World’s Stupidest, Most Wasteful Consumer Products

As if plastic banana guards, leaf blowers and mechanized egg crackers weren’t enough, the brilliant inventors of the world just keep on creating unbelievably stupid, wasteful products for the masses to enjoy. The Huffington Post is pretty great at sniffing them out – the Top 10 Most Useless Items of Crapola, the 9 Stupidest Products Of All Time (including the ‘Tiddy Bear’) and now, in honor of No Impact Week, the world’s most wasteful consumer products.

Here’s a preview:

Spinning Ice Cream Cone (pictured above)

In the mood for ice cream but too lazy to move your tongue to lick? We’re not kidding – there is actually a product that “solves” this “problem.”

The Noseaid

For 30 dollars, avoid a nosebleed mess by applying this clothespin to your child’s nose. Pinching things with our fingers is apparently out — or just using an actual clothespin and some cloth.

Because there’s simply not enough random, useless plastic crap in the world. We need it to keep on coming as fast as it can. How did humans ever get by without this stuff?

Check out the rest – including demonstration videos – at The Huffington Post.

Link [The Huffington Post]

Shocking Photos: Bird Bodies Full of Plastic

Lighters, bottle caps, plastic bags and milk jugs. Fishing net, fishing line, zip ties, remnants of food containers. All of this and more floats in a massive vortex of trash in the Pacific Ocean – and in the stomachs of the birds who search for food amid the debris.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas, and many of the particles of plastic contained within it are so small they can’t be scooped out of the water. But other pieces – colorful pieces that look like they might be food – get swallowed by albatross and other birds.

Photographer Chris Jordan traveled to the Midway Islands, near the center of the garbage patch, to photograph the bodies of albatross chicks that have been inadvertently killed when their confused parents fed them plastic. Jordan didn’t move a single piece of plastic – he photographed the carcasses exactly as he found them.

The photos are a disturbing reminder of just how much of an effect our throwaway society is having upon our fellow inhabitants of this planet. Head over to Planet Green to view the whole set of 30 photographs.

Link [Planet Green]

Great Pacific Garbage Patch Researchers Find Even More Plastic than Expected

Scientists with ‘Project Kaisei’, who spent three weeks gathering plastic debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, returned to the Bay Area this week with a rather horrifying sample of the trash that can be found floating in the ocean.

Chunks of styrofoam, cracked patio chairs, bleach bottles, tangled nets and old toys were among the junk they brought back – but the bigger concern is the amount of tiny, “confetti-like” pieces of broken plastic floating in the garbage patch 1,000 miles west of California.

From Mercury News:

“Marine debris is the new man-made epidemic. It’s that serious,” said Andrea Neal, principal investigator on the Kaisei, a 151-foot research ship on the trip.

Neal, a Santa Barbara researcher who has a doctorate in molecular genetics and biochemistry, said crews on the three-week voyage discovered tiny jellyfish eating bits of the plastic debris. The jellyfish are, in turn, eaten by fish like salmon or tuna, which people eat.

Because the plastic pieces contain toxic chemicals — and are believed to be able to absorb now-banned chemicals such as DDT and PCBs, which can persist in the environment for decades — state toxicologists have taken hundreds of the objects, along with more than 300 fish, to an environmental chemistry lab in Berkeley to see if any chemicals are moving up the food chain.

“Every day, every night, we’d pull up samples and pour the water through a sieve. It would be completely clogged with tiny pieces of plastic,” said Margy Gassel, a research scientist with the California Environmental Protection Agency. “It was so disturbing.”

The garbage patch is estimated to be twice the size of Texas, and scientists believe that the trash comes from storm drains and rivers in places like Japan and the Bay Area. It accumulates in a slow-moving zone in the Pacific Ocean. Most of the plastic fragments that make it up are too small to be visible from the air or from satellites.

Doug Woodring, one of the founders of Project Kaisei, believes that two possible solutions to keeping the problem from getting worse could be biodegradable plastics and specially designed storm drains that filter plastic debris from ocean-bound streams of water.

Stopping its spread is essential, but scientists aren’t even sure how to begin cleaning up what’s already collected in the garbage patch. The use of fine nets would likely result in the accidental killing of marine life. Hopefully, now that scientists are taking a closer look at the problem, a solution will be found soon.

Link [Mercury News]

Swagtastic BlogHer Conference Disappoints Green Bloggers

Americans are addicted to free stuff. That’s a given. Wherever there is free swag handed out, there will be throngs of eager people mindlessly pushing each other and holding out their greedy little paws, regardless of whether they really even want the product itself. Sometimes, getting swag is a great chance to try out something new. But all too often, it ends up unused and thrown away.

At this year’s BlogHer conference in Chicago, some participants felt that not only was the swag totally out of control, with tons of cheap plastic junk unloaded on attendees, but it got in the way of what BlogHer is supposed to be about in the first place: community, camaraderie and empowerment.

A number of green bloggers, from Beth at Fake Plastic Fish to Diane at Big Green Purse, were really excited to attend the conference. It was a chance to meet their fellow bloggers in real life, build deeper connections, learn how to develop their blogging skills, share tips and have a lot of fun. Some had misgivings about the amount of waste that the conference would generate (there were 1400 attendees), but were pleased when BlogHer organizers asked them to participate in a ‘Green Team’ tasked with helping to make the conference as eco-friendly as possible.

And, BlogHer ’09 did have its green qualities as a result. Paperless conference guides, a recycling suite, carbon offsetting, water cisterns and free BPA-free reusable water bottles, and real dinnerware complete with cloth napkins were just a few of the commendable ways in which the conference sought to have a smaller impact on the earth.

Too bad all the swag and corporate sponsorship eclipsed these efforts. Green bloggers got to BlogHer only to find that ‘stuff’ had seemingly become more important than fostering connections between a diverse community of (mostly) female bloggers.

CV Harquail of Authentic Organizations noted some of the swag-related problems she saw at BlogHer:

• Efforts to acquire swag changed the participation patterns of many attendees. People went to exhibits instead of community keynotes to get the Walmart cookies or the Disney Ice Creams (which were, btw, very tasty).
• People went to and stayed at parties only until the swag bags were handed out.
• The minute it was announced that the swag was being distributed, the whole physical shape of the room would change, from clusters of women talking to a line of women waiting.
• The energy dynamic shifted from meeting & greeting other bloggers to getting & vetting the swag.

No kidding. One attendee, blogger Chef’s Widow, almost left just 6 hours into the conference because of the swag-crazed atmosphere.

I noticed a herd of women squeezing together so tight it looked like they were in an imaginary corral.  Jill and I were standing at the outskirts when we noticed the bags of swag on a table in front of corralled women.  It was hot and smelly.  Women were pushing and I immediately lost Jill in the madness.  I left the debauchery.  On my way out I ran into some chicks by the bar and we chatted about the insanity & greed of the women in front of us.  It was so odd.  All of these women were here for the conference however they were acting as though the $12 dildo in the swag bag would grant them eternal life.

Chef’s Widow was far from alone. Coming home from a conference where women practically bum-rushed each other to grab free crap, where corporate sponsors made them sit through 15-minute spiels before they could discuss what they went there to discuss, many environmental bloggers wrote about their disappointment.

From Lynn at Organic Mania:

The notion of feting women bloggers, of celebrating their achievements, and of giving gifts to women who may not treat themselves to much in life (especially the Moms) – was heartwarming. But with so many extravagant parties and suites, the evening scene at BlogHer turned into a combination of Halloween trick-or-treating and Mardi Gras. And with so many sponsored bloggers  interrupting others conversations to give a product pitch, heck, at times BlogHer seemed like a crazy reality TV show that was interrupted by sponsored programming!  Don’t get me wrong…a lot of it was fun. Who doesn’t like parties? But somewhere, somehow, things seemed to become a bit…excessive.

From Beth at Fake Plastic Fish:

As bloggers, we have incredible power! We have a voice that people listen to. We have a platform. And the fact that so many big companies are willing to sponsor an event like BlogHer and court bloggers at such an event proves it. So why are we willing to give up this tremendous power that we have — power to help create a better world — to sell out for a few trinkets?

Why aren’t we using the power that we have to demand BETTER products for ourselves and our children? Why do we accept the PR pitches at face value? Why aren’t we questioning every single promotion we receive and challenging the status quo?

From Diane at Big Green Purse:

As a member of the team BlogHer put together to help green the conference, I felt a bit cheated. The Green Team worked hard to collaborate with conference organizers and develop a list of items that would have low eco-impact but still satisfy attendees and conference sponsors alike.

But I can’t help but wonder if the environmental gains we secured through Green Team negotiations were neutralized by all the free bags of Fritos, throwaway plastic pouches of applesauce, and other disposables that were dispensed over the course of the event.

No one forced attendees to take the junk being handed out there. And BlogHer evidently had no control over independent parties held in private suites to attract select conference goers.

However, I do take issue with the argument that because BlogHer09 was not a “green” conference, the conference sponsors did not have to adhere to principles of sustainability in what they offered to attendees.

“Green” is not a niche. It’s not even a lifestyle choice. It’s a matter of survival. We need to start treating it that way, including at events like BlogHer09.

There’s no question that sponsors are necessary to make BlogHer affordable for both the organizers and the attendees. But it seems that perhaps they’ve taken it a bit too far, over-commercializing a function that is supposed to be about human connection.

As Harquail eloquently summarized on her blog, “Sponsorship, and thus swag, makes the conference run. But too much swag perverts the conference purpose.”

And it makes for an awful lot of trash.

Link [Authentic Organizations] + [Fake Plastic Fish] + [Big Green Purse]
Photo credit: Flickr user Average Jane

From Beer and Wine Bottles to Recycled Glass Furniture

Glass makes such a beautiful recycled material for countertops and furniture – there’s just something about its sparkle that makes it stand out as an eco-friendly choice. And, there’s plenty of it out there – just think how many beer, wine and other glass bottles get thrown away all across the country where recycling facilities aren’t available (or people are just too lazy).

A company called Green Grove Design debuted a new type of recycled glass material International Contemporary Furniture Fair last week. Robal Glass is made of 100% recycled glass encased in clear, soy-based resin for a durable surface that’s also beautiful and modern.

Designer Scott Grove produces interior and exterior furnishings, art and accessories using Robal Glass as a primary material. Current available colors include Cobalt, Amber, Polar, Tundra, Caribbean, Prairie, Ocean, Forest and Jungle; custom colors can be created.

“I’ve always been intrigued by new materials, and Robal Glass sparkles with a three-dimensional aesthetic that draws you in,” said Grove. “To be a part of this new venture, creating and designing beautiful pieces from what would have been industrial and consumer castoff is particularly gratifying and adds an entirely new level of cultural responsibility to my work.”

Link [Green Grove Design] via [Earth 911]

Pacific Garbage Patch Cleanup to Begin Next Month

How many times have you read something about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that huge swirling mass of plastic trash that’s currently floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and thought to yourself, “why hasn’t someone tried to clean it up?” Well, it’s just not that easy. It’s a huge, expensive task and extreme care must be taken to avoid harming wildlife in the process.

But, the good news is, an effort to retrieve and recycle the Texas-sized mass of junk will begin in earnest next month.

Charles Moore, an oceanographer who discovered the garbage patch in 1997, explains part of the challenge: the nearly microscopic size of much of the plastic rubbish makes it difficult to collect. However, that’s not stopping an expedition of scientists and conservationists from trying to collect the larger pieces.

From the Times Online:

Because of their tiny size and the scale of the problem, he believes that nothing can be solved at sea. “Trying to clean up the Pacific gyre would bankrupt any country and kill wildlife in the nets as it went.”

In June the 151ft brigantine Kaisei (Japanese for Planet Ocean) will unfurl its sails in San Francisco to try to prove Mr Moore wrong. Project Kaisei’s flagship will be joined by a decommissioned fishing trawler armed with specialised nets.

“The trick is collecting the plastic while minimising the catch of sea life. We can’t catch the tiny pieces. But the net benefit of getting the rest out is very likely to be better than leaving it in,” says Doug Woodring, the leader of the project.

With a crew of 30, the expedition, supported by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Brita, the water company, will use unmanned aircraft and robotic surface explorers to map the extent and depth of the plastic continent while collecting 40 tonnes of the refuse for trial recycling.

There’s simply no quick and easy fix for this tremendous problem, but Project Kaisei is a great start. Perhaps the next step should be putting a stop to the practices that caused this patch to accumulate in the first place.

Link [Times Online]

One-Third of Sea Turtles Have Plastic in their Digestive Systems

You’ve probably already seen this photo of a turtle chewing on a plastic bag – it’s included in just about every article on the ‘net about plastic pollution. It’s a heartbreaking reminder of how ubiquitous plastic is in our oceans, and how many sea creatures are being affected by its presence. The plastic bag industry has fought back against what they deem misinformation, even going so far as to claim that this photo is ‘trick photography’.

But now, scientists have proven that sea turtles are indeed ingesting plastic. Necropsy reports on leatherback turtles found that 1/3rd of them had plastic in their digestive systems.

From MSNBC:

Besides plastic bags, the turtles had swallowed fishing lines, balloon fragments, spoons, candy wrappers and more.

Plastic was probably not the cause of death in most cases. Nevertheless, the study is an important wake-up call for a growing garbage problem.

“Eating something that is plastic can’t be good for you, whether it leads to death or not,” said Mike James, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “It’s not what they should be eating. And it’s kind of scary that it is showing up in their diet to the extent that it is.”

But the numbers are alarming. Plastic can block a turtle’s gut, causing bloating, interfering with digestion, and leading to a slow, painful death. “I can’t imagine it’s very comfortable,” he said. “Their guts weren’t designed to digest plastic.”

The problem is, floating plastic bags look an awful lot like jellyfish, which are these turtles’ main source of sustenance – and there are so many plastic bags in the ocean. Since leatherback turtles travel so far and wide, they have more opportunity to come across them.

The only thing we can do is reduce our use of plastic as much as possible. If you want some tips for cutting back on plastic, check out EarthFirst’s “Resolve to Use Less Plastic in 2009 – Here’s How”.

Link [MSNBC]

Everyday Objects Transformed into Eco Art

When you find yourself with a pile of cardboard toilet paper rolls, what do you do with them? Throw them in the recycling bin or compost pile, use them to grow seedlings in the spring or give them to your kid to be turned into an art project. But artist Yuken Teryua shows how these mundane objects can be transformed into surprisingly beautiful art that inspires and amazes.

Yuken’s ‘Everyday Objects’ series consists of items like pizza boxes, a McDonald’s bag, flags, shopping bags, plastic bottles and other things that would have otherwise ended up in the waste stream. Silhouettes of trees are a common theme, emphasizing the connection between these throwaway objects and the natural world. Don’t read too much into Yuken’s use of these materials, however. The Japanese artist prefers to leave politics and polarizing ideas out of his work.

From Inhabitat:

The artist shows a knack for seeing potential in every day objects to become something eye-catching, and believes that while artwork is a reflection of the artist’s beliefs — it is also important that artwork engages its viewers.  Yuken says:

I feel that my work shouldn’t only have the function of conveying the artist’s message. My works have a right to simply be beautiful or offer any kind of attraction.

Yuken’s recycled papercraft art is especially beautiful, with delicate branches seeming to spring organically from such unexpected places. Check out all of his work at YukenTeryuaStudio.com.

Link [Inhabitat] + [Yuken Teryua]

The Bizarre and Amazing Found-Object Sculpture of Nemo Gould

A centipede made of old bundt cake pans. Nightmarish rabbits built from car parts, antlers, wheels and real dentures. Statuesque, alien-like creatures masterfully cobbled together from the randomest bits of junk you can imagine. This is the artwork of Nemo Gould, a sculptor who uses all found objects to create often-interactive works that are mesmerizing in their uniqueness.

From Nemomatic, Nemo Gould’s website:

With years of accumulating post-consumer waste and a lifetime of absorbing pop culture imagery, Nemo Gould has been creating his signature style of kinetic metal and found object sculpture for over 20 years. Old vacuum cleaners, dead bugs, used dentures and sewing machine motors all find their unerringly rightful place in his surreal creatures and abstract sculptures, which have attracted museums, galleries and eccentric art collectors throughout the Bay Area and abroad.

Of his work, Gould says,

What makes a thing fascinating is to not completely know it.  It is this gap in our understanding that the imagination uses as its canvass.  Salvaged material is an ideal medium to make use of this principle.  A “found object” is just a familiar thing seen as though for the first time.  By maintaining this unbiased view of the objects I collect, I am able to create forms and figures that fascinate and surprise.  These sculptures are both familiar and new.  Incorporating consumer detritus with my own symbology, they are the synthesis of our manufactured landscape and our tentative place within it– strong and frail at the same time.

Get a fascinating look into the process of creating these wondrous works in the ‘News’ section of Gould’s website.

Link [Nemomatic]

This Valentine’s Day, Plastic is Forever

Diamonds may be forever but this Valentine’s Day, remember that plastic is too.

A plastic fork takes over a 1000 years to decompose – yet we only use it once. So much unnecessary waste is created across the country when we order take out. We know that America produces 25 percent of the worlds garbage but how much of that is unnecessary food packaging?

A program called Eco-To-Go has now launched at participating restaurants in New York City so that when you order takeout, you can advise the restaurant that you want your order to be Eco-To-Go.

Restaurants will respond by delivering the food, with no extras, such as unnecessary napkins and plastic utensils, as you have all you need at home. The program also hopes to encourage restaurants to use greener packaging.

DIY: Make An Eco-Friendly Valentine’s Day Card

This Valentine’s Day,  give your special someone a gift that’s personal and eco-friendly. In this video, New-York based artist/designer Shiho Masuda shows you how to transform a mailing envelope and magazine pages into a 3-D Valentine’s Day card.

Let’s Talk About (Eco)Sex – A Step By Step Guide to the Perfect Green Date

You’ve been working so hard lately trying to ‘save the world’. You feel it’s time to let your hair down and have a healthy, precious dose of passion. It is Valentine’s Day after all. Whether you want to keep your own ethics in check or are on a mission to woo the greenest batchelor(ette) in town, EarthFirst.com offers you exclusive green-hued sex tips!

Staying in is the eco going out:
1. Woo with some homemade sexual desire-laden dishes. You will automatically cut your carbon emissions by limiting your travel to the restaurant. It’s time to make your kitchen the sexiest eco diner in town.  Buy good quality food from a local, organic store that can provide you with all the aphrodisiacs nature offers. Avoid the oysters as that increases the shortage burden on seafood stocks. Instead, go for the seasonal options of pumpkin and squashes in winter and get busy on the strawberries in summer. Always have a healthy dose of onion and garlic, and make sure you finish with a serotonin-laced fairly traded chocolate dessert for that stimulating alkaloid sugar rush. Dark chocolate is thought to have more anti-oxidants and boost blood antioxidant levels by nearly 20% and is not as energy intensive in its production!

2. Set the sensual scene. Make sure you’ve set up a sexy Eco Boudoir before the meal and turn off those electricity guzzling lights and whisper sweet nothings by candle light. Purchase some lovely sustainable, vegan soy candles that won’t disturb your dinner with black smoke (unlike most tea lights). Soy candles burn cooler than other candles so they last longer to help keep the anticipation thrills of the evening running strong.  If you want some sparkle, LED solar powered fairly lights will also do the trick. Turn off the telly (at source, not standby) and get some world loving chilled tunes on. Digital radio station Chill FM has some very happy vibes, or if you really want to impress, hire a local quartet to serenade you at the table. Prepare to make your own music as you surprise your lover with the Pants to Poverty good pant world of Fairtrade, organic cotton underwear.

3. Get wet. Save water and bathe together or have a shower a deux. Why not use a timer to really notch up the gear into something quick and steamy? Indulge in some organic pleasures with essential oil based products that stimulate your senses, such as rosemary, bergamot, patchouli and fresh citrus scents. Tea tree and mint can add to the tingling sensation too. For other ways to stay moist why not reach for the lubrication? British company Yes! bring you the world’s first and only Soil Association certified organic range of intimacy products that are also Vegetarian Society approved. Using pure plant gums to replace the usual glycerine or silicone ingredient base, they are available in both oil and water based formats and perfect for green glideability.

4. Protect yourself, protect the planet. If you’re not ready for an organic sprog bounding around just yet and not too sure about the au naturale withdrawal method, then you will want a latex condom, made from the sap of the rubber tree. Cut out condoms containing additives that thwart biodegradation and those with toxins such as polyurethane (also known as PU).  Why not give the rubber tappers in South Asia who make your condoms a fairer deal by purchasing some brightly coloured French Letter condoms? Condomi have also got Vegan Society approved (occasionally coconut flavoured) condoms in their Virtual Skinwear range that is also biodegradable. Whatever you do, don’t flush the remnants of your evening’s passion down the bog. Other contraceptive measures such as The Pill have been reported by the University of New Brunswick to alter the hormones of fish in the water, so you may want to look into other options such as the coil or diaphragm.

5. Get frisky with nature. Avoid plastic, sweatshop manufactured sex toys and opt for ethical wooden objects instead, such as FSC certified spanking paddles from UK based Coco-de-Mer. You can even recycle your rabbit and other sex toys if you so please.  If you fancy sharing further thrills, then why not embark in some eco porn? German based activists have created F**k For Forest (FFF), a registered, not-for-profit online website where erotic activists all over the globe will give you some frisky forest fun and ensure all the money goes back to various ecological projects.

Words: Jen Marsden
Eco sexpert Jen Marsden is a UK based writerand author of the Green Guide for Weddings

Is Bottled Water Really So Bad?

I can’t tell you how many self-described environmentalists I know that have refrigerators full of bottled water. Not just gallon jugs, either, but giant Costco-sized packs of individual bottles. Now, we’ve all got our eco-sins – nobody’s perfect. And many of these bottled water-loving greenies assert that there are far worse habits they could have. Maybe that’s true, but bottled water and other beverages sold in individual plastic bottles certainly aren’t harmless.

Treehugger’s ‘Ask Pablo’ tackles the question, ‘Is bottled water really so bad?’

Surely there are bigger culprits out there. The problem for bottled water is that it is so ubiquitous and generally an unnecessary luxury. With most of the Western world having access to clean municipal water supplies, and even additional filtration, there is little reason to grab a pre-packaged dose of hydration, except for the sake of convenience, portability, or emergency preparedness. But successful marketing campaigns have created an image of purity, wealth, and health around bottled water and it is this situation that has triggered the bottled water backlash.

While everyone is bashing bottled water the rest of the bottled beverage industry has remained relatively untouched. This is despite the fact that all other bottled beverages contain a higher level of embodied environmental impact because they have ingredients in addition to water and their packaging is oftentimes heavier, translating into higher shipping emissions. Most of these ingredients are agricultural products: corn sweeteners for sodas, grapes for wine, grains for beer, etc. and their supply chain involves petrochemical fertilizers, diesel trucks, and processing factories. So all of a sudden bottled water doesn’t seem quite as bad, or at least this is how the bottled water industry sees it. Their argument is often that they are shifting market share away from high-calorie soft drinks to a much healthier alternative. Unfortunately this still ignores the fact that consumers can get healthy (and much cheaper) water from their tap as well as portability and convenience from Bisphenol-A free, reusable, and durable, stainless steel containers.

Pablo offers several suggestions for those who like soft drinks or carbonated water – check them out over at Treehugger.

Getting a faucet-mounted water filter is such a good investment and will go a long way toward reducing the amount of waste you produce – especially now that Brita is taking back old filters. Plus, with all of the great reusable containers out there, there’s really no reason to continue adding to the ridiculously large pile of empty plastic bottles that piles up around the world every day.

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: istock

Coca-Cola Opens Bottle-to-Bottle Recycling Center

The problem of plastic bottles isn’t going away. It doesn’t seem likely that people are going to give up bottled water and soft drinks any time soon, and according to some estimates, a whopping 75% of those bottles end up in landfills. The remainder gets downcycled into park benches and other plastic-based items instead of being turned into new plastic bottles – not exactly a sustainable model.

You might be surprised that one of the sources of all those plastic bottles, The Coca-Cola Co., is leading the effort to change that with a new $60 million bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It’s a joint venture with United Resource Recovery Corp, which bills itself the world’s leader in transforming waste bottles to new ones and has a patented process for recycling food and beverage containers made of PET plastic.

GreenBiz.com spoke to Coca-Cola’s director of sustainable packaging, Scott Vitters, for more details.

The best thing about the plant is that it is intended to make money for Coke and URRC. That means that the project can be duplicated elsewhere.

Here’s how it will work, as explained by Scott: A separate recycling company, led by Coca-Cola Enteprises, the world’s biggest Coke bottler (don’t ask me to explain the interconnected Coke system), will recover PET from a geographic area stretching from the northeast to Florida. The used PET bottles will come from its own manufacturing system, from government recycling centers and from high-profile venues like NASCAR events, college football stadiums and the House of Representatives. As the “official recycler” at the Democratic national convention in Denver, Coca Cola Recycling even collected waste from the arena known as the Pepsi Center. “All that material went back into our bottles—gleefully,” Scott says.

Another source for feedstock is a Coke-backed startup called RecycleBank, which rewards consumers who recycle more and throw away less. VC firm Kleiner Perkins is also an investor in Recycle Bank.

Scott says the driver for the program was environmental – they’re still not sure when the program will pay off due to a combination of factors, not the least of which is the falling value of virgin PET. Emphasizing that it won’t make anyone wildly wealthy, Scott says the company does expect to turn a profit, long term. And as GreenBiz points out, that’s good news because if the Spartanburg plant makes money, more will be built.

It’s a step in the right direction, though it would be far more impressive if the plant were powered with renewable energy. Corporations need to begin taking responsibility for the entire life cycle of the products they create.

Link [GreenBiz.com]
Photo credit: ‘Green Coca Cola Bottles’ by Andy Warhol, via Marc Wathieu

Hot Green Gear: The Naked Binder

Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just trying to organize your important paperwork, 3-ring binders are a must. Too bad most of them are made from cheap plastic and fall apart fairly quickly, leading you to throw them away more often than you’d like. But the next time you find yourself in need of a new one, check out Naked Binder, a company that makes a series of great-looking 3-ring binders made from 100% recycled board (97% of which is post-consumer waste).

Naked Binders contain no plastics, no decorations, no vinyl – and they’re completely recyclable. They come completely naked (bare board), wrapped in Graphite Gray paper or with a spine wrap of durable library-grade 100% cotton book-binding cloth applied with water-based glue.

The Project Binder, with the cloth-wrapped spine, comes in your choice of 8 colors. The Architect Binder is made to fit larger paper – up to 11”x17”  – and can be purchased with or without a spine wrap. Recycled paper tabs are also available.

Check it out at NakedBinder.com.

Link [Naked Binder]

High School Marching Band Goes Green

When the Amador Valley High School Band isn’t making music, they’re making the world a greener place with help from the Go Green Initiative.

According to their site,

The Go Green Initiative is a simple, comprehensive program designed to create a culture of environmental responsibility on school campuses across the nation. Founded in 2002, the Go Green Initiative unites parents, students, teachers and school administrators in an effort to make real and lasting changes in their campus communities that will protect children and the environment for years to come.

Keep up the good work kids!

The World’s First Carbon Neutral Cell Phone

Motorola has unveiled the world’s first carbon neutral cell phone, the Renew W233. Tackling the massive problem of e-waste, Motorola designed the Renew W233 to be the first certified Carbonfree cell phone on the market with 100% recyclable housing made from recycled water bottles.

Inhabitat reports that an astounding 426,000 cell phones are retired every single day in the United States, with most of them ending up in landfills. That is definitely a mind-boggling amount of waste, and as we’ve seen, e-waste isn’t pretty and is killing thousands of poor residents in developing countries where the waste is dumped.

From Inhabitat:

Motorola’s Renew W233 cellphone features an admirable set of sustainable features that directly address the phone’s carbon footprint and life cycle. By partnering up with Carbonfund.org Motorola offsets the energy to manufacture, distribute, and operate the phone by investing in renewable energy sources and reforestation. Once the phone reaches the end of its life cycle it can be easily recycled by placing it in a prepaid envelope that is provided in the box. Additionally, the phone’s packaging consumes 22% less material and the manual is printed on post consumer recycled paper with soy-based inks.

It’s about time that companies begin thinking about where their products will end up once their conventional usage is completed. After all, how can we as consumers be responsible for properly disposing of such items?

It’s nice that this phone has a recyclable housing, and it’s a commendable step forward for Motorola, but we’ve got to start demanding that manufacturers take responsibility for ALL parts of their products. Otherwise we’ll never stop the mountains of toxic e-waste from accumulating.

Link [Inhabitat]

Resolve to Use Less Plastic in 2009 – Here’s How

Could you live a life without plastic? Many have tried, and few have succeeded. Cutting plastic out of your life, as I’ve learned myself, is a nearly impossible task in the modern world. It’s everywhere. We previously examined all of the ways in which plastics are harmful to the environment and human health, and the reasons why people would want to cut back on their use of the material. Now, as 2009 begins in earnest, we want to help you all find ways to at least reduce the amount of plastic you consume, even if you can’t go without it entirely.

For those just beginning to sort out how much plastic they use and purchase on a daily basis, the process can be a bit overwhelming. Just ask Trine Tsouderos, a Chicago Tribune reporter who recently set out to break her family’s addiction to plastic for a single week. She found plastic at every turn, from the grocery store to Target, and especially among her children’s possessions. Sippy cups, pacifiers, clothes hangers, shampoo bottles, bags protecting loaves of bread – there seemed to be no escaping it.

Tsouderos dropped by Whole Foods to purchase some things she thought she’d need to avoid plastic for a week: stainless steel water bottles, an all-rubber pacifier, paper diapers, biodegradable dog poop bags, solid shampoo bars from LUSH and soap instead of baby wash. These things helped, but she found she needed to do much more, and it involved changing the way she thought about shopping.

Tsouderos began shopping at a local farmer’s market instead of going to the grocery store, where practically everything has plastic on at least one part of it. She found that even the supposedly green goods at Whole Foods had plastic packaging. She was also disappointed to see that the paper diapers leaked and that buying bread and bagels in paper bags meant driving all over town.

While Tsouderos’ experiment taught her that avoiding plastic altogether is entirely impractical, she also realized afterward that she was being more conscious about cutting back. She kept using the items she had purchased to help her avoid plastic whenever possible. And, that may be the key for all of us – making those key decisions that help us be more aware of how much plastic we use and where we can cut back.

Food is one area where we can all avoid a large amount of plastic by shopping at farmer’s markets, health food stores and butchers. You can put fresh produce directly into reusable bags, get your meat wrapped in paper and get staples like dried beans, nuts, pasta, spices, rice and other grains in the bulk section of your health food store (bring paper bags or your own containers). You’ll find that avoiding plastic at the grocery store can actually help your family become more healthy as it forces you to stick to mostly whole, unprocessed, healthy foods.

Buying items used is another great way that you can save money and reduce your plastic consumption at the same time. Need a camera? Check the pawn shop or consignment store. The same goes for plenty of other random household items. Rarely will secondhand stores sell items with any kind of plastic on them, though clothing does occasionally have those annoying plastic tag hooks.

In terms of specific tips, two places I regularly turn to are Fake Plastic Fish and PlasticLess.com.  Beth Terry from Fake Plastic Fish has been working to cut plastic out of her life since June of 2007, and she gives weekly tallies of her progress as well as details on how she’s accomplishing her goals. Here’s her list of 38 ways in which she has found she can avoid plastic, and there are many more ideas in the comments. Prescription bottles, toothpaste tubes, eyedrop bottles, caps from various glass containers and public transit tickets (which are inexplicably plastic instead of paper in the Bay Area) are among the items she found she simply couldn’t avoid.

PlasticLess.com is also jam-packed full of tips that you’d never think of on your own. It recounts the author’s successes in replacing plastic items in his life, from using an old-fashioned mortar and pestle to grind food to finding glass jars of shaving cream. It also bemoans pointless plastic crap like plastic fruit (really, why does it exist?) and those plastic testicles that some people hang on the rear bumper of their trucks. Recent tips include going barefoot when you can, renting movies online to avoid the DVD cases, using metal buckets for household chores and, somewhat comically, getting a vasectomy (since children are the ultimate target market for useless plastic junk).

Having kids doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to a life of plastic crap, though. Marketers will try to convince you that you need all manner of gadgets and widgets in primary colors, but the fact is, mostly plastic-free care of your kids is doable and healthy. A concept called ‘Natural Family Living’ emphasizes toys made of wood and cloth, organic clothing and linens made of natural materials (all of which can be purchased secondhand to cut back on costs), and generally parenting without all the ‘stuff’ marketed to families. For more on natural family living, check out Mothering Magazine and the Nature Moms blog.

Though many people turn to ‘replacement disposables’ that are purportedly less harmful to the environment like biodegradable paper, cornstarch and sugarcane, the best line of action is to cut out such one-use items altogether. A cloth napkin, a set of reusable utensils and a reusable beverage container won’t take up that much room in your bag and they’ll save countless disposables from heading to a landfill (where, by the way, even biodegradable items often can’t break down due to a lack of oxygen).

Using less plastic on a daily basis isn’t easy. It’ll involve some sacrifice and creative thinking – but just imagine how good you’ll feel when you find that the amount of trash you’re putting by the curb each week is far smaller than usual. It’s truly worth it, for so many reasons!

Link [Chicago Tribune] + [PlasticLess] + [Fake Plastic Fish]

Go Battery-Free with a Wind-Up Remote Control

How many remote controls are sitting on your coffee table right now? Those remotes aren’t just plastic pieces of junk, they also use up batteries. But, there’s no sense in getting up every time you want to change the channel, adjust the volume or pause the DVD you’re watching, so getting rid of them isn’t really an option – or is it? A new wind-up remote powers up to 6 gadgets at a time.

Just turn the dial on the front of the remote to charge it – thirty turns will keep it running for a full seven days. Mindlessly turn it while watching your favorite shows and you’re golden. It’s £19.53 (about $28.50) at Ethical Superstore.

If only it weren’t made of plastic, it would be awesome.

Link [Alternative Consumer] + [Ethical Superstore]

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