Our Neighborhood

Earth

Keeping It Green

• • Don’t Just Recycle - TerraCycle

  Closed-Loop Solutions

  TERRACYCLE - TerraCycle's goal is to focus on hard-to-recycle materials, developing circular solutions for otherwise linear systems. Today they recycle millions of pounds of such material on a weekly basis, diverting it from our landfills and incinerators.

  When looking at a new waste stream we first focus on moving it from a linear disposal system to a circular one, and then over time to a platform that is as closed loop as technically possible.

• • What We Can Recycle?

  13 Household Items You Didn’t
  Know You Could Recycle
  This List Might Suprise You

  They include:
  1. Eyeglasses,
  2. Carpet,
  3. Christmas Lights,
  4. Tights & Stockings,
  5. Toothbrushes,
  6. Prosthetic Limbs,
  7. Pet Fur,
  8. Bras,
  9. Brita Water Products,
  10. Motor Oil.
  11. Tennis Balls,
  12. Keys,
  13. Toilets

  Click now for more
  from Direct Energy.

• • More About Recyclable Items 13 Household Items You
  Didn’t Know You Could Recycle

  -The recycling basics are pretty easy: put paper, plastic, and glass in their appropriate containers so your local recycling center can process them correctly.

  But what do you with those odd (yet somehow everyday) household items filling up our drawers, closets, and garages? While we don’t want to throw them away in the trash, we’re not sure what to do with them. Thanks to this helpful little infographic, you can now take care of your toothbrushes, toilets, and tennis balls with ease!

  Click now for the Live Brighter blog.

• • Recycling For Kids (1)

  Having Children Take
  Respnsibility for a Clean Planet

  Fun Presentation and Game about Recycling - Natural Resource Facts about Paper and Aluminum and How To Recycle for Kids - Green Living Strategies Presented by Children of the Earth United - Environmental Education for Kids of all Ages, Teachers and Families.

  Learn more about Creative
  Kids by clicking now.

• • Recycling For Kids (2)

  Children Learning About Recycling
  and Having Fun at the Same Time

  Nico is on a quest to help save the planet! He’s passionate about sharing his knowledge of recycling with everyone, so join Nico on his journey to reduce, reuse and recycle with tips and fun activities. Once you have the practices down, you can share your recycling knowledge with your family and friends too!

  
  Learn more about Nico by clicking now.
• • Check Out This Recycled "Green" House

  Modern Recycled Container House in South
  Africa Operates 100% Off Grid

  Mar. 10, 2017- Sustainable design has taken longer to get off the ground in South Africa largely due to expensive construction methods.

  When Johannesburg-based Architecture For A Change (A4AC) took on the challenge of building a modern green home in the country, they aimed to make the house not only environmentally friendly but also affordable. They cut costs by using upcycled shipping containers and other repurposed materials to build Cliff House, a lifted flying container house with an economical, energy-efficient design.

• • From Trash to Building Material

  What Is Poly Brick?

  It's a revolutionary building material made from 100% recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate Polymer. It is translucent, naturally insulated, and durable. The modular 3-D honeycomb self-interlocking structure makes it extremely strong without any chemical adhesives, while weights only 1/5 of the standard curtain wall systems.

• • It’s Not Just Trash Anymore

  One Person’s Trash is
  Another's Renewable Energy

  The practical benefits of organic products don't necessarily end when it goes down the drain or into the trash. There is quite a bit of useful energy left in the items we discard.

• • More About Plastic Waste

  Pollution
  (And What We Can Do About It)

  Plastic is literally at our fingertips all day long. Keyboards. framed computer monitor, mice. The amount of plastic we encounter daily doesn\’t end there. Chances are, you can relate. Plastic is an epidemic.

  But where does all this plastic go?

• • Plastic Bottles Become Shoes and More

  Timberland Transforms Recycled Plastic
  Bottles Into Shoes and Bags

  Mar. 3, 2017- For its latest collection, Timberland is turning to the bottle—the plastic bottle, that is. The outdoor-wear maker has teamed up with Thread, a Pittsburgh, Penn.-based manufacturer of sustainable fabrics, to transform plastic bottles from the streets and canals of Haiti into a dapper collection of footwear, bags, and T-shirts.

• • A State-by-State Guide to Landfill Bans

  What’s Banned in Landfills:
  A State-by-State Guide

  Earth91/ Nov. 27, 2017 - In some cases, it’s not about whether you should recycle an item, but instead whether you must.

  That’s because in the U.S., there are no federal laws regarding recycling. There wasn’t even a law regarding waste generation until the Solid Waste Disposal Act in 1965, which eventually became the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and set procedures for landfills and collection of household waste.

  This means any items banned from landfills are decided at the state (or, in some cases, city) level. Only one U.S. state, Montana, currently does not have any landfill bans.

• • Beer Waste Into Clean Water+

  Microbes Turn Beer Waste
  Into Clean Water, Energy

  November 1, 2015 -Cambrian Innovation is extracting clean water and energy from waste streams at two California breweries with a secret set of microbes.

• • An New Role for Discarded Plastics

  Netherlands: Plastic Roads to
  Be Made From Recycled Ocean Waste

  Sept 16, 2016 - After the floating farm, Rotterdam will be the first city in the world that plans to build roads using plastic waste rescued from the oceans. These are polymer blocks, reminiscent of Lego pieces with which we played as a kid, and presented as the ecological alternative to stop pouring concrete.

• • 3D Printing Our Way Out of Waste

  Is 3D Printing the
  Answer to Plastic Waste?

  January 29, 2015,  -You’ve probably heard a lot about 3D printing in the last few years. "Printing" is sort of a misnomer. Also referred to as "additive manufacturing," it’s the process of creating an object from a digital file by layering filaments to form the finished product. It’s been hyped as a revolution that will make conventional manufacturing obsolete, allowing people to create the products and tools they need in their own homes.

• • Canon™ Cartridge Recycling

  Canon Environmental Technologies, Inc.

  In 1990, Canon introduced a cartridge recycling program for all-in-one laser beam printer toner cartridges through its Clean Earth Campaign Program. The goal of the program is to achieve zero landfill waste by reusing parts, recycling materials, and employing energy recovery. Canon’s all-in-one cartridges have components that can be recycled and reused by Canon.

• • Electronics Recycling

  Recycling Electronic Waste
  Responsibly: Excuses Dwindle

  Maybe you replaced old electronics over the holidays or you’re just sweeping out the old and ushering in the New Year. Either way, you’ll need to do something with your old devices. For everyone’s sake, including Mother Nature’s, try to get rid of your old technology the right way.

  Click now to read how
  and watch the video.

• • Light From Discarded Batteries

  Discarded Laptop Batteries Keep the Lights On

  Millions of discarded batteries have more than enough life to power home lighting for one year, researchers in India say.Many of the estimated 50 million lithium-ion laptop batteries discarded every year could provide electricity storage sufficient to light homes in poor countries, researchers at IBM say.

• • The LandfillHarmonic

  There's No Such Thing As Waste

  Click now to watch this entertaining video and see what we mean.

• • Self-Destructing Plastics & Recycling Awareness

  Self-Destructing Plastics and Recycling?

  CleanTecnica , Aug. 15, 2018  - Evian says it will produce all its plastic bottles from 100% recycled plastic by 2025. Starbucks made headlines this summer with its pledge to eliminate plastic straws by 2020. British supermarket Morrisons said it would bring back “traditional” brown paper bags for loose fruit and vegetables, which means that 150 million small plastic bags will be removed from circulation. But is any of this foot-stomping about plastics really enough? Isn’t it time for to ask the world’s scientists to research and develop polymers or plastics with built-in self-destruct mechanisms?

  Interested? Click now for whole story.

• • The Last Straw

  Make the Last Straw You Got From
  a Restaurant Your Last One

  A disposable plastic straw is used on average for a whopping 20 minutes. It’s longer than the four-second lifespan of the plastic stirrer you may use to swizzle your coffee or tea, but 20 minutes is still just a tiny fraction of the several hundred years it could spend in a landfill.

  One straw may seem insignificant, but consider this: someone who uses one straw a day for the next decade will toss 3,650 pieces of plastic into the landfill—and there’s a chance that plastic may get lost along the way and end up in the ocean.

• • Using Bugs to Clean Up Waste

  Dong Energy Funds
  First Power Plant Using
  Bugs to Clean Up Waste

  July 1, 2016- Dong Energy A/S’s REnescience plant in northern England will use enzyme technology to “wash”; organic matter from unsorted waste, creating a slurry that can be turned into a gas for use in power generation or motor fuels, said their VP of commercial bioenergy at Novozymes.

• • CO2 As a Refrigerant

  A Good Use for CO2

  Volkswagen, Daimler, Audi, BMW and Porsche have announced plans to develop CO2 technology as a more climate-friendly refrigerant for air conditioning systems.

  VW says CO2 as a refrigerant — also known as R744 — has lower greenhouse gas effects than conventional refrigerants, with a GWP (Global Warming Potential) value of 1, or 99.3 percent below the European Union-specified GWP limit of 150.

• • Batteries Must Be Redesigned For Easier Recycling

  This Could Avert a
  Looming E-Waste Crisis

  (The Conversation, Oct. 22, 2020 -As concern mounts over the impacts of climate change, many experts are calling for greater use of electricity as a substitute for fossil fuels. Powered by advancements in battery technology, the number of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on U.S. roads is increasing. And utilities are generating a growing share of their power from renewable fuels, supported by large-scale battery storage systems.

  These trends, coupled with a growing volume of battery-powered phones, watches, laptops, wearable devices and other consumer technologies, leave us wondering: What will happen to all these batteries once they wear out?

  Despite overwhelming enthusiasm for cheaper, more powerful and energy-dense batteries, manufacturers have paid comparatively little attention to making these essential devices more sustainable.

  
  Click now for the story.

• • Recycling Paper Adds a Price to the Environment

  It's Only Meaningful
  When Powered by Renewable Energy

  (ZME Science), Oct. 20, 2020 -While it’s usually seen as a good practice, recycling paper is actually meaningful to the climate only when it’s powered by renewable energy, according to a modeling study. Greenhouse gas emissions would increase by 2050 if we recycle more paper, as current recycling methods rely on fossil fuels, researchers found.

  A circular economy is expected to achieve sustainability goals through efficient use and reuse of materials. Waste recycling is an important part of a circular economy. However, for some materials, the potential environmental benefits of recycling are unclear or contested, say researchers from University College London.

  Senior author Professor Paul Ekins said: “The recycling of some materials, for instance, metals, can lead to a very large reduction in emissions. But we need to be careful about assumptions that recycling, or a circular economy in general, will always have a positive effect on climate change.”

  
  Click now to read the study.
• • Recycling is Fast Expanding Across the UK

  This is in Spite of the Pandemic

  (ZME SCIENCE), -Sept. 23, 2020, Despite the challenges and restrictions brought in by the coronavirus pandemic, the United Kingdom seems to be turning more environmentally aware, at least in one regard. According to a new report, nearly nine out of ten households claim they regularly recycle. According to the same research, people say they are more prepared to change their lifestyles to protect the environment.

  Recycle Now, a government-funded recycling campaign managed by the a waste advisory body called Wrap, carried out a survey to UK households on recycling. They found that up to 73% said to be willing to do more for the environment, which is up from 68% in 2019. Also, 93% agreed that “everyone has a responsibility to help towards cleaning up the environment.”

  
  Click now to read the rest.
• • Is Recycling paper Really Good For the World’s Climate?

  It's Only Meaningful When Powered by Renewable Energy

  ( ZME Science), Oct. 20, 2020 -While it’s usually seen as a good practice, recycling paper is actually meaningful to the climate only when it’s powered by renewable energy, according to a modeling study. Greenhouse gas emissions would increase by 2050 if we recycle more paper, as current recycling methods rely on fossil fuels, researchers found.

  A circular economy is expected to achieve sustainability goals through efficient use and reuse of materials. Waste recycling is an important part of a circular economy. However, for some materials, the potential environmental benefits of recycling are unclear or contested, say researchers from University College London.

  
  

  Click now for the story.
• • Yes, Pizza Boxes Can Be Recycled After All

  An We Thought
  That We Couldn't

  SIERRA Magazine, July 28, 2020 -When Eric Nelson looks back on his years as a waste reduction manager at the University of Kansas, what stands out are the pizza boxes. "One year, there was a first-week event for all the clubs and organizations," he told me on a phone call from Lawrence. "I think Pizza Hut sent over like 500 medium one-topping pizzas." That was great for the hungry college students, not so much for Nelson, who spent the evening schlepping 500 pizza boxes to the dumpster "because we couldn't recycle pizza boxes."

  It's advice from the dawn of curbside recycling: Don't put your pizza box in the blue bin because the greasy cardboard and cheese scraps make it unrecyclable. For years, conscientious recyclers followed this advice, and tens of billions of pizza boxes were sent to landfills and incinerators. The intentions were good, but it turns out that the advice wasn't.

  New research reveals that, so long as you remove all the pizza, the cardboard container that held your Veggie Supreme can be readily recycled into something new.

• • Building Recyclable, Next-Generation Turbine Blades

  Recyclable Turbine Blades

  May 11, 2020 (Renewable Energy World) -We have come a long way since the first Earth Day in 1970.

  As of January this year, there were nearly 1.5 million electric cars driving on U.S. roads, we recycle and/or compost approximately 35% of our waste (Environmental Protection Agency), and roughly 20% of U.S. energy generation comes from renewable sources (U.S. Energy Information Administration).

  According to the American Wind Energy Association, wind energy generation has grown by 7.3 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity for every year of the last decade. And, as of 2019, there was approximately 96 GW of installed wind capacity in the United States and 591 GW worldwide.1

  While the expansion of renewables is undoubtedly a positive shift, not all renewable energy is renewable from start to finish.

• • Phone Cases That Use Recycled Ocean-Bound Waste

  WAKE LifeProof Is the Provider

  May 8, 2020 (inhabitat) - In an effort to find a balance between protecting the significant investment in our cellular devices and protecting the planet, LifeProof has developed a phone case that sources materials diverted from the ocean and simultaneously supports organizations directly involved in providing safe water, protecting ocean life and maintaining river habitat.

  WAKE, the newest case line from LifeProof, is made from 85% recycled plastic waste. Materials for the protective case are sourced from fishing nets and ropes to help prevent those plastics from reaching the ocean. The plastics are then woven into a polypropylene material that is both durable and strong. This practice reduces the need to produce virgin plastic, and the company also offers a program to recycle your phone case when you decide to make a change.

• • The Importance of a Circular Economy

  The EU Push For a
  Circular Economy to
  Have Longer-Lasting Products

  Mar. 13, 2020 (ZME SCIENCE) - Produce, use, and throw away? No, better reduce, reuse, and recycle, says the EU. The paradigm of the current linear economic model could be coming to an end, replaced by a circular economy, a system that seeks to better use the resources available and reduce their environmental impact.

  The European Union (EU) wants to move forward in that direction and introduced a new Circular Economy Action Plan, with the objective of reducing the bloc’s consumption footprint and double its circular material use rate. By doing so, the EU’s GDP would increase an additional 0.5% by 2030.

  The EU acknowledged that many products are currently being manufactured in such a way that they break down fast and can’t be reused, repaired, or recycle. Instead, green products should be the norm, rewarding manufacturers of products based on their sustainability performance, according to the bloc’s plan.

• • Ocean plastic: How Recycling Creates Tomorrow’s Problems

  How Recycling Could
  Create Tomorrow’s Problems

  Feb. 27, 2020 (Environmental Health News) - Sometimes plastic recycling is so much worse than just letting trash be trash.

  But first, let's thank European supermarket chain Lidl for trying. We all must. Plastic pollution is an enormous challenge. Unfortunately they, like many, are ignoring the toxic dimension of plastic recycling. Until efforts to solve the plastic crisis fully understand plastic toxicity, they risk making today's solutions into tomorrow's problems. And not just tomorrow's minor problems—we're talking societal-disruption and extinction-scale problems.

  Our research team this week found a story in The Daily Mail about Lidl's plan to wrap fish in plastic recycled from "ocean-bound plastic" collected off beaches in Southeast Asia.

• • The House That Trash Built: Turning Clutter to Handicrafts

  Myanmar Start-Up Turns Clutter to Handicrafts

  Mar. 4, 2020 (REUTERS) — From a distance, ChuChu Design, a single-storey building across the river from Myanmar’s bustling commercial capital, looks like any other on the impoverished outskirts of the city.

  But on closer inspection, the roof has been fashioned from old tyres, the walls are made of glass bottles and the lampshades from melted plastic, all items upcycled by the social enterprise as part of a mission to educate people about waste.

  ChuChu – named after the Burmese for “plastic house” – sells handicrafts and fashion products recycled from the thousands of tonnes of trash dumped in Yangon every day.

• • Recycled Plastic Can Become a Buddist Monk's Robe

  Thai Buddhist Temple
  Recycles Plastics Into Robes

  Feb. 6, 2020 (REUTERS)—At a Buddhist temple south of Bangkok, a monk watches as a machine presses down on thousands of water bottles, before a giant bale of crushed plastic rolls out with a thud.

  The plastic is destined to be recycled into polyester fibers, which will be made into fabric for saffron-colored robes for monks.

  The recycling temple of Wat Chak Daeng is one bright example of recycling for Thailand, one of five countries that account for more than half of plastic in the world’s oceans.

• • Jordanian Women Go Door-To-Door Recycling Trash

  Jordanian Women Go Door
  -To-Door Recycling Trash

  Jan. 27, 2020 (REUTERS)- Every morning just after dawn, Saada Turkmani wakes up, puts on her bright yellow vest and green hard-hat and walks door-to-door in her Jordan valley village, picking up trash to be recycled.

  Turkmani is one of 60 women who work at the Northern Shouneh sorting center which says the first of its kind in Jordan. It is part of a U.N.-backed program to try out ways to improve the country’s waste management.

  The 48-year-old mother of five said her family had always struggled to make ends meet. They depended mainly on her husband for income, but he worked seasonal jobs that were not always reliable

• • We Can Fix Recycling

  One Thing We Can Do:
  Fix Recycling

  Jan. 15, 2020 (New York Times Climate Forward)- Recycling in the United States is broken.

  For years, we relied heavily on recycling operations in China to take our waste. But that came to an end in 2018, when Beijing barred the import of recycling materials. The result is a waste crisis that has caused at least dozens of municipalities to cancel curbside recycling programs, with many more implementing partial cuts. Huge amounts of recyclables are now going to landfills.

  “When the biggest export market is no longer willing to accept your material, there’s an imbalance between supply and demand,” said David Biderman, the executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America. “That’s just Economics 101.”

• • A Revolting Development

  Northvolt Plans Revolt, a
  New Battery Recycling Plant

  Dec. 16, 2019  (Renewable Energy World)- Northvolt AB, the Swedish challenger to China’s domination of the electric-car battery market, plans to build a large-scale recycling plant to recover supplies of precious metals needed for production.

  The aim is to get the facility running by 2022 and provide half the cobalt and other metals needed to make new battery cells eight years later, Chief Executive Officer Peter Carlsson said in an interview.

  Started by two former Tesla Inc. executives, Northvolt is currently Europe’s best hope for narrowing the gap with Asian rivals commanding the growing market for vehicle batteries. France and Germany are leading governments’ catch up efforts to develop a domestic industry, and battery recycling would go some way in meeting the need for raw materials.

• • Look What Can Be Done With Recycled Water Bottles

  30,000 Recycled Water Bottles
  Make a 3D-Printed Pavilion

  Dec. 16, 2019  (inhabitat)-Dubai-based design studio MEAN Design has unveiled an eye-catching pavilion in the front esplanade of the Dubai International Financial Center. Not only is the bulbous structure with multicolored “teeth” visibly stunning, but the unique pavilion, called Deciduous, was constructed entirely with 3D printing technology that turned 30,000 discarded water bottles into a plastic polymer to use as the base material.

  It's a stunning example of how 3D printing is not only a viable and affordable construction method of the future but also a revolutionary system that can help reduce plastic waste.

  Click for the story and slideshow.

• • Patagonia Puts a New Meaning to Recycling

  Patagonia’s Black Hole Bags
  Made From Recycled Plastic Bottles

  Dec. 2, 2019  (inhabitat)-Patagonia is setting the bar for high-quality and sustainable products with its new line of bags made from recycled plastic bottles. Dubbed the Black Hole Collection, the newest line offers 25 different bags, each with its own unique features and style.

  The bags are durable and stylish, and they come in a variety of styles and colors. Even better, the bags help reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills every year. Patagonia’s 2019 line of these bags utilized 10 million plastic bottles, transforming all of this plastic into a unique recycled fabric that forms the webbing and body of the bags. Each bag is water-resistant and backed by the company’s Ironclad Guarantee, which entitles the buyer to a repair, replacement or refund should the product not perform to their full satisfaction.

  Click for the story and a slideshow.

• • Don't Toss That PET Bottle Just Yet

  Waterproof Parka Is Made
  With Recycled PET Bottles

  Nov. 23, 2019  (inhabitat) —Oftentimes, less is more — like when you can carry a coin purse instead of a weighty bag. When it comes to coats and jackets, choosing a light-yet-durable option is best, so you don’t find yourself in a mummy-tight arctic coat when all you really need is a lightweight, waterproof shell. That is where the Maium Lightweight Parka comes in to play.

  Of course, we’re all about sustainability, so while having the right jacket for the job is ideal, it’s even better when that jacket is also kind to the environment. The Maium Lightweight Parka fits the bill here, too. As with all Maium raincoats, the Lightweight Parka is made using recycled PET bottles — and we all know that diverting plastic out of landfills is a good move. Maium ensures all of its jackets are also manufactured under fair, safe and healthy working conditions.

  Click now for the story and a slideshow.