San Francisco hits 80 percent landfill diversion!
By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling San Francisco has set a new national recycling and composting record by achieving an 80 percent landfill diversion rate — the highest rate of any city in North America. The City by the Bay now only sends 20 percent of its refuse...
Shaper’s All-Natural Boards Bring Sustainability Back to Surfing
By Blanca Myers August 21, 2012 << Previous | Next >> Surfers are some of the most ardent environmentalists, yet their sport is awash in petrochemicals and carcinogens, from neoprene wetsuits and urethane leashes to polyurethane boards and epoxy. Danny...
We hope olympians won’t have to test the mettle of their medals by selling them as scrap metal
LONDON – The value of an Olympic medal, for many the crowning achievement of a lifetime’s work, is of course priceless – an irreplaceable memento to outstanding athletic achievement. Yet in real terms, at least for the third place finishers at London 2012, the actual...
Ewok treehouse goes green
Posted on July 21, 2012 - 11:12 by Susan DeFreitas, EarthTechling If you ever had a tree house as a kid, or saw The Return of the Jedi, or both, chances are, you’ve dreamed of a tree house village. Erica and Mateo Hogan did, and in 2005 — with the help of some friends...
12-Year-Old Starts Recycling Business, Donates Profits to Charity
Stephen Messenger Living / Culture June 4, 2012 NBC News/Screen capture When Sam Klein was still in kindergarten, he became fascinated with the things we throw away. Every week, on trash-collection day, the curious youngster would wait outside his house in St. Louis...
School kids urge Crayola to rethink recycling
A group of California grade school students wants Crayola to start a recycling program for spent plastic markers, but the company doesn't appear ready to make such a move. About 40 students at Sun Valley elementary school in San Rafael, Calif., have been...
Wasted Food No More
Massachusetts may ban big institutions from discarding food in the trash in a bid to cut down on the methane from landfills. David Biello reports | Sunday, May 13, 2012 | 4 When you don't clean your plate, microbes feast. And Americans are awfully good at feeding...
Californians recycled over 16 billion beverage containers in 2011
By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling California's beverage container recycling rate stayed essentially flat last year, but still reached gaudy heights according to a recently-released report by the state's Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle)....
Carbon Fiber Recycling program picking up steam
Trek Bicycle has announced that it has recycled over 700,000 pounds of carbon fiber, a material used to make high-end bikes, as well as other purposes, since launching a pilot program last year. The Waterloo, Wisconsin-based bicycle manufacturer launched the pilot...
Plastic bags: A vote to make recycling more accessible instead of legislating/taxing
Since their introduction in American grocery stores 30 years ago, plastic carryout bags have become both wildly popular and widely despised. We tend to like them when they let us get all our stuff from the checkout counter to the car and into the house in one trip....
Expired medication recycling program
NATIONAL TAKE-BACK INITIATIVE http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/ (follow link for collection site locator) April 28, 2012 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has scheduled another National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day...
Marks & Spencer Launches ‘Shwopping,’ Aims to Recycle as Much as it Sells
Marks & Spencer aims to recycle as many clothes as it sells – 350 million a year – with its Shwopping campaign launched today in London, encouraging customers to recycle their old clothing at M&S clothing stores. The retailer will give all “shwopped” clothes...
Newly discovered fungus eats plastic
BY JESS ZIMMERMAN 1 FEB 2012 2:49 PM A group of Yale students, poking around in the jungles of Ecuador, has unearthed a type of fungus that digests otherwise-unkillable plastics. The microscopic Amazonian fungus feeds on polyurethane, which is a particularly tenacious...
With ThredUp, recycle kids’ clothes by leaving them on the porch
January 25, 2012 | 5:00 am 23 A new service launching Wednesday through the online swapping site ThredUp makes recycling kids' clothes as easy as leaving them on your doorstep. Through ThredUp's newconcierge program, customers go online to request a free, prepaid,...
Study: Water recycling key to U.S. future
San Diego is testing wastewater recycling at a demonstration plant. A new national report says the practice of purifying sewage is increasingly important as the nation's population grows. — Howard Lipin 8:44 a.m., Jan. 10, 2012 Updated 4:04 p.m. Treating municipal...
Regarding comingled curbside recycling
BY ASK UMBRA Q. Dear Umbra, It seems that commingled recycling could not be as efficient as separated recycling. Although I am aware that it increases the percentage of garbage that is recycled, I wonder if there is any reason to separate my waste and find an...
Ford To Use Recycled Bottles In Car Seat Fabric
One popular American automotive manufacturer has announced plans to use recycled plastic to create upholstery for the car seats in some 2012 vehicles. According to Chris Woodyard of USA Today, Ford Motor Company has announced that they will use approximately two...
Why recycle?
EarthTalk® -- Environmental Commentary by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss of E - The Environmental Magazine Recycling and re-use have many environmental benefits, including reducing the amount of waste we bury in already overcrowded landfills and burn in polluting...
INFOGRAPHIC: The History of Recycling
by Leah Blunt Published on November 15th, 2011 3 Comments Recycling has been around in one form or another for centuries, but what do you really know about it? Archaeologists have found evidence of recycling that took place around or perhaps earlier than 400 B.C....
The kitchen of the future runs on leftovers
BY JESS ZIMMERMAN 2 NOV 2011 9:30 AM The kitchen of Philips Design's "Microbial Home" turns food waste into compost and cooking gas. Organic waste gets thrown in a "bio-digester," where specialized bacteria processes it into methane gas to fuel the range. Then the...
This bridge is made from recycled plastic
BY JESS ZIMMERMAN 3 NOV 2011 9:30 AM This 90-foot bridge in Wales Scotland (whoops, the company is Welsh, not the bridge) is Europe's first to be made entirely out of recycled plastic, not to mention the longest plastic bridge ever built. More than 50 tons of plastic...
It’s officially OK to stack garbage over 1000 feet high in Santee.
SAN DIEGO -- A compromise has been reached in the eight-year legal battle regarding the Sycamore Landfill's future expansion.The city of Santee was suing the city of San Diego claiming San Diego was using Santee as its dumping ground. Trash mounted up so high in...
The Living Bridge
Meghalayas\' Living Bridge
Patagonia’s Recyclable Fall Fashions
Since 2005, Patagonia has taken bake 45 tons of clothing for recycling through its Common Threads program. I’m a huge fan of Patagonia, from the brand’s warm outerwear and comfortable and stylish yoga clothing, to its concern about fair labor practices and its...
Support for Bottle and Can Recycling
EarthTalk: Deposits on Beverage Containers Monday, October 31, 2011 :: Staff infoZine Dear EarthTalk: Why don’t more states mandate deposits on beverage bottles as incentives for people to return them? Most bottles I’ve seen only list a few states on them. - Alan Wu,...
Recycling: a Crutch for Our Conscience?
by David Groves Many of us remember the first time we were introduced to the blue bin. Depending on where you lived in the late 1980s or 1990s, a curbside recycling program was probably established in your municipality (unless you’re still waiting for one). We...
Solar is getting cheap fast—pay attention, Very Serious People
I hope everyone has read Kees Van Der Leun's post about the rapidly falling cost of solar PV. I want to draw out one quick point that Kees leaves implicit. He argues that PV will be the cheapest source of electricity for most of the world some time around 2018, and...