By John Ivanko •
August 12, 2009
Anyone who travels will eventually find themselves returning home with a hotel card key (or two), despite our well-intentioned interest to remember to leave it in the room or drop it by the front desk upon check out. Most are made of petroleum-based plastic.
But not the Green Earth Agri Card Keys made by USFI GreenWorks. It’s made of a durable, but completely biodegradable corn-based (or plant based) plastic, providing the same appearance and performance, but without the chemicals and waste. The product does, however, require industrial composting and not the backyard variety. Printing on the cards employs soy-based inks. The card is meant to be reusable, not to just be thrown away after one use. However, truth be told, millions of hotel card keys never find their way back to the front desk for reprogramming. According to some in the industry, fewer than fifty percent are returned. Some key cards get worn out and have to be replaced.
As I write about in ECOpreneuring, green businesses do not want to do less harm to the environment. They want to create products or services and operate in ways that make the world a better place. In much the same way as T.S. Designs re-invented the concept of printing on t-shirts using a completely ecologically safe process, USFI GreenWorks reinvented the form the cards take by creating the cards using plant-based plastics. To the extend we can, we need to support these companies and push them to continue to innovate.
By Steve Savage •
July 27, 2009
Composting is a really green thing to do, right? I’ve always thought so since my Grandfather taught me to do it in the early sixties. Large-scale composting is getting to be quite the rage. The City of San Francisco attracted a great deal of attention with it’s mandatory food scrap recycling program and lots of local wineries are bragging about their use of that compost to fertilize their vineyards.
I just read today about how the Langley Parish Council in England is setting up a village compost and “set an example to small villages as the UK strives to battle climate change.” Unfortunately, I recently learned that they and San Francisco and the Napa wineries might actually be doing is contributing to climate change.
Climate change science often ends up challenging things we think we know.
Inconvenience
The idea of composting is to provide plenty of moisture and oxygen so that microbes will digest the easily available organic matter and generate a great deal of metabolic heat in the process. What is left at the end is a sterilized source of more resistant organic matter that can enrich a soil.
Composting
of wastes is done with very good intentions, but there is the inconvenient truth that even a very well run large-scale compost operation emits some methane.
But if you stop to think about it, as much as you intend to have oxygen available to the whole pile (aerobic conditions), there are definitely going to be micro-sites that are going to lack oxygen (anaerobic conditions) particularly when there is huge oxygen demand during the peak of the process. That is where methane gets made.
By Tina Casey •
June 11, 2009
Skins vs. shirts, Army vs. Navy, Spy vs. Spy: now you can add San Francisco vs. Food Scraps to the all-star list of classic matchups. Not satisfied with its stunning recycling rate of 70%, the city of the future is on its way to requiring all residential and commercial building owners to sign up for recycling and composting services, including food scrap composting. This move could boost the city’s recycling rate to 90%. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors just passed the ordinance on a first reading today, and it will go back for a second reading and final vote next week.
Bare, exposed soil rarely exists in nature, so why should it be in your garden? Mulching with an organic mulch like straw will build healthy soil, conserve water, and help keep weeds at bay. In other words, it creates less work for you! Mulch is truly a gardener’s best friend!
It seems like all I’ve been doing lately is weeding and mulching. It’s taken longer than I wanted, but slowly but surely my garden beds are enjoying a nice layer of straw to help insulate the soil, form a layer that’s harder for weeds to penetrate, and retain moisture. I usually wait until plants are established before mulching, but I’ve recently learned about year-round mulching, which doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.
What is mulch? It’s basically any material (usually organic matter) that is used to cover exposed soil in the garden, and can be used for beds, containers, and even paths. Exposed soil can dry out quickly and be easily eroded by water and wind, so a covering helps keep it moist and healthy. The type of mulch you choose depends on the needs of the area you’ll be mulching, but I recommend staying away from unnatural materials like black plastic and choosing organic materials like straw, hay, decomposing leaves, rice hulls, or even dead & dried out weeds. Organic material will break down slowly and help add humus to the soil, making it richer and healthier for gardening.
Soil is one of a gardener’s most important resources, and preserving its health and vitality one of our most crucial responsibilities. Nourish the soil sustainably and you’ll be rewarded with healthier plants and bountiful harvests for years to come.
I was reading National Geographic the other day, and came across an article on soil called “Our Good Earth.” The article discusses the problems facing soils all over the planet, and made me realize just how precious healthy soil really is. We’re losing topsoil rapidly as we consume more and more land to house and feed the ballooning human population. It can take nature over a thousand years to produce just one inch of soil, but erosion, compaction, and contamination can wipe it away much faster. This precious resource, the means to sustain and feed us and the entire planet, is often just treated like dirt. It’s time that changed. And it can start in your very own backyard.
By Scott Cooney •
May 14, 2009
Where does municipal compost go?
By Paul Smith •
April 23, 2009
Some people feel that advertising is garbage. London based Curb advertises with garbage. And sea water. And snow.
Calling themselves “The Natural Media Company,” Curb create advertising based on natural elements, the most recent being for the London Aquarium utilizing “sea tagging,” which is using sea water and a stencil to create temporary ads on the sidewalk. Sea water evaporates more slowly then water, but being a completely natural substance, no permit is needed to do it.
Another water based innovation [...]
By Megan Prusynski •
April 3, 2009
No garden would be complete without its own natural recycling system, a compost pile. Without a way of dealing with compost, weeds and scraps are waste. But why create more trash when you can turn your garden and kitchen waste into valuable soil-building fertilizer?
One of the first steps to starting an organic garden should be to begin a compost pile. Composting will break down organic matter into nutrient-rich material that builds soil and nourishes plants. And just like anyone can garden, no matter their situation, there are composting possibilities for everyone! Read on to learn how to close the loop and start composting…
By Tina Casey •
March 3, 2009
Bokashi is a ramped-up, high-speed composting method first developed in Japan. What gives it the muscle that ordinary compost lacks? Think of the difference between wine and grape juice, and that’s the key to a fine bokashi.
By Becky Striepe •
February 10, 2009
[Creative Commons photo by Anne Norman]
The weather in Atlanta felt like Spring this weekend, which got me thinking about our Spring garden and, of course, our compost bin. Composting is a fabulous, cheap source of fertile soil. On top of that, keeping a compost bin prevents your food scraps from heading to
the landfill where they break down and produce methane, a more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2.
While some communities offer curbside composting, most do not. Luckily, it’s really easy to get your own bin going! Whether you’re living in a house or an apartment, there are great composting solutions out there. Here’s a roundup of some options, so you can have your compost ready in time to get that Spring garden going!
By Alex Felsinger •
February 7, 2009
Happy trash can makes police angry. Police arrest happy trash can. Twice.
These photos are from a Greenpeace campaign against plans to build a waste incineration plant was held in Zelenograd, Russia. The campaign, in addition to costumed antics, has collected around 90,000 signatures in opposition to the plan.
But the real story is these photos, just now starting to make their rounds online. The police first try to fit the man in the can into a police car, then next time they try to shove him in a bus. I’d cry police brutality, but first I’ll have to stop laughing.
Anyone who travels will eventually find themselves returning home with a hotel card key (or two), despite our well-intentioned interest to remember to leave it in the room or drop it by the front desk upon check out. Most are made of petroleum-based plastic. 
