You are browsing the archive for waste.

Portland, Oregon Becomes Latest City to Ban the Plastic Bag

12:58 pm in Business & Politics, oregon, plastic, waste by TreeHugger

portland plastic bag ban photo Photo: Zainub, Flickr, CC BY-SA Oregon's largest city has just joined a growing list of municipalities that are fed up with plastic bags -- It has just adopted an ordinance that will ban plastic bags from major grocery stores, as well as some big box retailers. Even better, the ban is slated to go into effect in a mere matter of months ......Read the full story on TreeHugger

North Face Steps Up To Responsibly Manage an Invisible Waste Stream

1:22 pm in Business & Politics, clothing, recycling, upcycling, waste by TreeHugger

plasticbench.jpg Photo credit: Jason Cartwright/Creative Commons If you're like a lot of people these days, you know that avoiding plastic use is a good idea. You ditch the single serving water bottles for a good steel one. You choose paper rather than plastic. But did you know that many of your clothing purchases, use plastic that you never see - Even from the greenest of companies, like The Nort...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Could the Resurgence of Soda Fountains Banish Bottled Waste?

1:50 pm in Business & Politics, plastic, waste by TreeHugger

soda-fountain-bottled-waste.jpg Photo: Library of Congress Starting way back in the early 1800s, folks relied on soda fountains to get their fizzy fix -- they'd head to department stores, diners, candy shops for the carbonated stuff. They peaked in the 40s and 50s, when everything was swell. Then, with the rise of chain drug stores and bottled drinks, they began their inexorable decline. Now, the only time we use soda fountains are when we head to fast food, and those are Read the full story on TreeHugger

Ask Pablo: Annual Report Mailed To 50k Employees? What Can My Company Do Better?

7:13 am in Business & Politics, environmental footprint, recyled, waste by TreeHugger

Stacked Reports Paper Image Image credit: amishrobot, used under Creative Commons license. Dear Pablo: Help! My company has 50,000 people in 300 offices around the world and sends out its annual report to each and every one of them! What is the environmental impact of this? On the one hand it is great that your company is engaging with every single employee by sharing its annual report with them, but you can't help but cringe at the environmental footprint of producing and shipping 50,000 annual reports. First, let's...Read the full story on TreeHugger

How Just 3% of Denmark’s Trash Ends Up in a Landfill (Video)

11:57 am in Business & Politics, clean energy, europe, waste by TreeHugger

Anlaeg_skorsten.ashx.jpg This is an entry in my series on Denmark's myriad efforts in the climate and clean energy arena, and why they seem to work. I'm trying to find out if Denmark-ifying societies around the world might stop climate change ... Photo courtesy of Amfork.dk Back in 1970, Amagerforbrænding, a waste-to-energy plant, was opened outside of Copenhagen. Over the years, the city added upgrades -- the plant generates 26 MW of power, and provides distr...Read the full story on TreeHugger

ROCK REUSE RECYCLE at Rock-A-Field Festival

3:22 am in 100 mile diet, alternative energy, bottled water, concerts, Culture & Celebrity, europe, events, luxembourg, music, public transportation, Take Action, waste by TreeHugger

Rock-a-field festival photo Last weekend I experienced what was for me the greenest music festival so far. And not only because at Rock-A-Field in Luxembourg you actually get to rock a lush green field surrounded by dense forest. The organisers of RAF also set an example of how to lower the environmental impact of 18,000-plus festival goers and 15 bands (amongst which Arcade Fire and the Arctic Monkeys) without s...Read the full story on TreeHugger

British University Experiments With Online ‘Shaming’ of Non-Recyclers: Does It Work? Is It a Good Idea?

7:30 am in england, News, recycling, universities, waste by TreeHugger

recycling bins scottsdale arizona photo The right place for recycling. Photo: Dru Bloomfield / Creative Commons. If all your friends and peers could see what you were chucking into the trash, would you recycle more? Early reports from a dormitory experiment at England's Newcastle University suggest online "shaming" can be successful in increasing recycling rates, at least temporarily, but critics say the idea is too "Read the full story on TreeHugger

California is About to Ban Styrofoam. Good Riddance.

12:53 pm in Business & Politics, california, waste by TreeHugger

styrofoam-ban-california.jpg Photo credit: Dan Century via Flickr/CC BY-SA California's state Senate just voted to ban the sale of Styrofoam containers. The bill would prevent restaurants and shops from distributing food in foam containers -- Californian's takeout and sodas will have to be sold in more sustainable, or ideally, reusable containers. Some 50 municipalities in the state have already enacted such bans. If the measure passes the state Assembly, it will make California the first ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

California Sheriff’s Dept Aims For Paperless Office

2:33 pm in Business & Politics, eco-friendly office, waste by TreeHugger

printer paper waste photoImage: redtype via flickr However ubiquitous the 'save paper, don't print this email' email signature is, people are still doing just that. But the Sheriff's office in San Bernardino County is smartening up and has paper, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department has begun to implement a new paperless system with the potential to save millions of dollars in both paper and ink costs. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Major Brands Say Goodbye to Excess Packaging

12:05 pm in Business & Politics, environmental footprint, green packaging, waste by TreeHugger

clamshell packaging photo Image: Tara Hunt via flickr Good news, according to the New York Times: excess packaging, plastic in particular, is on the decline. Apparently more because of high oil prices than any environmental concern, but we'll take it. The Times has examples of a few major stores making significant changes:...Read the full story on TreeHugger