FastCompany RSS

trash

Trash To Cash: Mining Landfills For Energy And Profit

A Belgian company is working on removing the raw materials from dumps, making both energy and building materials out of them, and then redeveloping the land. READ»

How Fast Food Chains Could Prevent Water Pollution

The food isn't the only part of the fast food industry that's killing us--they're the number one source of litter. But a few simple fixes and nudges could help fast food lovers waste less.READ»

TerraCycle Takes on TV With Garbage Moguls

TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based startup that upcycles trash into useful everyday items, has popped up on our radar many times over the past year. Because really, how can you not pay attention to a company that turns Frito Lay chip ...READ»

Sugar-Based Plastic Can Be Tossed in the Compost Alongside Banana Peels

It's not yet the norm here in the States, but if this new sugar-based plastic actually takes off, composting might become as widespread as it is elsewhere--because this stuff, unlike current "biodegradable" plastics, breaks down in ...READ»

TerraCycle's Next Venture: Turning Trash Into Trash Cans

TerraCycle has grown significantly since its inception in 2001. The upcycling company went from selling plant food made from worm waste products to repurposing packaging from brands like Frito-Lay and Wrigley's into everything from ...READ»

ECO-ART   |  Comment

Stuart Haygarth Turns Our Disposable Lifestyles Into Art

The eco-artist turns the things we throw away into stunning decorative objects--from chandeliers made of washed up trash, to coffee tables made of broken rear-view mirrors. READ»

LANDFILLS   |  Comment

Trash Into Treasure: South Korea Builds First Landfill-Powered Hydrogen Station

Landfills now have a use besides stinking up large areas of land. The South Korean government is working on a project to produce hydrogen from natural biogases (aka methane) produces in landfills. The facility, which is being ...READ»

The Problem with Germany's Cash for Clunkers: The Clunkers Don't Get Trashed

It's always important to keep unintended consequences in mind with multi-billion dollar programs like Cash for Clunkers. Take the problem of Germany's Cash for Clunkers program, which debuted in January. As in the U.S. program, ...READ»

MIT   |  Comment

MIT Develops Electronic Tags to Track Waste

Just as barcoding trees could help save forests, electronically tagging trash could limit waste. That's the thinking behind MIT's Trash Track program, that will use electronic tags to track waste in its trip through the ...READ»

Waste Expo

A hot topic at this meet-up of solid-waste execs will be the booming business of trash to cash. Some 55% of American waste still ends up in landfills, and operators in this $52 billion industry have long been required to collect ...READ»

PLASTIKI   |  Comment

David de Rothschild Speaks About Upcoming Journey in a Plastic Boat

Billionaire adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild spoke yesterday at the Greener by Design conference about his upcoming journey with six crew members from San Francisco, California to Sydney, Australia on the ...READ»

Community Cooker Prevents Disease in Kenyan Slums

It's a nearly impossible to prevent the spread of disease in slums filled with mountains and rivers of trash. Finding fuel to heat stoves for residents of said slums isn't much easier. All of this is why the "Community ...READ»

TRASH   |  Comment

Enerkem Plant to Turn Landfill Trash into Ethanol

The movie Idiocracy paints a bleak (yet hilarious) picture of a future overtaken by thousand-foot-high landfills that topple over into the streets. Fortunately, a Montreal-based biofuel and green chemical company called Enerkem ...READ»