Considering the sheer volume of bottles Coke sells every year, the company’s announcement to move from PET bottles to a blend of plastic and 30% plant-based materials, is more than welcome. The new sugarcane and molasses based bottles will have 25% less emissions when compared to traditional bottles.

Over 1.6 billion of Coca Cola branded beverages are served every day around the world. So, it would be great to see the entire lineup move to more environmentally friendly packaging. That however, isn’t exactly happening at the moment. The new bottles will be available with Coca Cola’s Dasani brand of water; not exactly a giant volume, but still a good start.

The new bottles are completely compatible with the existing recycling facilities, and they will not contaminate petroleum based bottles in the process. Coca Cola hopes to sell nearly 2 billion of these bottles by the end of 2010, giving its vitamin water brands the PlantBottle next year. In the near future, the company hopes to have all its offerings in bottles made from 100% recyclable and renewable materials.

Source: Inhabitat

Everyone loves pizza.

But, don’t you just hate having to store leftovers in those big, awkward boxes? Even when all of the pizza is finished, you still have to throw all that cardboard away.

Shouldn’t there be a more eco-friendly alternative to packaging one of the world’s favorite foods?

Now there is.

This Monday, October 19, ECO Inc., a Manhattan-based manufacturer of sustainable packaging, will launch its first product, the Green Box. The Green Box is a pizza box made from 100% recycled material that ingeniously breaks down into serving plates and a storage container.

On its website, ECO Inc. lists several benefits of the Green Box, including:

Manufactured at no additional cost.

Removable top breaks down into serving plates.

Bottom converts into storage container.

Storage container fits easily into the refrigerator.

Storage container and serving plates fit easily into standard trash bin.

Manufactured from recycled material.

The company even provides a video to illustrate how this new “pizza box of the 21st century” works.

‘Green Box’ Product Promo (Pizza Box) from Green Box on Vimeo.

Source: ECO Incorporated

It’s a raining, overcast day and my favorite Labs are sleeping at my feet.  I think they feel the laziness the dreary day brings.

Later, they will be up and about and I will take them on one of their daily long walks.  They have places to go, things to sniff and business to take care of.

Under my expert guidance they will lead me through grass, bushes, forests of trees and those tall grassy plants they love to water.  We sometimes meet friends of theirs and I wait for the obligatory sniffs and some playtime.

When they down to the important business of the day, I am their loyal servant and like a good employee clean up after them.

I used to recycle those plastic food and grocery bags, bread bags and other such stuff.  I then graduated to those plastic dog bags on a roll that you can put on your keychain, dog lease or even wear on a belt loop as an accouterment to your jeans ensemble.

What could I do to help make the dog droppings friendlier to the dump?  Aha!  Biodegradable bags!

I found two that are pretty good.

Bags On Board makes 100% biodegradable bags.  I recommend buying the 315-bag Value Pack.  With two Labs, you need a quantity of bags on hand.

BioBag has a twist to their biodegradable product; it is made from corn and is ASTM D6400 compliant (for those of you that keep track of the technical details).

California’s SB 1749, like other California laws, re-defines standard industry-accepted definitions to bend to the state’s peculiar politics.  So “biodegradable” in California is unique only to California’s quirky laws that often go over the edge of common sense.  Despite the additional restrictions and PC terminology, the BioBag manages to meet California’s proclamation.

Now a word to the wise and those prone to being squeamish: all biodegradable doggie bags let the smell seep through the surface of the bag.  The waste inside stays there and does not leak out, but the stench does.

According to my nose (and it does have quite a large internal surface area to detect odors) Bags on Board allows less aromas to escape.  This is very important when you are on a long walk and your dog decides to put business before play and you are literally left “holding the bag” for a long period of time.

Disclaimer (to avoid the Federal Blog Police)

• Neither Bags On Board or BioBag have ever heard of me.  Neither one has paid me or provided me with other items or services in order to get a favorable review.
• Neither one has paid me or provided me with other items or services in order to give their competitor a less than perfect or a bad review.
• I had to buy the bags myself.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that for every one barrel of residential trash, 71 more were created before the products that produced that waste reached consumer households.

What’s more, a new report from the EPA shows that ordinary consumer products and packaging account for 44% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Can you imagine how much waste and GHG emissions could be eliminated from the production-consumption cycle if products could be re-designed to use less material, be longer life, repairable, reusable, and safer?

The GrassRoots Recycling Network is an organization of activists and recycling professionals who deep-dive into questions like that every day.

The group, which is advocating and working towards a zero waste future in the United States, will be hosting its Third National Recycling and Zero Waste Conference, beginning this coming Sunday, Oct. 18 at the Devens Commons Center in Devens, Massachusetts.

The four-day event will run through Wednesday, Oct. 21, and is expected to attract over 400 recycling activists and professionals from around the U.S. The comprehensive agenda includes 20 separate programs and 60 speakers.

“This conference will energize the recycling and environmental community and help environmental professionals and activists implement new ideas and practices that will create jobs while at the same time reducing waste and conserving natural resources,” said Linda Christopher, GRRN’s executive director. “Zero waste programs build sustainable communities by reducing the waste that produces greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals which are so harmful to our environment and account for major climate change impacts.”

Traditional thinking assumes waste is inevitable, that the quantity of waste will keep growing, and that costly, high-tech, polluting methods like landfills and incinerators are the only choices available.

Zero waste advocates think otherwise. They focus not only on recycling, but on another critical component –redesign –as well.

Zero waste is a concept that has taken off in California and other countries where several communities are on track to reach a goal of 90 percent waste reduction, Christopher said. It is relatively unfamiliar in New England, though many communities are in a position to implement zero waste principles, she added.

“We have identified Massachusetts and New England as a prime region to advance zero waste programs and goals and to create zero waste communities,” added Christopher. “The conference will highlight businesses that have saved money, increased their efficiency, reduced their liability, and reduced their global footprint by diverting their waste from landfills and incinerators.”

GrassRoots Recycling Network’s National Recycling and Zero Waste Conference is being held at the Devens Conference Center in Devens, Massachusetts. Devens is a decommissioned U.S. Army base re-purposed as an eco-industrial park that has a zero waste goal. All organic waste generated by the conference will be composted and other waste will be separated and recycled.

You can read more about the GrassRoots Recycling Network at their website, www.GRRN.org . The site includes full conference details and registration information.

Photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/8078800@N07/634853323/

"Spiraling Costs," Paper and Beeswax, 16 in. x16 in. (4 in. deep)

Ever get so frustrated with the current economic downturn that you simply want to rip your financial documents to shreds?

Artist Jaynie Crimmins did.

And then she added some beeswax… ultimately creating a new series of multi-media works that she calls “Home Economics.”

“The series addresses the recession, which has impacted our lives both financially and psychologically,” Crimmins explains. “Created from my recycled financial documents, these repetitive, meticulous and obsessive compositions spiral out of a central point.”

"Spiraling Costs," in detail

Crimmins, who has been working with found and relinquished materials since 2003, sees her work as an opportunity to re-think the ordinary.

"Buried by the Bank 1," Paper and Beeswax, 8 in. x 8 in. (2 1/2” deep)

“My work utilizes reclaimed materials in a personalized and intimate way with the hope of expressing universally experienced themes,” the Atlanta-based artist says. “Fragmenting these elements and using beeswax helps to “immortalize” and transform these materials by reconfiguring the commonplace, reusing the unusable, as well as honoring the stuff of everyday lives.”

"Buried by the Bank 2," Paper and Beeswax, 8 in. x 8 in. (2 1/2” deep)

“Spiraling Costs” will be on exhibit at “ReMade,” an art show celebrating the inventive use of recycled, reclaimed, or renewable materials, sponsored by “g” Green Design Center, in Mashpee, MA, from October 9 through November 30.

You can see more of Crimmins’ extensive portfolio at her website: www.jayniecrimmins.com
Contact her directly at:  jgcrimmins@gmail.com

Related content: David Macaluso creates art with used motor oil

David Macaluso paints with used motor oil.

For Brooklyn-based artist David Macaluso, it’s all about oil.

Motor oil, that is.

Used motor oil, to  be exact.

You see, Macaluso has been painting with the stuff since 2005.

Why? Because used motor oil, he says, represents both an artistic exercise in recycling and a powerful metaphor for this time in world history.

Consider the piece, “War is the Truest Form of Divination,” pictured below.

Macaluso describes it as an abstract work exploring a dialogue between two great literary quotations about war. One quote is written along the top of the paper, and the other is written along the bottom. Each quote is repeated several times in an increasingly abstract manner toward the paper’s center, where the two quotes converge in an entanglement of lines.

"War is the Truest Form of Divination," used motor oil and graphite on paper, 22 in. x 30 in., 2006

Along the top of the paper, Macaluso scrolled a quote from Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian.” Along, the bottom, you’ll find part of Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.”  From top to bottom, the two quotes read like this:

(McCarthy) “War is the Truest Form of Divination. It is the testing of one’s will and the will of another within that larger will which because it binds them is therefore forced to select. War is…”. (And Lincoln) “…for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated…”.

In retrospect, Macaluso says he was motivated to create this work by a combination of personal and historical factors.

“For this piece, I was inspired by concepts of life and death and time,” he explains. “In 2006, when I created it, I was thinking a lot about cause and effect, and how local events have global impact. Also, I was reflecting on oil as an energy source that arguably effects every aspect of life in the world and especially, but not exclusively, the domestic and international affairs of the United States.”

“War is the Truest Form of Divination” will be on exhibit at “ReMade,” an art show celebrating the inventive use of recycled, reclaimed, or renewable materials, sponsored by “g” Green Design Center, in Mashpee, MA, from October 9 through November 30.

To Macaluso, painting with motor oil he collects from a local auto mechanic is one way he connects his art with a larger commitment to sustainability.

“I think sustainability encourages a total re-envisioning of life, across the spectrum: from energy questions and global concerns, to concepts of identity and individual and group behavior, to natural and man-made systems,” he explains.

“Price Ripples,” used motor oil and graphite on paper, 22 in. x 30 in., 2006.

Macaluso grew up on Long Island, New York and currently resides in Brooklyn. You can see more of his extensive portfolio at his website: www.davidmacaluso.com.

Contact him directly at david.macaluso@gmail.com

Related content: Recession inspires artist Jaynie Crimmins to create with shredded paper and beeswax

Every year, entire forests full of trees are cut down to produce the approximate 300 million tons of paper used throughout the world. Furthermore, used and unwanted paper is often dumped in landfill, meaning part of it ends up in the environment, contributing to green house gases.

Recycling paper means reducing the amount of trees cut down and the resulting pollution to the environment.

Paper is made up of cellulose (plant fibers), bound together by glue. It is possible, by hand, to separate these fibers and reuse them. So here’s a novel idea – instead of simply chucking out your old newspapers and magazines, why not have a go at recycling paper yourself? It uses less electricity, less water, considerably less pollution and crucially, it saves all of those precious trees from being cut down. Not only will you be doing your bit for the environment, but the process is fun and rewarding – resulting in beautiful, handmade paper for a whole range of uses.

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to paper recycling

1. Make a frame by bending an old wire coat hanger into a rectangular/square shape, then stretch an old pair of clear tights over the frame, ensuring it’s tight and flat. Alternatively, an insect screen works stretched over a wooden frame.
2. Blend your torn up paper with water in a food processor or pestle and mortar until it forms a mushy paste. Keep going until you have a large grey blob – for colour, use food colouring or onion skin. Adding lint or leaves will also add an interesting texture to your paper.
   
3. Mix together two tablespoons of white glue and the paper pulp in a tub or sink filled with about 4 inches of water. Get stuck in and mix well with your hands.
4. Scoop the frame to the bottom of the sink, lifting slowly to let the water drain out.
5. Hang the frame on a clothesline or out in the sun, ensuring it is completely dried out before you gently peel off the handmade paper.
6. Steam out your paper using an iron on its hottest setting. To make more, you can repeat this process until all the pulp is strained out of the tub/sink.
   

And voila! Recycling paper by hand is really that easy.

Do your bit to save the planet, recycle paper paper at home.

Plastic recycling

The damaging effect to wildlife and marine eco- systems throughout the world would be catastrophic, resulting in less and less plant life being able to grow, CO2 emissions rising and our planet would literally be chocking on its own plastic waste.

Yet this isn’t something that is a million years from now, our Earth’s demise is happening now with over 150 billion tonnes of plastic being dumped into the ocean by the worldwide fishing industry alone. But it is also something that we can combat now, quite easily, simply by recycling.

Why recycle plastic?

Plastic bags are made of polyethylene – more commonly known as polythene – they are hazardous to manufacture and are said to take up to 1,000 years to decompose.

The energy needed to manufacture and transport plastic bags eats up more resources and creates more global warming emissions.

The production of plastic also involves the use of potentially harmful chemicals, which are added as stabilisers or colorants. As a number of these have not undergone environmental risk assessments, their impact on human health and the environment is currently a cause for concern. One example of this is phthalates, which are used to create PVC. PVC has in the past been used in toys for young children and there has been concern that phthalates may be released when these toys come into contact with saliva when they are sucked by babies. Risk assessments of the effects of phthalates on the human body and the environment are currently being carried out.

In 2006, Americans drank approximately 167 bottles of water each, but only recycled an average of 38 bottles per person, which equals about 50 billion plastic bottles consumed, with only 23% being recycled. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills, each year.

These plastic bottles dumped in landfills take 700 years before they start to decompose.

What can you do?

Did you know that by making even the smallest of changes just one person can make a huge difference? By taking your own reusable bags to the supermarket you are cutting down the use for plastic bags. Use bags made out of natural fibres such as organic cotton which can be used again and again without harming our planet.

Instead of drinking beverages packaged with plastic, opt for drinks which are packaged from other renewable materials such as glass or paper.

Small changes can make a vast impact on the environment, especially since one recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60 watt light bulb for three hours.

By recycling your plastic, this material can go on and be used to create a number of other products including, PVC sewer pipes, flooring, window frames; building insulation boards; video and compact disc cassette cases; fencing and garden furniture; water butts, garden sheds and composters; seed trays; anoraks and fleeces; fibre filling for sleeping bags and duvets; and a variety of office accessories.

Remember, the planet is not a gift from your parents, but a loan from your children – recycle your plastic today for our children’s tomorrow.

Written in association with plastic recycling experts

Image courtesy of topsy

Adoptabots are robot figures created from discarded daily objects, which are now ready to set on with a new life. Designer Brian Marshall decided that products which had ostensibly completed their desired taks did not deserve to rot in the landfill, so he decided to give them a new life in the form of artistic figures which maintain their original form, but also take up an entirely new shape.

He calls these upcycled objects “Adoptabots”, a name that refers to the “new home” these discarded objects in the “robot orphanage” are looking for. Not only did the designer create impressive figures from these objects, he also gave each of them an identity, and a new story to begin a new life with.

The decor and the ideas behind it are thoughtful and catchy, and there’s a fair chance that these artistic robots would find themselves a new home. The designer has put up Adoptabots for sale on Etsy, with prices varying from $75 to $350.

[via Inhabitots]

Upcycling is better than recycling or “reusing” in many ways. The idea is to start from discarded products or waste and create something sustainable, and usable as a daily item. Austrian shop Gabarage is busy showing the world the potential of garbage; the custom products that can be made from trash, and the money such products can bring in.

This Vienna based design shop lets its consumers/clients look at garbage, and select the “piece” they like the most. The selected piece is then upcycled into a custom gaba bag for the consumer.

Gabarage also runs programs that allow companies to pass on their residuals or industrial waste to the shop, which then turns these into sustainable design pieces which may be used by the companies, or can be put in the shop for sale.

Not only does the idea add an environmental perspective to items that would otherwise be consigned to the landfill, it also offers a great option to consumers to get custom made bespoke products. [via Reuters]