Recent Articles
Reclaimed Water Tags: Sustainability with Caution
The level of treatment of reclaimed water and the resulting water quality may vary depending on the intended use. As such, cities respond appropriately to prevent mixing this water with potable water lines. Almost all cities across the country mark reclaimed water pipelines and valves with purple (Pantone 512 or 522) to identify and distinguish […]
Put Litter in Its Right Place: Design and Print Free Color-Coded Stickers
Cities may have made recycling convenient by providing blue bins that accept all kinds of recyclables. But single stream recycling isn’t the ideal solution for the problem of recyclable waste. Single-stream recycling has increased participation in recycling programs, but made for more contaminated recyclables. Contaminated recyclables fetch low prices or are rejected outright when sold […]
Help Protect Marine Life with “No Dumping” Signage
Did you know that 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die of marine debris each year? Anything washed or dumped down the drain can ultimately end up polluting local waterways and oceans they connect to, harming aquatic life. It can be anything: cigarette butts flushed down the toilet bowl, runoff from an over-fertilized lawn, a […]
Don’t Let Fluorescent Lights Fade Away in Landfills
About 620 million fluorescent bulbs are discarded every year. When broken and discarded, they release toxic mercury into the environment. In the United States alone, discarded bulbs release between two and four tons of mercury every year. Toxic mercury vapors from broken bulbs can enter the bloodstream through lungs. Mercury from broken bulbs and tubes […]
Applying the three R’s to your kids’ Halloween costumes
If you’re a forward-thinking, highly-organized parent, you’ve likely already crafted the perfect Halloween costumes for your kids. But, if you’re like some of us and have been so busy that you only just noticed that November is nary a week away, you may be looking for some help in the costume department. The best costumes are both […]
Seattle to enforce mandatory composting
Seattle is known as a pioneer when it comes to sustainability efforts. And yet, they’re having a hard time motivating citizens to compost their household food scraps. Their solution? Give people a choice: keep compostable food scraps out of the garbage, or be hit where it hurts—in the pocket book. Per a brand new policy, […]
Innovative map displays solar potential of individual buildings
When it comes to sustainability-focused design and business models, it probably takes a whole lot to impress the folks at Fast Company’s Co.Exist. Eduardo Berlin, an architect and designer from Cambridge, Massachusetts, has done just that. Berlin’s project, dubbed Mapdwell, plots “the solar potential of every individual roof in cities like Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, […]
Introducing: Team Compost and the Food Scrap Friends!
You may have seen our coverage of organic waste recycling initiatives across the country. These efforts to raise awareness of the need for food recycling are paying off as more and more people embrace composting. At RecycleReminders, we are very excited to introduce our own composting awareness campaign: Team Compost. Food waste makes up nearly one third […]
Innovative venture brings vegetable oil recycling to Brazil
Today’s post starts with a Portuguese lesson. (We thought you needed a little shot of culture.) Recolher is a verb that means: “To collect.” Oleo means “Oil.” Combine those two words, and what do you get? Recoleo. That’s the name of an innovative venture that aims to collect vegetable oil from homes and businesses in […]
Nanotech “lily pads” are a new way to purify water
If Mark Owen’s invention becomes as ubiquitous as he hopes, there will be some very confused frogs in our lakes, ponds, and rivers. Mark Owen developed the LilyPad water purifier. At a full meter in diameter and coated in white plastic, the LilyPad water purifier doesn’t look like any lily pad I’ve seen—nor does it […]
What happens to aluminum cans?
For many of us, we can’t get through the day without that 2:00 p.m. shot of caffeine via a can of soda. (Not to mention the 3:00 shot of caffeine. And the 3:30 shot of caffeine…and the 4:00…) Needless to say, those cans add up quickly. It’s fairly commonplace to recycle aluminum cans, but what […]
