Decompose Trash: How Long Does it Take
Not all trash is equal. Every trash item takes a different length of time to decompose. And some products don’t disintegrate at all. Read the full story from Sustainable Earth…
Have black plastic in your home? It could expose you to toxic chemicals, researchers say
A study raises concerns that recycled plastic containing flame retardants, initially used in electronics, are being reused in the manufacturing of consumer products. Read the full story from The Washington Post…
Lawsuits from California AG and others take aim at ExxonMobil’s chemical recycling claims.
Coordinated lawsuits by a coalition of environmental NGOs and California Attorney General Rob Bonta target the company’s role in pollution and describe the limitations of mechanical and advanced recycling to manage waste. Read the full story from Waste Dive…
Those Keurig Coffee Pods? They’re Not So Recyclable, the S.E.C. Says.
Financial regulators have challenged Keurig Dr. Pepper company recycling claims for their Keurig single-serving coffee and tea pods because they failed to note that two large recycling companies won’t accept them. Read the full story from The New York Times…
South Korea recycles 98% of its food waste. What can it teach the world?
South Korea takes 15,000 tons of daily food waste from restaurants and homes and transforms it into green energy that can power around 20,000 households. Read the full story from The Washington Post…
Do Countertop Compost Machines Really Work?
Diverting food waste from the landfill is one of the easiest things we can do to help solve climate change and with many composting machines on the market what works, and what doesn’t? Read the full story from The New York Times…
Goodwill positions itself as a growing player in the recycling industry
At its first sustainability summit with executives and key partners, Goodwill highlighted plans to scale up textile recycling while continuing to foster regional film plastic partnerships.” Read the full story from Waste Dive…
The Orcas Island Exchange Harnesses the Power of the Sun
Island-based OPALCO discusses the impact of ORS/The Exchange sustainability initiatives. Read the full story from OPALCO…
State Rep. Alex Ramel learns the wonders of Orcas transfer station.
“On July 26th, Washington State Representative Alex Ramel visited ORS/The Exchange on Orcas Island to see what they are doing to move towards zero waste.” Read the full story from The Islands’ Sounder…
What’s Greenest and Cleanest When Nature Calls?
“Most of us don’t want to think about what happens to it once we’re done with it but conventional toilet paper has a big environmental impact and is driving the climate crisis with every flush. We’ve got the lowdown on alternatives, from bamboo tissue to bidets.” Read the full story from The New York Times…
Does ‘compostable’ plastic actually break down? Here’s what to know.
“There’s real confusion over what is really biodegradable, what is really compostable, what is Earth-friendly.” Compostable plastics are also not all plant-based…They can be made from fossil fuels, but are engineered to eventually break down. How wary should you be if a product is labeled compostable but lacks certification? Should the EPA do more research on bioplastics and should the Federal Trade Commission update and expand its guidance on environmental marketing claims involving plastics? Read the full story from The Washington Post…
Why scientists think they may finally have found a way to recycle clothes
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a nonprofit focused on recycling, 92 million tons of clothes are thrown out all over the world, every year. Only about ⅛ of it gets recycled and less than 1 percent of all clothing is ever turned into new clothing. But scientists are working on a way to change all that. Read the full story from The Washington Post…
How to create a ‘world without waste’? Here are the plastic industry’s ideas.
UN members got together in Nairobi, Kenya in March 2022 to pledge to negotiate a treaty to “end plastic pollution”. A final draft is supposed to be completed by 2025 but the current details are vague, to say the least. Read the full story from Grist…
Going plastic-free is nearly impossible. These people are trying anyway.
Going plastic-free requires constant decisions and complications throughout every day — and finding workarounds for nearly every purchase. But over the last five years, people around the world joined a movement and have avoided more than 1.5 million tons of plastic waste – enough to fill about 80,000 garbage trucks. Read the full story from The Washington Post…
Critics call out plastics industry over “fraud of plastic recycling”
Since the ’80’s some municipalities were calling for a ban on plastics. The oil and gas industry began promoting “plastic recycling” as a solution, but the U.S. still generates about 48 million tons of plastic waste each year – and only about 5 percent is actually recycled. With plastic production set to triple by 2050, how effective is plastic recycling? Read and watch the full story from CBS News…
Glass to sand: Goodwill of Delaware unveils new recycling machine
Goodwill stores in Delaware are using a $1 million grant from Truist Charitable Fund to pay for a new glass crushing machine and for training workforce on how to use the machine. The area is susceptible to rising sea levels and sand from the machine can be used in shoreline restoration projects and erosion control around the coastlines. Read full story from Delaware Online…
New Orleans likes to drink. They spotted a huge recycling opportunity
Two college students started a recycling venture in the back of their frat house that has diverted glass bottles from landfills and crushed them into sand for coastal restoration efforts. Read the full story from the New York Times…
A global study just revealed the world’s biggest known plastic polluters
Some of your favorite soft drink companies may be the biggest culprits when it comes to plastic pollution. Read the full story from The Washington Post…
Say goodbye to foam coolers, takeout containers. WA ban starts in June
Recycling expanded polystyrene may be possible, but WA state’s Department of Ecology says it’s expensive and most residential recycling programs don’t accept it. Foam clamshell containers became illegal in Washington State as of June 2024. Read the full story from The Seattle Times…
Plastic Waste May Finally Have a Solution!
With eight patents and years of R&D, Aduro Clean Technologies has discovered a process where they can take nearly all plastic waste and with their hydrochic process, break it back down into the same material companies use to create new plastic. Watch the full story from TwoBitDaVinci Inc…
Colgate-Palmolive faces lawsuit over ‘misleading’ recyclable toothpaste tube claims
In 2022 Colgate introduced a “breakthrough” recyclable tube claiming the monomaterial HDPE tube could be recycled with other No. 2 HDPE containers. A judge A denied the company’s request to throw out a lawsuit filed by consumers claiming the recyclability claims are misleading. Read the full story from Waste Dive…
Recycling is a Myth – Here’s how we fix that
Globally, only about 9% of plastic is actually recycled. Can “plastivores” help us fix recycling by eating plastic using enzymes in their bodies? Watch the full story from PBS…
Chemists Warn Bottled Water 100 Times Worse for Plastic Than Thought
Microplastics are everywhere. An environmental chemist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory used Raman scattering microscopy to measure an average of 240,000 particles of plastic in each liter of bottled water – 10 to 100 x’s more than previous estimates. Read the full story from Better Planet…
Burn After Wearing
A mountain of used clothes appeared in Chile’s desert. Then it went up in flames. Read the full story from Grist…