Trash Talk - News from the Dumpster

Cigarette Butts, Bottles, Cans, Appliances, Bags, Rubber Chicken…

Joe Eitel — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:45:03 +0000

The 2012 results of the annual International Coastal Cleanup were recently announced and the results show that yes, we are all slobs! Well, not all of us, but the findings were pretty astounding nonetheless. The Ocean Conservancy, an international group of eco-conscious volunteers helping to raise awareness about responsible waste removal, recycling and keeping the [...]

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Top 10 Cities for Green Homes in America

Joe Eitel — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:26:48 +0000

Does your city make the cut? A list of the top 10 cities with the greenest homes was released by online real estate broker Redfin, and these 10 cities are definitely heading in the right direction when it comes to green living. The criteria for making the list includes low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, energy-efficient [...]

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Survey Says…Americans Love to Recycle! [Infographic]

Joe Eitel — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:31:15 +0000

Americans are addicted to green — no, we’re not talking about the “green” that’s legal in a handful of states for medicinal use. We’re talking about living a sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyle. The Earth Day 2013 Consumer Recycling and Sustainability Survey took a look at the current state of recycling in America. The full survey describes [...]

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Mercury Rising: Discarded Thermostats a Hot Topic

Joe Eitel — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:21:28 +0000

The EPA estimates that two to three million thermostats come out of service every year in the U.S., yet less than 10 percent of them are recycled properly. This is according to a voluntary thermostat collection program called the Thermostat Recycling Corporation (TRC) started by the Big 3 thermostat manufacturers – Honeywell, GE and White-Rodgers. [...]

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Burning Trash is no Stink

Joe Eitel — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:51:51 +0000

Trash incineration is a growing trend in the United States, and we’re not talking about trash barrel burning in your backyard. We’re talking about the large-scale waste-to-energy facilities located across the country. There are currently fewer than 100 of these waste-to-energy plants in the U.S., and while these facilities are able to generate a huge [...]

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Recycle Old Cell phones and Tablets, Earn Cash and Protect Sensitive Data

Joe Eitel — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 21:07:01 +0000

One of the biggest cell phone and tablet buyback companies is now accepting devices from consumers. e-Cycle is one of the fastest growing environmental service companies in the U.S., and up until now, they only recycled e-waste from large businesses and corporations. Now they’ve opened the doors for consumers to cash in by sending in [...]

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City’s Quest toward Green Dominance has it Putting Trash into the Roads

Joe Eitel — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:42:50 +0000

It seems logical that keeping trash off the roadways is the eco-friendly thing to do, but not in this case. Vancouver B.C. is the first city in the world integrating a new plastic-to-asphalt technology to literally add trash into the asphalt mix. It’s all part of the city’s plan to become the world’s Greenest City [...]

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Trashed Homes: 13 Houses Constructed from Junk

Joe Eitel — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:41:13 +0000

Typically, the idea is get garbage out of the house and carted off to the landfill. That’s not the case here. Some creative, eco-minded individuals are taking trash and using it to construct full-fledge, livable housing. These homes are built from scrap metal, reclaimed lumber, soda cans and bottles, plastic waste, shipping containers and plain-old [...]

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Trash to Technology: 5 Incredible Homemade Tech Creations

Joe Eitel — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 19:07:30 +0000

Some people see garbage as an opportunity. It takes quite a bit of imagination and ingenuity to transform household junk into innovative tech gadgets and doohickeys. Here are some of the coolest examples of how you can repurpose trash with a twist of tech. Homemade Camera This camera was the brainchild of an unknown photographer [...]

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Robot Chews Up Plastic Waste, Spits Out Filament for 3D Printers

Joe Eitel — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:18:10 +0000

Plastic waste makes up more than 12-percent of all waste entering landfills in the U.S., according to 2010 figures from the EPA, which is equivalent to about 31 million tons. Only about 8-percent of this plastic trash was recycled, so that leaves quite a bit plastic junk lying around. An innovative new gadget called the [...]

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