Archive for the 'recycling' Category

Guilt-Free Containers at Whole Foods!

Published
by
Paul
on August 7, 2008
in action, recycling and waste
. 2 Comments

eatware.jpg As a frequent salad eater, I am always wracked with guilt when I go to my favorite supermarket for salads - Draegers Market in San Mateo - because their salad containers are the clear plastic variety. But man, their croutons are great.

So today, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Whole Foods now offers EATware decomposable containers for their salads! According to the site, EATware containers, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes, decompose in soil in 180 days, and disperse in water in 2 weeks! They also don’t have any laminates or coatings, and yet are oil, water and heat resistant. Pretty awesome.

I’m going to take the container I got with my salad today and stick it in my compost bin, just to see how long it takes before it decomposes. I’m also going to write an email to Dragers, and tell them that until they switch over to something like EATware, my salad business is going to Whole Foods.

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What do sheep and recycled telephones have in common?

Published
by
JB
on August 5, 2008
in recycling and reuse
. 1 Comment

Here are some fun pictures - artist Jean Luc Cornec constructed these “Telephone Sheep” using old rotary phones and cords.

It’s a pretty creative way of re-using older materials, and good commentary on the need for us to be more green - reduce, reuse, recycle!

sheep-2.jpg

sheep-1.jpg

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Los Angeles jumps on the “ban wagon”

Published
by
greenhl
on July 29, 2008
in action, government, recycling, retail and reuse
. 0 Comments

We’ve written about plastic bag bans before such as Seattle’s proposed ban as well as the evils of plastic bags. It now appears the L.A. City Council is also jumping on the plastic “ban wagon”.

Last week, L.A. City Council voted to ban disposable plastic bags by 2010. However, L.A. put a new twist to this ban. The ban would only take effect if California failed to implement a 25 cent bag fee on shoppers who request them. In essence, L.A. is really hoping to effect wider change, not just a ban within its own city limits.

As you can imagine, this is a controversial subject. The plastic bag industry, represented by the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, filed a lawsuit against L.A. County’s plan to reduce plastic bag usage 30 percent by 2010. They argue factories will be closed and jobs will be lost. I don’t disagree with their arguments completely, but there must be a way to use plastic bag fees to help these workers get new training or find new jobs. Sticking to our old ways because it’s comfortable isn’t a great reason to me.

I won’t reiterate the all the various evils of plastic bags, but I think we’re starting to see more support for bans. In fact, I think all disposable bags should have a fee, including paper bags. I don’t see a reason why we aren’t all carrying and utilizing reusable shopping bags. I’m sure a fees and bans will get us there much more quickly.

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Best Buy should be ashamed of itself

Published
by
greenhl
on July 10, 2008
in corporate, pollution, recycling, retail and waste
. 1 Comment

worst_best_buy_logo

How many of you shop at Best Buy? When I’ve gone, I’ve been disappointed by their usually high prices and unhelpful staff. That said, I will start going there less than I even do currently.

Best Buy should be ashamed of their recycling program and efforts they speak so proudly of. Best Buy is probably one of the largest retailers of electronics if not the largest. In essence, Best Buy is one of the worst contributors to the tons of electronics thrown into our landfills each year.

Best Buy can mitigate a lot of this buy offering recycling at its stores, but unfortunately, it doesn’t choose to do so. It only offers the recycling of some appliances and home electronics if you purchase something from them AND get it professionally delivered or installed through a service you purchase through them. In essence, they are really trying to up sell additional services and make even more money, while masking this as some type of great recycling program and environmental benefit they are offering.

To Best Buy’s credit, they do offer cell phone, battery, and ink cartridge recycling. However, given Best Buy’s huge contribution to electronic waste in our landfills, they should be ashamed of their paltry efforts. They don’t even offer an on-going free recycling program for old computers, printers, CD / DVD players, fax machines or other common electronics. They do have special weekend events which appear to be one-time events in certain cities. Let’s be realistic though. Recycling should be a year round event, not a one-time marketing and promotional event. In addition, Best Buy doesn’t even accept appliances, microwaves, smoke detectors, or air conditioners during these events. Why even bother having these events, lest its for a corporate dog and pony show? Best Buy definitely pales in comparison to Costco’s efforts, which offers free recycling, complete with free shipping and packaging materials.

If someone knows of a great effort Best Buy is doing to combat this problem, let me know. I couldn’t find it on their website, and I would definitely love to be proven wrong in this case.

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There may be no water in your next Coke

Published
by
greenhl
on July 7, 2008
in conservation, corporate, recycling, reuse and waste
. 0 Comments

coca_cola_classic

While many companies are striving to become carbon neutral, Coca-Cola is seeking to become water neutral, meaning all the water used to produce its line of beverages will either be returned directly to the earth or reclaimed through recycling and conservation. This is a lofty goal, and Coca-Cola hasn’t actually set a timeframe. However, the company is aware that water is a precious resource which it needs to make beverages and which it needs for the company’s survival. For Coca-Cola, increasing population numbers and increasing demands on water make their goal more critical than ever.

For each liter of beverage bottled, Coca-Cola uses approximately two and a half liters of water. This amounts to nearly 100 billion gallons of water used annually, equivalent to about 20 percent of total U.S. water consumption. The water used includes water that goes directly into its beverages as well as water that is used for cleaning, lubricating machines, and growing sugar and corn (for corn syrup).

Recently, Coca-Cola has been an environmental target. In 2002, a Southern Indian village accused a Coca-Cola bottling facility of polluting and depleting groundwater, leading not only to a PR mess, but also forcing the bottler to shut down and leave the village. The last thing Coca-Cola wants is poor press, especially as corporate environmental responsibility is become more critical than ever. Also, imagine if Coca-Cola is banned from all or parts of burgeoning countries such as India or China. Being shut off from huge populations and areas for growth would be disastrous for the company.

Coca-Cola has taken some steps as it recognizes the potential PR mess that may be caused by a lack of significant proactive corporate responsibility. In some facilities, waste water is captured, treated, and used for street cleaning and car washing. Coca-Cola is also taking simple steps such as fixing leaking pipes and using less water intensive lubricants for its machines. Coca-Cola can probably take a chapter out of Wal-Mart’s book and create low-water consumption facilities with devices such as waterless urinals. Coca-Cola realizes the importance of water in its supply chain and the need to preserve as much of this natural resource as possible. If real water shortages come about, forcing bottling facilities to shut down will be the least of Coca-Cola’s worries.

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