Published on February 23rd, 2010
Marks & Spencer (M&S) may not be a familiar company to those outside of Britain or Europe, but it is no small business. It sells clothing, home and furniture goods, electronics, and food in 30 countries. It has 560 stores in the UK and 130 more worldwide.
Why would you care about this?
Well, M&S is on track to start one of the most innovative recycling systems in the world. It will fund a new curbside (kerbside, if you are British) recycling program and will use the recycled materials for its own food products. Closed-loop — that’s what this kind of full-cycle system is called.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags:
Britain,
Business,
Closed Loop,
england,
europe,
food,
Marks & Spencer,
Marks and Spencer,
packaging,
recyclable materials,
Recycling,
Republic of Ireland,
UK
Published on January 20th, 2010
Yowzers – according to the U.S. EPA, about four billion, yes billion pounds of carpet go into the waste stream every year – much of it is used, some is new carpet left over from building construction. A lot of that carpet (and carpet backing) is made of cheap, durable polypropylene fiber, which makes up about 80% of the sales for commercial carpet.
Polypropylene, aka olefin, may be familiar to recycling addicts through its #5 plastic recycling designation, a number that can spell trouble. Until now, recyclers have been slow to adopt #5, partly due to the expense of separating it from other materials. Used polypropylene carpets on the other hand offer good potential for cost effective processing due to their sheer bulk and availability.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on January 15th, 2010
It’s like finding money on the street: the average tire contains the same energy as seven gallons of oil, and it has a heat content up to 16% higher than coal. That’s one reason why tire recycling is starting to catch on in a big way. It’s finally starting to put a dent in the notorious tire dumps in the U.S., many which are illegal.
Large scale tire recycling mainly consists of chipping or crumbing the tire so the rubber can be used in highway surfaces, or burned to provide power for manufacturing. Whole tires are also used in civil engineering projects. But the future of tire recycling may belong to a slew of companies that are coming up with new ways to recover more valuable resources from the mountains of “black gold” that dot the U.S. landscape.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on January 14th, 2010
Pitchers and catchers don’t report for spring training until February 18 but the Minnesota Twins are already getting a jump on the 2010 baseball season by installing a huge new rainwater harvesting and recycling system at the team’s new home, Target Field.
The new Rain Water Recycle System was designed by by Minneapolis-based Pentair, a global water innovator. Using a gigantic underground water storage tank the size of a freight car, the team aims to save more than two million gallons of water yearly – and that’s all part of a bigger sustainable plan for Target Field.
Published on January 11th, 2010
Even as more states put e-waste laws into effect, a legal challenge to New York City’s law is raising issues about their future. E-waste laws are just one example of a growing U.S. movement toward extended producer responsibility (EPR). Nineteen states and New York City have passed electronics EPR laws that require electronics manufactures to pay for and facilitate collection and recycling of their products at the end of consumer use.
But the Consumers Electronic Association (CEA) and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) have sued to block New York City’s law because of a feature requiring door-to-door collection of the waste products. Manufacturers must provide such an option for city residents disposing of electronic devices heavier than 15 pounds. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on January 6th, 2010
Wineries are notorious for using large amounts of water, with estimates ranging up to 20 gallons of water needed to produce a singe gallon of wine. Jackson Family Wines is one wine maker that has found a high tech way to put a billion-gallon dent in its own annual water consumption, and the implications could be enormous for wine rich, water poor states like California.
Jackson Family’s new water recycling system has just completed a “proof of concept” pilot run certified by the University of California at Davis. Once in full swing, the system will involve about 70% of the winery’s water use, which primarily goes to rinsing barrels and tanks. The new system will recycle 90% of that water for up to ten rinses but wait, there’s more: the recycled water also keeps 75% of its heat, which will save a significant amount of energy that would otherwise be needed to warm up cold water.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on December 17th, 2009
Just as data farms need to have that warmth removed, day in/day out, greenhouses, by contrast, need a supply of consistent warmth, summer and winter.
Put the two together and you have a marriage made in heaven. For example; between the Ella Morris and Muessel-Ellison Botanical Conservatories and Potawatomi Greenhouse and Indiana’s University of Notre Dame.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on December 8th, 2009
U.S. garbage behemoth Waste Management has teamed up with the world’s largest live music company, Live Nation, in what promises to be one of the most unusual sponsorships in the history of rock and roll.
The new venture calls for Waste Management to be the official waste disposal and recycling sponsor at 66 Live Nation venues nationwide, backed by a “Recycling Rocks” kickoff campaign. By pushing recycling to the front and center of the entertainment experience, the partnership mainstreams the sustainable music scene championed by cult faves like Phish along with other music industry efforts from green music festivals to guitar string recycling.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on December 6th, 2009
One barrier to cost-competitive biofuel from algae is about to fall, and we may have nanofarming to thank for that. The new technology uses tiny nanoparticles to absorb free fatty acids from living microalgae. It is being developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory and Iowa State University, in partnership with biofuel specialist Catilin, Inc.
In conventional biofuel production, algae are harvested and killed in order to extract their oil. It’s not a very efficient process — sort of like uprooting a tree and stripping off the apples to make cider. By coaxing out the oil on a molecular level, nanofarming enables algae to give up their product while continuing to grow. Add Catilin’s non-toxic biofuel catalyst to the mix, and you have the makings of a more sustainable and cost-competitive biofuel – with some extra benefits, too.
Read the rest of this entry »
Published on December 1st, 2009
Scrap tires and scrap concrete are two of the most common – and most irritating – waste materials in the world, and now a company called PMGI/Productive Recycling has found a way to recycle both at the same time. The company’s patent-pending technology compresses waste tires and concrete into building blocks.
Productive Recycling calls its product T-Blocks. They are primarily used outdoors, in landscaping. In a sustainability twofer, they can be used in wetlands reconstruction, erosion control, and other projects related to natural stormwater management and wastewater control.
Read the rest of this entry »
