Oregon this summer became the first state to enact in law a product stewardship law for the collection of leftover consumer paint. The pilot program, which expires in 2014, involves a consumer fee that a nonprofit organization established by paint producers uses to pay for the collection and proper disposal or reuse of the leftover paint.
As the Internet becomes the resource more Americans turn to for phone numbers, lawmakers are beginning to examine the proliferation of unwanted phone books — and their environmental impact. A Minnesota legislator, Rep. Paul Gardner, has introduced state legislation to allow consumers to opt-out of receiving the paper directories, but is taking a wait-and-see approach on a voluntary initiative by phone services to allow convenient opt-out. Several other states have considered such a law, but none has passed.
A group of intrepid activists are making a bid to be the first to undertake a clean-up mission to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also know as the Plastic Vortex.
Project Kaisei will sail to out of San Francisco to attempt to remove 40 tons of plastic waste from the 4 million tons believed to be clumped together in the patch. While others have traveled to the north Pacific gyre to raise awareness about plastics before, Project Kaisei is the first to attempt to bring back and recycle the waste on a large scale.
British environmentalist David de Rothschild, author of Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook, met with the San Francisco Conservation Corps on Wednesday to talk about “Plastiki,” a 60-foot catamaran made from recycled plastic (except for the masts), which he’ll use to sail from San Francisco to Australia: an 11,000 mile voyage!
The boat is made up of about 16,000 plastic bottles and is an “effort to raise awareness of the recycling of plastic bottles, which he says are a symbol of global waste.” says Rothschild. Skin-like panels made from recycled PET, a woven plastic fabric, will cover the hulls and a watertight cabin, which sleeps four. Only about 10 percent of the Plastiki will be made from new materials. Read the rest of this entry »
Do you want to limit the amount of trash you produce and help make your backyard soil healthy and productive? One of the easiest solutions to these problems is to compost your food waste. It requires little personal energy, and you will benefit from the rich compost resulting from the breakdown of your kitchen scraps.
The only thing you really need to do is create a suitable bin for your soon-to-be compost. There are alternatives to the overpriced, plastic compost containers that some garden supply stores hawk to customers. You can make your own using recycled shipping pallets for less than $20, or even free if you have some of the few necessary supplies.
On the rare sunny San Francisco day, people don’t flock to the beach as much as you’d expect-they head to the inland parks since often the beach is still cold. Dolores Park, one of the most popular sunny day hang-outs, will be jam packed on these days, leading to overflowing trashcans and recycling bins.
Luckily, there seem to always be a loyal handful of people wandering through the park collecting beer cans and water bottles from the partiers and picnickers. What’s their motivation for their almost surreal helpfulness? Well, a trade-in value of about 5-cents for each bottle or can.
But now the state is preventing many of these people from making their meager living.
Isn’t it just so convenient that we flush our poop away, down the toilet, never to return? I mean, literally speaking, but metaphorically, too. We flush away our poop, like it’s a problem that we don’t want to deal with. But little do we realize, there’s value in everything, even that which might stink, and which we’d rather send away down a porcelain bowl.
Pooping is a natural process, and doing it in a bowl of drinking water (which must only later be treated with nasty chemicals so that we can reuse this same water) is a horrific waste, and polluting, too. That’s where the humanure system comes in.
The term “humanure” refers to human waste which is recycled by methods of composting, and which can later be used for gardening or agricultural purposes. Before you think: “I don’t want dookie on my daisies!”, remember that everything (everything natural, that is) breaks down in due time. So let’s talk about humanure, and how human waste can be more effectively recycled and reused, instead of letting it continue to pollute ever-precious drinking water supplies. Perhaps by the end of this post, you too will think that flushing your crap away is just as crazy as any other form of pollution.
If you’re excited by the possibility of cutting back on your home energy consumption and saving a few precious dollars on your energy bill, let me introduce you to the idea of hot box cooking.
A simple hot box provides a wise solution to preparing meals without the excessive use of your stovetop or oven. You can make a hot box (also called a “hay box”) for free, with very simple and recycled materials that you probably already have lying around your house, or with stuff that you can easily hunt down.
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