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Plastic
California legislature passes plastic bag ban
After months—make that years—of rumblings, it’s official: California’s legislature has passed a bill that bans single-use plastic bags throughout the entire state. Individual municipalities throughout the state (and around the country) have already implemented bag bans on single-use plastic bags, but if California governor Jerry Brown signs the bill, it will be the first time […]
Where does our plastic go?
We throw things out every day, but rarely consider where our garbage goes. Each American disposes about seven pounds of trash daily, nearly 70 percent of which heads straight to landfills, according to NPR. We have a trash crisis, and the most pressing problem may be plastic waste. As the New York Times’ editorial board […]
Iowa is turning plastic bags into park benches
You’ve heard of from rags to riches, but what about from bags to benches? Plastic bags are a notorious bane of the environmental landscape, but they’re receiving exciting new life thanks to an innovative program in Iowa. Iowa isn’t typically considered a standout national leader when it comes to recycling. Iowans recycle 1.2 million tons […]
Bonnaroo music festival aims for sustainability
Held over four days in June, the Bonnaroo Music and Arts festival attracts up to 100,000 revelers to Manchester Tennessee each year. That many music fans in one place can generate a whole lot of garbage. That’s why Bonnaroo organizers are making a concerted effort to promote sustainability at this year’s festival. In order to […]
Nomadic designer turns to scraps to furnish his living spaces
François Duquesnoy must really, really hate moving furniture. The Dutch-born designer has moved a total of eight times in the last few years. Rather than pack up his furniture for each move, he builds his own furniture for each new location. He doesn’t just build it from scratch; he builds it from scraps. After each […]
Should New York City start charging for single-use bags?
A recent editorial in the New York Times spells out a convincing argument for doing away with plastic grocery bags. “There’s something ridiculous about the life of a two-handled plastic shopping bag,” says the editorial board. “The 20 minutes it spends cradling your groceries home is bracketed by two vast gulfs of time. First, thousands of […]
Ditch the bottle: “Ooho” aims to make bottle-free water available to the masses
In the U.S., we only recycle 9 percent of our plastic. Plastic water bottles are a major contributor to that statistic. In fact, it has been estimated that Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. Let that sink in for a moment. We’ve heard — and written about — of a lot of […]
Vermont grocery stores might start charging for plastic bags
Vermont is known as the “Green Mountain State,” but a bill currently under consideration would turn Vermont into the “Very Green Mountain State.” Vermont’s legislature is currently mulling over a ten-cent fee for disposable grocery bags. The fee would be charged on a per-bag basis at checkout and would apply to paper, plastic, and any […]
DIY plastic recycling machine will revolutionize waste management
Dutch designer Dave Hakkens’s latest project, Precious Plastics, may have just opened the doors for do-it-yourself plastic recycling. This comes at a time when only a meager amount of accumulated plastic waste is reprocessed. In fact, in 2011, only 8 percent of the total amount of plastic waste generated was recovered for recycling. The Precious […]
New Hampshire steamship company cuts waste by 70 percent
The Isles of Shoals Steamship Company in Portsmouth, NH, has increased its efforts to stay sustainable and enhanced its green reputation by introducing a new recycling policy and cutting its waste stream by 70 percent. Waste generation on cruise ships is high Although cruise ships comprise under 1% of the global merchant fleet, it is […]
Looking for a creative alternative to recycling? Build with plastic
If you diligently recycle your plastic water and soda bottles, you may be patting yourself on the back for making a green choice. Laura Kutner wants you to make a more creative — and even greener — choice. The Portland, Oregon native founded Trash for Peace, a 501(c)3 organization with a clear mission: “To educate […]
