For him the leaves are not a seasonal debris, but a type of fuel that is literally underfoot. Scientist and environmental activist Maksym Soroka has invented a new cheap and efficient way of heating a residential building. For this purpose he mixes fallen leaves and paper, pressing them into briquettes ready for burning. The inventor says that this fuel burns and warms no worse than wood, coal or gas.
“The leaves are not waste, they are a seasonal raw material. They can be used as a building material, fuel, sorbent, artificial soil. Yes, we can find a useful application for fallen leaves and dispose of them wisely,” says Soroka, who is a member at Dnipro branch of the National Ecological Center of Ukraine. He said that the inspiration for this invention came from his mother-in-law who asked to come up with an alternative source of heating. The ecologist shares the technological secret: first you need to soak ordinary paper waste in water for a few days. Then mix it with a kitchen mixer to a viscous state. Then add shredded leaves, more water and mix thoroughly. The mixture is then pressed into small tablets. A pellet from under the press weighs about 50 grams. To replace one cubic meter of gas for heating purposes, you would need about 60 such pellets. The only thing you have to be careful with is to use them exclusively in an oven that burns constantly. It won’t fit into fireplaces, barbecues, and grills.
Maksym Soroka emphasizes that this technology has a dual benefit: it is cheap and does not harm the environment. And burning plant waste makes the house warmer and the surroundings cleaner. Now the inventor is promoting his novelty in villages around Dnipro.
