threatening marine life species with extinction. Microplastics which are estimated to be in the stomachs of 90% of all birds and fish worldwide, are also in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat…and the very bodies that sustain us. Plastic Fantastic addresses this crisis, elevating plastic from waste to fine art, from toxic material to redemptive metaphor.
Featured Artists: Aisha Salem Almehairi • Amal Naser Al Menhali • Amna Ali Aljaeedi • Arabella Willing • Arwa Hamad Aljneibi • Ashwaq Abdullah Abdulaziz • Asma al Ahmad • Asma Alasad Alkatheeri • Ayesha Ahmed Al Marar • Cristalina Parra • Fangqing He • Fatima Ahmed Alshehhi • Fatima Saleh Al Nuaimi • Gamilah Hussein Al Huthaifi • Hamda Essam Alkhajeh • Hend Hasan Al Hosani • Hessa Abdulla Alzaabi • Laura Schneider • Maha Khamis Alhosani • Mariam Humaid Al Qubaisi • Mohammed Ahli • Muna Hamad Jaralla • Nouf Khalid Almazrouei • Reem Rashed Aljneibi • Reem Saeed Almenhali • Sandra Peters • Sara Tariq Alnahdi • Sarra Hamed Al Refaei • Shamma Saeed Alkaabi • Shouq Yousef Aleghfeli • Ying Wang • Zainab Adel Al Amro • Zheng (Jack) Zhang • Zuhoor Saleh Almessabi
