On a visit to the orthodontist a few months ago with my daughter, I was reminded of the thousands of tiny “disposable” toothbrushes that fly into the trash every day in dental offices across the globe.
OK, so this isn’t an oil spill. Stay with me for a minute. It’s a tip of the iceberg thing.
Tags: · disposables, faux plastic, plant plastic, Plastic, plastic vortexes, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, recyclables, Susan Freinkl
Trash. Turns out no one wants it. This week, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) adopted a resolution that attempts to heave off some of the crushing load of waste that American consumers and manufacturers are generating.
Tags: · batteries, consumer waste, landfills, light bulbs, non recyclables, Product Policy Institute, recyclables, toxic waste, U.S. Conference of Mayors
Waste Management, Inc. today announced it participated in a $6.9 million strategic investment in MicroGREEN Polymers, Inc. as part of a Series B round of financing. Houston-based Waste Management joined Seattle-based WRF Capital, Northwest Energy Angels and other private investors in the funding.
Tags: · Arlington Washington, beverage cups, Franklin Associates, Houston, MicroGREEN Polymers, Northwest Energy Angels, Plastics, President of WM Recycling Pat DeRueda, recyclables, Waste Management, WRF Capital
Recycle your plastics. Both #1 and #2 plastics — your soda bottles, milk jugs and many shampoo bottles — are recyclable through your municipal service or local collection centers. Remember to rinse and empty them before tossing them into the recycling bin. And when in doubt about a plastic, leave it out so it doesn’t contaminate the recyclables, according to The American Chemistry Council.
Tags: · Plastics, recyclables, Tip of the Day
By Robert Lilienfeld
Green Right Now
Fifteen years ago, the big environmental issue making headlines was whether to use cloth or disposable diapers. We were supposedly going to be buried by the disposables, as they were filling up our landfills so fast that we would soon run out of places to put our trash. To better understand the problem, my co-author, Dr. William Rathje of The Garbage Project at the University of Arizona, was dispatched by a variety of environmental, government and business groups to study the composition of landfills all across America.
What Bill and his associates found was not at all what people expected them to find. Diapers were actually a rather small part of the typical landfill makeup. Also, when all the data on production, transportation, water and energy usage were factored into the equation, the data indicated that disposable diapers might actually produce less environmental impact than cloth ones.
Tags: · paper bags, plastic bags, recyclables, RobertLilienfeldBlog, Use-Less-Stuff
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift