"recycling" news and stories

The meal is done: Dishes hit the sink; plastic bottles and tin cans go into the recycling bin. But the scraps from dinner and cooking prep -- egg shells, garlic skins, vegetable stems and cheese rinds? A few counties in California have come up with a simple, smart solution for utilizing those, too.

"You put a small bin on your kitchen counter, divert all your organic waste into it, and then just dump it in the larger bin outside when it's full. The rest is taken care of," says Sarah Rich, co-founder of Foodprint Project, a traveling advocacy group and educational panel on urban agricultural. The larger bin is picked up at the end of the week during regular garbage collection. "You don't need to be a gardener yourself in order to make good use of your food scraps," she says. Foodprint Project was formed early this year to evaluate the viability and potential of local food in urban areas. So far, they've hosted panels in New York City and Toronto, and this coming January, they're headed for Los Angeles.

If you look at a landfill, most of the waste is food -- it'll decompose, sure, but then what? Where does all that nutrient-rich soil go? That was the thinking behind the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority's new Food Scrap Recycling Program, which started in September 2007 and is expanding this month to California's Walnut Creek area, along with existing areas: Lafayette, Orinda, and Moraga in Contra Costa County.

Oh, man. So this squirrel was caught on film with its head stuck inside a Yoplait yogurt container.

The squirrel attempts to do all of its usual running, jumping, and generally squirrelish activities against the majestic backdrop of a white, elegant gazebo at South Carolina's Furman University -- all while wearing the container on its head. Apparently the videographer, a WYFF photographer, helped the squirrel remove his cap after filming this footage.

Click and come back to tell us:



[YouTube via Serious Eats]

Between corks and bottles, there are a million innovative ways to recycle wine stuff. Here are some of my current favorites:

The 15,000-cork wall: In NYC, Frankly Wines has made a wall out of corks--15,000 of them, to be exact. And I thought my collection was big.

The Wine Bottle Terrarium: If you've got a green thumb, consider trying Dr. Vino's garden-in-a-bottle. A clear bottle works best.

The Plant Nanny: I actually have these and a. love them because I rarely have to water and b. get comments from envious visitors all the time. If you've seen those globe plant-watering thingamagigies, this is just like that only instead of an expensive globe, you just stick a wine bottle into the Plant Nanny, which slowly releases the water into your plant. My dwarf lemon and lime trees love them.

Wine bottle candle holder: Handy with DIY? Make these easy candle holders by slicing off the bottoms of wine bottles. (Pictured)

Recycled wine glass counters: Redoing your kitchen? Make your next counter extra-special with these counters made from recycled wine bottles. Talk about different--every counter has a unique pattern because it's recycled.

Refillable bottles: Remember the refillable mugs at gas stations? I used to have one that I could refill for $.50 in college (and I did, all the time). An Idaho winery is selling refillable wine bottles with the same concept: take it back in, get a refill for less.

At Slate, Nina Shen Rastogi answers the question of whether or not it's necessary to thoroughly wash out recyclable containers before tossing them in the bin. As someone who's often tempted to secretly trash empty peanut butter jars rather than spending ten minutes cleaning them with soapy water (I never do, don't worry), I was glad to hear that the answer is, apparently, no. "Recycling facilities are well equipped to handle dirty cans and bottles, so some caked-on tomato sauce and the occasional stray chickpea won't significantly hinder the process," she writes. Still, it's better to rinse out containers, especially smelly ones like mayo and tartar sauce, before binning them, if for nothing else but a courtesy to the workers. Rastogi suggests using a small spatula to swish out most of the residue before giving the containers a quick rinse.

Source

Budweiser mastered the mass-marketing of beer across America. And Miller gave us the first mainstream "lite" beer, creating a nationwide sales phenomenon. But Coors gave us the aluminum can.

The Rocky Mountain News reported that yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of Coors unveiling the U.S. beer industries "first seamless, recyclable aluminum beer can." Previously, beer was canned in tin containers that were hard to recycle and tainted the beer's taste. Industry transition to the now ubiquitous aluminum can didn't happen overnight -- other brewers with entrenched interests objected -- but eventually the entire steel beverage can industry was rendered obsolete.

To this day, Coors owns and helps operate the nation's largest aluminum can manufacturing plant. And in today's "go green" world, Coors also likes to remind us that in 1959, immediately after introducing the aluminum can, "Coors launched a recycling revolution by offering a penny for every can returned to the brewer." As they succinctly state in their environmental stewardship brochure: "We invented the recyclable aluminum can."

So Coors may or may not have been the alcoholic beverage of choice that caused that vagrant you see collecting aluminum cans to live on the street, but they're definitely the ones who helped give him a second chance!

What?! Too soon? Come on, it's been 50 years! Happy golden anniversary to Golden, Colorado's aluminum can.

[via Rocky Mountain News]