Recycling

Stuart Haygarth Turns Our Disposable Lifestyles Into Art

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:09:21 -0500

SocialCycling Turns Unrecyclable Products Into Usable Items

Ariel Schwartz — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:27:17 -0500

Dell Greening Its Supply Chain With Bamboo

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:21:14 -0500

Dell is falling for bamboo. Having already introduced a computer with a bamboo case, today they'll begin shipping netbooks with bamboo cushioning, rather than the customary styrofoam and plastic. This is the latest detail in the computer maker's ongoing plan to green its supply chain.

Preserve Everyday Tableware Is Designed for Consumers to Keep

Alissa Walker — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:50:13 -0500

Sound Smart, Look Sharp

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:20:12 -0500

Remember the days of cassette mix tapes? And remember when your own mix was like a personal soundtrack, or a piece of your soul?

Easing the Switch to Green Office Supplies

Glenn Croston — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:30:56 -0400

No matter what business you’re in, you use office supplies, and greening these office supplies is step in the path toward a more sustainable business. Shoplet.com is helping more businesses and consumers choose green office supplies by making the choice easy.

EcoATM Pays Cash for Your Old Cell Phones

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:20:08 -0400

Until now there have been limited options for recycling old cell phones--send it back to the manufacturer, send it to one of a number of Web sites that offer cash for your used electronics, or go to the cell-phone store and hand it over. EcoATM, an automated e-cycling station that just opened in the Nebraska Furniture Mart, is the easiest solution yet.

Tesco Uses Meat Power to Divert Waste From Landfills

Ariel Schwartz — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:31:01 -0400

British grocery chain Tesco has some good news: it has managed to divert 100% of its waste from landfills. But there's a catch: the chain is using expired meat to do it.

Will Your Next Prescription Drug Be Made Out of Recycled LCD Screens?

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:44:07 -0400

LCD waste from electronics is the fastest growing waste stream from Europe. One way to cut down on LCDs heading to the landfill: Turn them into medication. It sounds like something out of a sci-fi flick, but researchers at the University of York have discovered that waste from old LCD TVs can be recycled for medical purposes.

Naked Juice Brings PET Bottles to the Mainstream

Ariel Schwartz — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:49:13 -0400

The Culture of the Bag

Rocky Tilney — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:10:13 -0400

My wife and I have this on-going joke about the baggers inconventional grocery stores and how they get all flustered when you bring in your own reusable bags.

Shirts With a Caffeine Buzz? Waste Coffee Grounds Make High-Tech Fabric

Kit Eaton — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:29:55 -0400

Waste coffee grounds is icky stuff that's a pain to clean up...but it's also proven to be a great biofuel, and now a Taiwanese company has figured out how to turn it into a super-high tech eco-fabric. Is there no end to its talents?

How Xerox Tapped the Power of Reuse

Adam Werbach — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0400

Listening to the cacophony of calls for green business, green jobs, and green economies, you'd think that everyone now is for a green future. But unless your company is manufacturing solar panels or making socks from bamboo, environmental actions alone are not a broad-enough platform to sustain your business for the long haul. A successful strategy for sustainability must address changes in every dimension of the environment in which your business operates -- social, economic, and cultural -- not just the natural environment.

Dell Challenges Apple's Advertising in Battle for Green Domination

Ariel Schwartz — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:58:12 -0400

Apple has changed the tagline for its MacBooks from "the world's greenest family of notebooks" to "the world's greenest line of notebooks" because of a recommendation from the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division--a recommendation that came as a result of a request from rival computer-maker Dell. Yes, the green computer wars have begun.

San Jose Developing First U.S. Organics to Energy Waste Biogas Facility

Ariel Schwartz — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:17:19 -0400

San Jose, California announced yesterday a plan to develop the country's first organics-to-energy waste biogas facility on a 40 acre plot of land. The kinks of the plan are still being worked out, but if all goes well, the facility will be constructed and operated by Zanker Road Biogas.

Government 2.0: San Francisco Releases EcoFinder iPhone App

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:45:13 -0400

At last, local governments are figuring out how to use smart phone applications for their own good. San Francisco has released a free EcoFinder iPhone app to help residents recycle and dispose of unwanted materials.

Terracycle's Global Expansion, First Stop Brazil

Ariel Schwartz — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:23:40 -0400

Ultra-popular upcycling company TerraCycle is introducing its reclaimed products to the global market with a new program in Brazil. 59 Wal-Mart stores in São Paulo, Curitiba and Recife are putting up collection points for Frito-Lay chip bags, which will be shredded and turned into clipboards and bags.

Universal Fiber Rescues Your Old Carpets From Landfills

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:46:12 -0400

Why should ugly old carpets be relegated to landfills? That's the thinking behind Universal Fiber's new ReFresh Fiber, a nylon fiber made out of post-consumer Nylon 6,6 carpeting from landfills.

Machine Turns Boring Office Memos Into What They Should Be: Toilet Paper

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:32:32 -0400

Tokyo-based manufacturer Nakabayashi has come up with a unique solution to the problem of excess used printer paper: an in-house machine that turns used A4-sized copier paper into toilet rolls. Nakabayashi's massive 600 kg machine can create two rolls each hour from used paper.

Re-Tread Upcycles Tires into Earthquake-Resistant Building Material

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:29:42 -0400

Companies have been using ground-up tire "crumbs" for years in products like shoe soles and synthetic turf, but grinding up tires uses plentiful energy. But Re-Tread Products' Tire Logs, presented at this week's Greener By Design conference in San Francisco, don't need to be ground up-- they are easily transformed into a durable, bendable green building material with help from commercially available sidewall removing machines.

Don't Throw That Chip Bag Away! Give It Back to Frito-Lay, and Let Terracycle Turn It Into a Fashion Accessory

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:39:59 -0400

Instead of tossing that bag of Doritos in the trash, consider sending it back to Frito-Lay. It might just get turned into a tote bag.

Dissolving Styrofoam in Biodiesel Makes Better Fuel

Kit Eaton — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:34:54 -0400

In terms of environmental impact, biodiesel fuel is nicer than "ordinary" diesel. Meanwhile, styrofoam is a nasty, non-biodegradable packaging material. Now, like a scene from Back to the Future made real, scientists have discovered that dissolving styrofoam in biodiesel actually makes for a better fuel--and it gets rid of the styrofoam totally.

Forget TV Dinners: Microwaving Tires is the Next Big Thing

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:59:09 -0400

Disposing of the nearly 300 million car tires that are ditched every year in North America isn't easy. Burying them takes up way too much space, and recyclers are often hard to find.

Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling at the Milan Furniture Fair

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:38:11 -0400

These are nervous times for the companies showing off their wares at the sprawling Milan Furniture Fair. At the same time, a showcase for luxurious goods is as good a place as any to see how the prevailing grey mood is translating into the objects around us. These works share a common cause: reduce, reuse, recycle.

Garbage Moguls: The Trashiest Reality TV Show Ever [preview]

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:31:48 -0400

Reality shows are often classified as trashy TV. Now things have come full circle with a reality program focusing on--you guessed it--garbage.