Good News Notes: “Australian supermarket chain Coles has launched home compostable coffee capsules under its Coles Urban Coffee Culture brand. The compostable pods are made with bio-sourced cellulose and vegetable oils. Coles claims that the sustainable capsules take around as much time to decompose in home compost bins as orange peel does. The pods are certified by…
Tag: decompose
Boy Scout troop collecting, recycling Christmas trees, helping feed Omaha Zoo animals
Good News Notes: “Some may argue it’s a little too soon to take down those Christmas trees, but thousands of Omahans and Lincolnites are already signed up to have theirs collected. “We have our annual Scouting for Trees service project where we pick up trees,” says Matthew McConnell, the senior patrol leader for Omaha Boy Scout Troop 282….
Biodegradable Phone Case Tackles Plastics Pollution
Good News Notes: “While it might not be the biggest source of plastics showing up in waterways and failing to degrade in landfills, biodegradable phone cases could be a start. According to Michael Pratt, the founder of Pivet, his company’s smartphone cases utilize a newly developed material that will completely decompose in traditional environments,…
This Styrofoam-like packaging is made of popcorn—not plastic
Good News Notes: “Those bits that come inside your packages are called peanuts, but of course they are made from polystyrene, not anything natural. But what if we could send things packaged in popcorn—the actual food, not another plastic-derived counterpart—instead? That’s the hope of researchers at the University of Göttingen in Germany, who have developed the plant-based…
Sustainable Smalls! Kent Introduces World’s First Compostable Underwear
Good News Notes: “Standard undergarments can take over 200 years to decompose due to the plastic fibers they often contain, such as nylon or elastane. In response, LA’s Kent has introduced the world’s first verified compostable underwear. Founded by “Conscious Canadian” Stacey Anderson, the 100% organic, plant-based underwear composts in 90 days, “feeding the soil and growing…
Plastic trash can now be recycled into ultra-strong graphene
Good News Notes: “Packaging from the grocery store, lint from our clothing, plastic shopping bags – plastics and microplastics are everywhere, and they’re not going anywhere. In fact, it will take them hundreds of years to decompose in landfills . In order to speed up this decomposition process, scientists from Rice University are transforming these discarded…
Food containers and utensils made from sugar pulp could be a game-changer to battle plastic pollution
Good News Notes: “When Hongli (Julie) Zhu first came to the United States in 2007, she was surprised by the prevalence of single-use plastic containers at supermarkets and restaurants. ‘The material is cheap and convenient, but most of these containers are not biodegradable,’ saysZhu, an assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern. According…
Landfill Mining and Its Tremendous Potential
Good News Notes: “An average American dumps 4.4 pounds of waste a day, and it is estimated that the U.S. produces 7.6 billion tons of industrial waste every year. Additionally, for more than 100 years, the entire world’s unwanted waste has been discarded in the land. As the trash inside landfills decomposes, it releases methane…
How America’s least sustainable city learned to love recycling
Good News Notes: “From Arlo Guthrie, who wrote a seven-minute song about taking out the garbage, to Shel Silverstein’s Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout, who drowned in her own garbage, our society has long struggled with the excesses of its own existence. Today, Americans hold the title of biggest trash producers in the world, at 6.5…
Meet the Israeli innovation that can put an end to plastic packaging
Good News Notes: “Plastics are everywhere. Often described as the material of the 21st century, plastics are found in our polyester clothes, our outdoor furniture and our supermarket food containers. An estimated 360 million tons of plastic were produced globally in 2018, and worldwide consumption continues to grow rapidly. The vast majority of it, more than…