Home/Posts Tagged ‘waste’
Posts Tagged ‘waste’
Green living, Recycling, Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, May 3rd, 2012,
A Dutch architectural firm is creating buildings from locally recycled material, significantly reducing the greenhouse gas emissions normally produced during the construction process. Rotterdam-based 2012architecten terms this use of local, reused materials, which cuts down on transport, waste and fuel costs “recyclicity” or “superuse” with the goal of regenerating “districts into dynamic ecosystems”. Besides buildings, 2012architecten designs other structures like playgrounds and campgrounds along the same principles. From Al Jazeera English: There are no limits to the model. The architects have designed everything from single homes to offices, playgrounds and cafes. Waste materials have included parts from decommissioned aeroplanes, washing machines,…
Tags: 2012architecten, architects, recyclicity, superuse, waste
Pollution, Feb 1st, 2012,
Rubbish is piling up in Mexico’s capital after the city’s largest waste dump, Bordo Poniente, was closed after the landfill was, for lack of a better word, filled. The landfill, in fact, was meant to close back in 2005, but the city managed to delay closure by 6 years. Now garbage is accumulating in illegal dumps in Mexico City, on street corners and even in front of monuments. The fact that Mexico lags behind in waste reducing measures, such as recycling programs, compounds the problem in the DF. From the Guardian: The demise of the Bordo Poniente exposed how acutely…
Tags: border, Bordo Poniente, garbage, Mexico City, US, waste
Pollution, Jul 11th, 2011,
The world’s beaches are covered in filth. Not to sound alarmist – or heaven forbid, put someone off their well-deserved beach holiday – but reports from around the globe (or glob) show that beaches everywhere are in an increasingly dire state. We’ve already found out that our oceans are facing ‘catastrophic’ conditions, but that shouldn’t spoil a bit of fun, sun, surf and sand, should it? Problem is, many of those beaches we associate with a nice day out in Mother Nature’s splendor are awash with chemicals and human waste (shit). Look what the LA Times has to say about…
Tags: beaches, California, filth, Guernsey, Pollution, staph, waste
Green living, Videos & Documentaries, Jul 6th, 2011,
I know we tend harp on about plastic waste and all the shocking problems it’s causing, what with those giant swirls of plastic in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. But the consequences of our consumption-driven, disposable product-filled lifestyle are catastrophic in the long run, even if they are slightly more convenient in the short term. Is the problem at the level of government policy – for example, should disposable containers be banned? Or do solutions lie at the level of industry – can we rely on philanthropic tycoons to stop cutting down forests for paper coffee cups and encourage…
Tags: garbage patch, GOOD magazine, plastic, waste
Green living, Health, Politics, Nov 4th, 2010,
I’ve wanted to campaign for this for a long time. Restaurant or kids’ meal toys have always bugged me. For, as good as the marketing idea behind them might be, it only makes their existence and popularity all the more absurd. Toys in kids’ meals are a selling trick, and simply nothing more. Restaurant toys are not REAL toys. They are Asian manufactured gadgets of average to low quality, often unfit for toddlers, but equally unfit for any other child, as they are unable to entertain children longer than it takes them to stuff a burger and some fries down…
Tags: carbon footprint, happy meal, happy meal toys, kids' meal toys, mcdonalds, Pollution, Recycling, toys, waste
Climate Change, Conservation, Green living, Health, Nature, Pollution, Recycling, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Sep 18th, 2010,
In case you haven’t heard yet, this weekend is Clean Up The World Weekend! What is Clean Up The World Weekend? Simply put, it’s a weekend set aside for people to help clean up our world. More specifically, it’s a weekend for people to get together and clean up all the trash in our world. You can clean up the trash on a city block, in a park, at the beach, in a forest, in a parking lot, or anywhere else you can think of. Once collected, or even while collecting, be sure to separate the recyclables from actual trash….
Tags: clean up the world, Clean Up The World Weekend, Climate change, education, event, Go Green, help out, Pollution, trash, tree planting, volunteer, waste
Climate Change, Green living, Science & Technology, Sep 14th, 2010,
Biochar is charcoal produced from burning biomass – basically, any plant or animal waste – in very low oxygen conditions. Pre Colombian Amazonian cultures did this by smoldering agricultural waste in soil pits and then using the resultant biochar for fuel and fertilizer. When biochar is produced it captures carbon rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. It therefore has great potential as a way of revolutionizing the way we dispose of waste. Researchers at Cornell University have estimated that if biochar technology were applied to waste management all around the world it could reduce global carbon emissions by 1.8…
Tags: amazon, biochar, charcoal, Climate change, mitigation, SOIL, waste
Recycling, Videos & Documentaries, Jul 29th, 2010,
When I lived in the US we separated our newspapers, cans and some plastic bottles and put them into a container to be collected by a truck once a week. In Sweden we divided glass (both dark and light), metal, plastic, paper, batteries and light bulbs in a special structure in front of my apartment building. In Ireland we just chucked everything into a big tip to be sorted through at a processing plant and then sold to the UK, which also has its own methods of recycling. Below are two separate video reports by Al Jazeera English on two…
Tags: Cairo, China, Egypt, garbage, plastic, Recycling, waste
Climate Change, Green living, Jun 2nd, 2010,
There is something that happens in many rural areas around the globe. It’s a fairly common thing and it can also be a fairly dangerous thing, both to your health and to the environment. What am I referring to? Backyard Trash Burning. Yes, in many rural areas—small towns or out in the country—people will burn their trash. Typically, the trash is burned in a burning barrel (usually a 55 gallon metal drum), though some will also burn their garbage in boxes, a wood stove, or even a small pit dug into the ground. Items that are burned consist of things…
Tags: backyard trash burning, damage, danger, disposal, environmental, fire, garbage, hazards, Health, heavy metals, open burning, pollutants, Pollution, recycle, reduce, reuse, trash, waste
Green living, Science & Technology, May 24th, 2010,
Bruichladdich Distillery, located on the Island of Islay off the west coast of Scotland, has been in operation since 1881. The distillery is an independent and traditional business which has used the same equipment since its inception. Though considered by some to be a ‘green’ industry at heart, whisky making does use plenty of electricity and produces a significant amount of waste. To solve energy and waste disposal problems – for mainly economic rather than environmental reasons – Bruichladdich Distillery has installed a biogas generator that produces methane from ‘pot ale’, a whisky by-product consisting of mostly water. Mark Reynier,…
Tags: biogas, Bruichladdich, distillery, generator, Scotch, waste, whisky
Green living, Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, May 21st, 2010,
Scientists have come up with an alternative fuel source that vegan environmentalists wouldn’t like to use: whey. Whey is the watery part of milk that remains after it is separated from curds during the process of cheese making. Although already used as an ingredient in several types of cheese and as a popular high protein nutritional supplement, most whey produced in cheese making is thrown away. And since most of the mass of milk – some 70% – used to make cheese consists of whey, a lot of waste is produced, which in turn must be treated before disposal. Researchers…
Tags: cell, cheese, energy, fuel, Greece, microbial, power, waste, whey
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 29th, 2010,
It would seem that scientists have come up with yet another reason to put a stop to whale hunting. Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division have discovered that whale fecal matter is an effective, plant-friendly fertilizer for the ocean. The research suggests if whale populations are allowed to flourish, their waste could also help marine plant life to flourish. This would improve the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2. Most of their bodily waste comes from their consumption of krill and according to scientist, Steve Nicol: “When whales consume the iron-rich krill, they excrete most of the iron back into the…
Tags: algae, Climate change, co2, fertilizer, global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, iron, krill, research, waste, whales
Climate Change, Green living, Pollution, Recycling, Science & Technology, Apr 27th, 2010,
Over the years, we’ve heard horror stories of people finding medical syringes washed up on beaches, in the ocean, and other unusual places. They’ve posed a threat to the environment and general safety for quite some time. Luckily, one company has come up with a way to recycle syringes and put them to good use. Sharps Compliance has created PELLA-DRX—a type of building material made from recycled syringes and other medical waste. Now, don’t be alarmed, the Texas-based company assures that the product is safe to use. Here’s a snippet from their website to explain what, exactly, PELLA-DRX is made…
Tags: cement, medical, Pella-DRX, Recycling, Sharps Compliance, syringes, waste
Green living, Science & Technology, Apr 19th, 2010,
Last week, IBM announced a new requirement for all of its suppliers: they must install management systems that will track and report environmental data. The new requirement includes 28,000 suppliers throughout more than 90 countries. It also includes the suppliers’ subcontractors—if the subcontractors’ products or services end up as a significant part of IBM’s supply chain. Environmental data that will need to be reported includes: energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, waste and recycling. IBM is also requiring their suppliers to set environmental goals and publicize their progress in reaching them. IBM’s vice president for global supply and chief procurement officer,…
Tags: energy, environmental data, goals, greenhouse gas emissions, IBM, Recycling, reports, requirements, subcontractors, suppliers, sustainability, waste
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Apr 14th, 2010,
According to EPA and Eurostat figures, Denmark recycles 42% of its waste and burns 54% in heat and power stations. The US, by comparison, recycles 33% while only 13% is used in waste-to-energy incinerators. The majority of US trash – 54% – ends up in landfills, compared to only 4% in Denmark. Denmark’s state-owned garbage burning power plants are also newer and more state-of-the-art than America’s privately owned pay-to-burn incinerators. They burn cleaner and produce more heat and energy, making them attractive additions to even wealthy communities. Quite a contrast from the smelly, smoke-belching eyesores that come to mind when…
Tags: denmark, energy, heat, incinerators, New York Times, plant, power, waste
Climate Change, Green living, Politics, Recycling, Apr 9th, 2010,
Cold, dark and grimy. I sure picked a good year to move to London. Besides the economic downturn and an increase in VAT, the city – along with the rest of the UK – has apparently gotten dirtier. Besides lousy pollution levels, an exceptionally cold winter and beaches covered in rubbish, there’s a bunch of weirdos hanging plastic bags of dog shit from trees. That’s the main focus of an article in the London Times, which moans about gangsta wannabes who are too tough to clean up their pit bulls’ leavings, but suggests that the bucolic black bag-hangers are ‘just…
Tags: Britain, food, london, rubbish, Telegraph, Times, UK, waste
Climate Change, Politics, Apr 7th, 2010,
Job growth and climate change trump safety concerns amongst most Swedes when it comes to the use of nuclear energy and apparently also the storage of nuclear waste. The Swedish parliament may have (at least until recently) regularly voted to phase out nuclear power in Sweden, but the Swedish public is less steady in their feelings about atomic energy. A poll from 2008 by market research agency Synovate and newspaper Dagens Nyheter showed that 48% supported the construction of new nuclear power stations, with 39% against and 13% undecided. By contrast, only one political party (Folkpartiet or the Liberal Party)…
Tags: atomic, change, climate, economy, Forsmark, nuclear, Östhammar, poll, power, Sweden, Swedes, Swedish, Synovate, waste
Climate Change, Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Mar 28th, 2010,
As China’s economy grows, so does the amount of rubbish it produces – by 10% each year. The Chinese government is struggling to keep up with the consumer society its economic policies have created. The resulting dumps and landfills – both official and illegal – are an ever-increasing blight on the country’s growing metropolitan areas. One way to get rid of the rubbish is by burning it in government incinerators or simply out in the open, but this releases toxic fumes and dangerous pollution. Photojournalist Wang Jiuliang has been documenting the waste problem in and around China’s capital of Beijing…
Tags: Beijing, China, Chinese, dumps, garbage, Guardian, Lianzhou, photo, rubbish, Wang Jiuliang, waste
Wildlife & Flora, Mar 5th, 2010,
The once so beautiful beaches around the harbor of Ouzai, south of Beiroet, and close to the international airport Rafic Hairi in Lebanon, are completely ruined by waste. Apparently a lot of this waste comes from the Costa Brava dumping grounds (that are located near the sea) and while its illegal to dump waste in the sea, all violators are protected by the local politicians. ‘We are no real fishermen anymore, we are the employees of Sukleen’ – Sukleen is the primary waste company of Lebanon that processes around 2,200 tons of household waste daily A local research company named…
Tags: endangered fish, fishermen, fishing, lebanon, ocean, overfishing, Pollution, waste
Climate Change, Feb 25th, 2010,
An awareness poster from the Catalonia Department of Environment (Departament De Medi Ambient) reads: All around the world, 8 million tonnes of waste reach the sea EVERY DAY. All this refuse is generated by human activity. This non-recyclable rubbish is thrown into the toiler, onto the streets, into gullies, onto the sand and into the sea, turning it into a tangible destroyer of marine life. But you can stop this from happening. Uncontrolled waste is a thread to the seas I find it quiet striking… how about you? By Murielle Ungricht
Tags: endangered, garbage patch, Mediterranean, oceans, plastic, Pollution, refuse, seas, waste
