hippie flavor

Turning soda cans into solar heating panels (by anitha goud)

If this could scale, it would be awesome.

Sweden recycles so effectively that it has to import garbage to incinerate

Every country should be so lucky as to have Sweden’s problem: It doesn’t produce enough garbage.

As reported by Public Radio International (26.06.12), Sweden has a remarkably effective recycling program. Only 4 percent of the country’s waste ends up in landfills, with the other 96 percent being reused in some way. There is one problem with that, however: The country has incinerators that burn waste to create heat (a must-have in the region) and electricity. And too little waste means not enough fuel for those fires…

grist.org, 12.09.12.

8 December 11

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Green Holiday Tips

ecofriendlyhealth:

Make Your Own Wrapping Paper

Most mass-produced wrapping paper you find in stores is not recyclable and ends up in landfills. Instead, here’s a great chance to get creative! Wrap presents with old maps, the comics section ofa newspaper, or children’s artwork. Or use a scarf, attractive dish towel, bandana, or some other useful cloth item. If every family wrapped just three gifts this way, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.

Buy Energy-Saving Holiday Lights

Now you can decorate your house with LED lights that use 90 percent less energy than conventional holiday lights, and can save your family up to $50 on your energy bills during the holiday season! LED lights are available at many major retailers, including Target, CostCo, and Ace Hardware.

Add Organic and Local Foods to Your Holiday Feast

Support local family farmers who grow sustainable meat and produce. Not only does it taste better, you’ll be doing your part for the planet too. Looking for an organic turkey or ham for Christmas dinner? Find out where to get local green products in your neighborhood.

Get a Pesticide-Free Tree

Demand is on the rise for Christmas trees that are not covered in chemicals; some growers use 40 different pesticides, as well as chemical colorants. The good news is that there are now a number of tree-farms that sell pesticide-free trees, so ask your local Christmas tree seller, or search for an organic tree farm near you.

Recycle Your Christmas Tree

Ninety-eight percent of Christmas trees were grown on farms, not in forests, so at least it’s not as if you’re cutting down an ancient tree. Each year, 10 million Christmas trees end up in the landfill. While your tree won’t fit in the recycling bin with your newspapers and bottles, you can recycle your tree: many cities offer programs to turn your tree to mulch or wood chips. Call (800) CLEANUP or visit www.earth911.org to find the tree-recycling program near you.

Recycle Your Old Cellphone

Getting a new cell phone for Christmas? Not sure what to do with the old one? Now, you can drop off that old phone at any Staples store, as part of the Sierra Club cell phone recycling program. Each year, 130 million cell phones are thrown out, weighing approximately 65,000 tons. Recycling your old phone prevents hazardous elements like mercury, cadmium and lead from ending up in our landfills. Find out more.

14 October 11

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Virgin Atlantic Squeezing Jet Fuel Out Of Industrial Waste | Fast Company

“The airline is using technology from LanzaTech and Swedish Biofuels that captures and chemically treats industrial waste from steel mills and turns it into ethanol that can be converted into biofuel (see the video below). Virgin claims that LanzaTech’s process has major potential—the technique could be retrofitted onto 65% of the world’s steel mills, which could produce around 15 billion gallons of jet fuel, or 19% of the current world aviation fuel demand.”

24 August 11

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texturism:

[kudos] though it looks like your standard bottle, its outside is made from entirely recycled cardboard and its inside pouch—which uses 70% less plastic than a plastic jug—is fully recycleable. after four years of development, you may see it soon, holding seventh generation detergent. - fastco design | via jenna

6 July 10

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landscapearchitecture:

Australians Get Bike Path Made From Recycled Printer Cartridges | inhabitat

14 May 10

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Bio-Grow Uses Electronic Waste to Make Algae for Biodiesel | Inhabitat

“Talk about sustainable multi-tasking. Not only have students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created a device that cultivates algae for biofuel production, they’ve made it out of old computer parts. Dubbed Bio-Grow, the algae bioreactor features parts from an Apple G4 CPU tower, PVC pipes, acrylic panels, an Apple iMac CRT, and high density foam.

“Ultimately, the students hope that their device can change the biofuel game by increasing output and lowering costs of algae production. According to the students, if just 6.5% of Americans housed Bio-Grows, they could generate enough algae to completely replace petroleum with biodiesel.”

5 May 10

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Sustainable Living Pavilion | ecofriend.org

The Living Pavilion is a low-tech, zero-impact structure that makes use of reclaimed milk crates as a framework where a green wall can be grown. The pavilion’s construction has been kept simple and modular. Relying on commonly available materials for assembly, the pavilion will provide a shaded area away from direct heat, which will be kept cool by the evaporation from its planted surface.

via urbangreens: blog-architecture

30 April 10

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bunch:

Betacup is a contest that promises $10,000 to the best design to help reduce the 58 billion paper coffee cups thrown out each year. I’ve seen a few great entries, but I think Manueldr’s Coffee Cup, pictured above, is my favorite.

It’s made from coffee grounds, pressed into a vessel by a special machine on the spot. Soy wax, a biodegradable material, would hold it together and provide a waterproof seal. Afterwards, the cup biodegrades quickly and can be added to a compost pile. via Core77

via un

22 April 10

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crookedindifference:

On this Earth Day 2010, think about the impact that your actions has on this planet.

More specifically, your use of bottled water.

Click through for more facts on how bad this issue is getting.

[hat tip to jenny for the image]

via fuckyestheocean: seashelllz

20 March 10

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Win Up to $10,000 for Reducing Coffee Cup Waste : TreeHugger

“Every year, betacup tells us, 58 billion disposable coffee cups are thrown away. That’s thrown away, not recycled. Clearly, this is a big problem. betacup hopes to put an end to this senseless waste with a contest that calls on the talents of the world’s best designers as well as the experience and ideas of everyday coffee consumers.”

3 August 09

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How Can I Recycle This?

Have you ever wondered how to recycle the odd-ball things in your home? Look it up on this website, and they’ll tell you how you can recycle it!

22 April 09

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Earth Day Home Greening Tip #5 - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

It’s nearly impossible to overestimate the environmental benefits of reducing waste and recycling. Cans, bottles, computers, cell phones — anytime you recycle something, it helps reduce the amount of energy needed to produce and transport new products. It also saves space in our limited landfills.

from Everydayhealth.com

9 March 09

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Boat made of plastic bottles to make ocean voyage

De Rothschild is building his one-of-a-kind vessel on a San Francisco pier from recycled of plastic bottles, which he says are a symbol of global waste. Except for the masts, which are metal, everything on the 60-foot catamaran is made from recycled plastic.

“It’s all sail power,” he said. “The idea is to put no kind of pollution back into the atmosphere, or into our oceans for that matter, so everything on the boat will be composted. Everything will be recycled. Even the vessel is going to end up being recycled when we finish.”

De Rothschild’s vessel, scheduled to set sail from San Francisco in April, is called the Plastiki. Its name is an homage of sorts to Thor Heyerdahl, the fabled Norwegian explorer who in 1947 sailed 4,300 miles across the Pacific on the Kon-Tiki, a raft made from balsa wood.

19 January 09

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sarabethhayden:

$5,000 Paper House is the World’s Swankiest Hobo Pad

Taking playing with paper to the next level.

(via Gizmodo)

this gives new meaning to the phrase, “paper-thin walls.”

Themed by Hunson. Originally by Josh