Its policies simply aren’t working.  Overall waste generated has nearly doubled in the past 10 years, with waste going to landfill rising by over 10% in the same period.

One of its key targets was to get 60% of the province’s waste food into composting by 2012 has had to be abandoned: the current figure is only 12% and the target just cannot be met.

However, rather than just trying to fiddle with green taxes, the government has gone straight for the jugular and announced plans to make it illegal to dump rubbish and food waste.

Read more of this story »

Scrap, which their pamphlet calls “a creative reuse center and workshop space” came about in 1976, way before recycling and Green became trendy, as a resource for artists and teachers. Scrap also set out to promote environmental awareness and creative reuse.

Read more of this story »

This week’s environmental protests are all focused around a key theme that leads to public protest: political failure. Often this is because of competing interests like the Indonesian example, but in the Spanish case it seems to be a deeply rooted political antipathy that’s putting the ocean at risk, while in Canada, the problem is that local people want to preserve an ancient resource against potential, rather than actual, harm while political powers want jobs and income for the immediate future.

Read more of this story »

Would you be so cavalier in throwing out a disposable razor if you knew how much it actually impacted your local environments? Would you think twice about purchasing a bottle of water if you knew how much it cost you to dispose of? That’s the question asked by the MIT SENSEable City lab these days. And they plan to see what effects one man’s trash actually has on the environment.

Inspired by the Green NYC Initiative which aims to increase the rate of waste recycling in New York to almost 100 percent by 2030 (currently, only about 30 percent of the city’s waste is diverted from landfills for recycling!), a group of MIT researchers have developed a program that uses special electronic tags in order to track different types of waste on their journey through the disposal systems of New York and Seattle. Its name? Trash Track. Trash Track will monitor the patterns and costs of urban disposal while raising public awareness about the impacts the garbage can under the sink has on the environment.

Read more of this story »

Researchers at the University of York have recently come up with a method of recycling that seems like it fell from the pages of a science fiction novel. They want to turn discarded television screens into components for biomedicine.

Read more of this story »

San Jose, CA - Achieving a goal of 100 percent energy independence is a little closer for San Jose thanks to a momentous move by the City Council today. The City Council authorized the City Manager to negotiate and execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop potential lease terms and guidelines for developing an organics-to energy bio-gas facility.

The bio-gas facility, planned to be constructed and operated by Zanker Road Biogas, will be based on a 40-acre site near the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plan. The proposed facility would also be bound on either side by two solid waste recovery and recycling facilities owned and operated by Zanker Road Resource Management, Ltd.

The MOU, which was authorized today, will set forth the guidelines and work-plan for the potential lease terms of the bio-gas project. Pending successful negotiations for the MOU, San Jose will issue a lease to Zero Waste Energy Development Company, Inc., a partnership between GreenWaste Recovery and their sister company, Zanker Road Resource Management.

This project would also see the cooperation of GreenWaste and Harvest Power, Inc., a company that provides leading technology and project development capabilities for harnessing the renewable energy in organic waste.

Read more of this story »

San Francisco, CA - Refuse collection has been mandatory in San Francisco since the 1930s, so perhaps it came as no surprise when the nation’s leader in recycling passed a mandatory recycling and compost ordinance on June 9, but San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom still commended the Board of Supervisors for its passage of the ordinance.

Mayor Newsom’s ordinance, co-sponsored by Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Chris Daly, which passed on its first reading with a vote of 9-2, requires residential and commercial business owners to sign up for recycling and composting services. The ordinance will require all residences and businesses to participate in the city’s recycling and composting services, making San Francisco the first city to require collection of compostable materials.

“San Francisco has the best recycling and composting programs in the nation, and we’ve already attained an impressive, and first in the nation, 72 percent recycling rate because of them,” said Mayor Newsom. “I am pleased with the leadership the Board of Supervisors has demonstrated on this important legislation. By collaborating with all of our stakeholders, businesses, colleagues, and citizens, we can build on our success and continue to lead the nation in recycling.”

The primary goal of the ordinance, according to Newsom, is to get recycling and composting happening in buildings that are not currently using the city’s recycling and composting services. “Many tenants want to recycle and compost,” said Newsom, “but the building does not offer the service. We’re going to change that.”

Newsom estimates that if all recyclable and compostable materials, which currently slip through the city’s fingers, ending up in a landfill, were caught by the programs, San Francisco’s rate would soar from 70 percent to 90 percent.

The ordinance specifies no fines. Newsom commented that cities with mandatory recycling and fines rarely assess such fines. The primary function of fines is to heighten public awareness and encourage compliance.

The ordinance itself will be recycled again next week as it returns to the Board of Supervisors for a second reading and final vote.

Photo Credit: Shawna Scott via flickr under Creative Commons License

That “Green Vision,” which is responsible for San Jose’s success in being a leader on the green frontier, includes goals of receiving 100 percent of the city’s electrical power from clean renewable sources, diverting 100 percent of its waste from landfills and converting waste to energy.

The facility surely would help San Jose meet zero waste and energy goals. Capable of taking in 150,000 tons of organic waste per year to process and produce energy will no doubt help clear up land fills. It is likely that the energy produced would be used to power the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant. Excess energy could be sold to the regional electric grid.

The Zanker Road Biogas project would be developed in three phases, each phase designed to increase capacity by 50,000 tons per year of organic materials—a combination of primarily food waste and the organic portion of the municipal solid waste stream—and produce two products: a renewable bio-gas containing methane and high-quality compost.

Paul Sellew, CEO of Harvest Power commented, “We applaud the City of San Jose for its proactive effort in making renewable energy from organic waste a reality. Our organic waste project will be a major step in moving the City to 100% renewable energy while at the same time enriching local soils with our high quality compost product.”

During development and construction, the facility could employ 30 to 40 workers and it is anticipated that it will employ 50 to 60 jobs during full operation. “Creating green jobs that can’t be outsourced overseas is essential to rebuilding our local and state economy. Through projects like this, San Jose is becoming the world center for clean tech innovation. The proposed Zanker Road Biogas facility can be a model for other municipalities, showing how this technology can help solve their energy challenges,” Reed said.

With the completion of the proposed facility, San Jose would become the first city in the states with such capabilities. And we can only hope that other cities across the nation will adopt such facilities in the near future.

More: Who else is making bio-gas?

Photo Credit: bbchin via flickr under Creative Commons License

Photo2 Credit: PSA Farming

Canadians fight landfill plans

In Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada, the battle against a landfill site seemed to be over, but on 4 May around 600 people took part in a protest march from a local church to Site 41, the controversial location of the proposed dump.

Local activists were joined by environmentalist and Special Water Adviser to the UN, Maude Barlow, whose presence appears to have given a new impetus to the twenty-three year old campaign to stop the dump site which has been led by a constellation of interests including native Canadian land right protestors. Their concern is that the dump will contaminate local water supplies held in an underground aquifer.

However, the county is fighting back – it sent out a press release criticising ‘new opponents’ to the plan which, the county says, has been ‘debated, reviewed and approved’ and went on to suggest that other priority matters such as pandemic planning and the economic downturn were being neglected as a result of the media interest in the May 4 protest. Protestors, in turn, claimed that the issues are separate and shouldn’t be confused, they are talking about protecting their water supplies for future generations, not current economic or health problems.

More airport expansion protests in the UK

In the UK, powerful business leaders have taken a stand against the proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport in London. They include Ian Cheshire, chief executive of Kingfisher, Russell Chambers of Credit Suisse, Sainsbury’s CEO Justing King and Charles Dunstone, head of Carphone Warehouse and their lobby group  says that the business case has not been adequately made by government while the environmental case for rejecting the runway has been resoundingly made by environmental groups. And, in an open letter published in the press and signed by them all, they say that there is not even a guarantee the new runway would serve more destinations, as the airlines government have claimed, rather, the evidence from the new Terminal 5 suggests that expansion on increases the number of flights on already popular routes.

Environmental protestors challenge UK police behaviour (again)

Following the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests in London and the claimed assaults by the police on several protestors, police forces across the UK are now being challenged on their use, or abuse, of special powers granted to them to manage large demonstrations. What makes this challenge notable is that it has been brought on behalf of twin boys, aged twelve, who were stopped and searched by police when they attended the Kingsnorth Climate Camp in Kent with their mother last year. The twins, then aged eleven, had stickers, badges and crayons confiscated and one boy was ‘traumatised’ by the experience because he thought he would have to go to jail when the items were taken from his bag by the police.

Judges decided the case should proceed because it dealt with ‘issues of general public importance’, overruling the Kent Police Force’s argument that searching the boys should not be considered a general policy. Lord Justice Keene said ‘Large demonstrations are a feature of our democracy, and the proper policing of them is itself a matter of some public importance.’

Heathrow Terminal 5 courtesy of garybembridge at Flickr under a creative commons licence

That “Green Vision,” which is responsible for San Jose’s success in being a leader on the green frontier, includes goals of receiving 100 percent of the city’s electrical power from clean renewable sources, diverting 100 percent of its waste from landfills and converting waste to energy.

The facility surely would help San Jose meet zero waste and energy goals. Capable of taking in 150,000 tons of organic waste per year to process and produce energy will no doubt help clear up land fills. It is likely that the energy produced would be used to power the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant. Excess energy could be sold to the regional electric grid.

The Zanker Road Biogas project would be developed in three phases, each phase designed to increase capacity by 50,000 tons per year of organic materials—a combination of primarily food waste and the organic portion of the municipal solid waste stream—and produce two products: a renewable bio-gas containing methane and high-quality compost.

Paul Sellew, CEO of Harvest Power commented, “We applaud the City of San Jose for its proactive effort in making renewable energy from organic waste a reality. Our organic waste project will be a major step in moving the City to 100% renewable energy while at the same time enriching local soils with our high quality compost product.”

During development and construction, the facility could employ 30 to 40 workers and it is anticipated that it will employ 50 to 60 jobs during full operation. “Creating green jobs that can’t be outsourced overseas is essential to rebuilding our local and state economy. Through projects like this, San Jose is becoming the world center for clean tech innovation. The proposed Zanker Road Biogas facility can be a model for other municipalities, showing how this technology can help solve their energy challenges,” Reed said.

With the completion of the proposed facility, San Jose would become the first city in the states with such capabilities. And we can only hope that other cities across the nation will adopt such facilities in the near future.

More: Who else is making bio-gas?

Photo Credit: bbchin via flickr under Creative Commons License

Photo2 Credit: PSA Farming

Terracycle turns trash to Gold

“Trash” has certainly been the talk of the town lately.

The Inspired Economist recently published a story about Funding Factory, a company that provides funding through recycling. Ecopreneurist has featured several stories about recycling startups. However, even with all the buzz, IBISWorld, an industry research firm tell us that recycling is expected to decline significantly in 2009 - after five years of strong growth.

“Falling prices have put the recycling industry on the scrapheap this year,” explained George Van Horn, senior analyst with IBISWorld. “It is the thirteenth biggest revenue loser in 2009, and is expected to plummet a drastic 20 percent.”

Growing at an annualized rate of 6.3 percent for the past five years to 2008, Recycling Facilities is one of the few industries in the “green sector” to observe a decline.  Metal price declines combined with lower demand for recycled material are major factors impacting sales.  A fall in revenue and profits may hasten consolidation between the larger industry players, such as Waste Management and Covanta.  Smaller operators, more labor intensive, and without integrated waste collection and disposal activities, may be forced to exit the industry all together.

Read more of this story »

Besides the comical slant of the titles, it is surprising that biogas is often presented as something amazing & unknown although it has been around for hundreds of years, is used in tens of millions of rural household and is a significant contributor to Europe’s renewable energy production.

Biogas - Amazing Natural Technology

The fermentation of organic material such as biomass, manure, sewage, farm waste, municipal waste, green waste and energy crops in the absence of air produces biogas. The same anaerobic fermentation produces swamp, marsh and landfill methane.

Read more of this story »

Ecologic Designs’ story starts like this:  “There is always talk about a killer set of waves and dolphins playing in the surf, an epic afternoon rolling across warm red rocks on your bike, or a hike in fresh powder on a full moon snowshoe trek. There is also talk about a beach polluted by sludge or surfing next to trash, trails that all of a sudden become strip malls, or the snow trip sans snow because of global warming.” It’s this kind of understanding that guides Ecologic Design, through their two brands Green Guru Gear and Green Goddess, to craft products and fashions in Boulder, Colorado, that have a positive environmental and social impact, while raising ecological awareness.

Take Green Guru’s Blow Out series bi-fold wallet, for example.  The company uses reclaimed bike inner tubes to create a stylish and waterproof exterior. Every item in their Blow Out series is made from 98% reclaimed and recycled content by weight.  Each wallet features a six card and two bill compartments.  The ultimate in a locally-based enterprise, drawing from a readily available waste stream, Green Guru’s butyl rubber comes from Reclamation Stations within about eighteen miles from there they’re manufactured. Green Guru Pouches, Chalk Bags and Messenger Bags are also made from the upcycled inner tubes.

Since spring of 2007, Ecologic Designs has been an ecopreneurial trailblazer, creating viable and sustainable enterprises by harvesting the waste stream, often referred to as “upcycling”: the practice of recycling or repurposing items destined for the landfill and transforming them into something of further use and value. Upcycling was coined by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, authors of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.  The butyl rubber, also called vulcanized rubber, is not cost-effective and very difficult to recycle; therefore these inner tubes usually end up in local landfills where they won’t degrade for many years.  Unfortunately, tires and inner tubes account for over 50% of the rubber produced each year.

Read more of this story »

The town of Lowell, Ind., is examining whether or not to build a $ 200 million plant that would convert garbage into ethanol.

Though such a plant might conjure up visions of the “Mr. Fusion” unit in Doc Brown’s DeLorean, the plants could create 165 permanent jobs and 400 construction jobs in the small town southwest of Gary.

Read more of this story »

Today, the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee approved $20 billion in energy tax credits and related financial incentives as part of the Obama administration’s plan to revive the American economy. Can I get a w00t!?

The tax breaks benefit the wind and solar energy industries and encourage energy-efficiency improvements to existing homes. Other facilities that generate electricity from renewable sources such as biomass, hydropower, landfill gas and ocean currents also qualify for the credit. Facilities will have to be in place by 2012 to be eligible for the credit.

Read more of this story »

That is the challenge set forth in Open Architecture Network’s contest: Discarded Dreams.

With over 40 million mattresses discarded every year in the U.S., this challenge asks that over 80% of the mattress be reused. Careful consideration should be made to the mattress’ deconstruction, as the Open Architecture Network is looking for a way to divert these mattresses away from the landfill and into new life.

Read more of this story »

Elephants, hyenas, baboons and birds all gather at the dumping site in Chobe to feed. Just this year, three elephants have died after consuming plastic from the garbage heap.

Thunya Sedodoma, the principal wildlife warden in the park, said that last year, plastics were found in the stomach of a dead elephant. She said it is not uncommon to see plastic in the feces of elephants. Sedodoma said that this year alone, the park has recorded over 70 deaths of wildlife, all related to feeding from the garbage dump.

Read more of this story »

The nasty truth is that a lot of the simplistic, one-size-fits-all, ‘you can save the planet’ policies offered by governments just don’t work. And that failure can leave even the keenest green activist feeling like a fraud and a contributor to planetary despoliation, so what it does to the novice ‘green’ I can’t imagine.

Read more of this story »

So what do we do with our old washing machines and such? We stumbled upon a place that picks up washing machines and other appliances. For free. Could this be real? This place called Rancho Grande, located in the Mission near Bernal Heights picks up appliances (and recently picked up some of our non working washing machines) for free. But where’s the Green slant? In the case of washing machines, they fix the machines (often with the used parts they have collected) and resell the working machnies for a susstantial discount verses new ones. The people at Rancho Grande say that the used machines from the 70s and 80s often last longer than the new ones because the current models have so many plastic parts that don’t last.

For machines that can’t be repaired (or the cost is too much) they first drain the oil (which is then reused) then take the appliance to a local metal yard where it finds new life as crushed metal scrap. Sure, the newer Energy Star models use less energy but like cars it’s probably a better bet to use the old one to its final days before buying a new, more energy efficient version.

That “Green Vision,” which is responsible for San Jose’s success in being a leader on the green frontier, includes goals of receiving 100 percent of the city’s electrical power from clean renewable sources, diverting 100 percent of its waste from landfills and converting waste to energy.

The facility surely would help San Jose meet zero waste and energy goals. Capable of taking in 150,000 tons of organic waste per year to process and produce energy will no doubt help clear up land fills. It is likely that the energy produced would be used to power the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant. Excess energy could be sold to the regional electric grid.

The Zanker Road Biogas project would be developed in three phases, each phase designed to increase capacity by 50,000 tons per year of organic materials—a combination of primarily food waste and the organic portion of the municipal solid waste stream—and produce two products: a renewable bio-gas containing methane and high-quality compost.

Paul Sellew, CEO of Harvest Power commented, “We applaud the City of San Jose for its proactive effort in making renewable energy from organic waste a reality. Our organic waste project will be a major step in moving the City to 100% renewable energy while at the same time enriching local soils with our high quality compost product.”

During development and construction, the facility could employ 30 to 40 workers and it is anticipated that it will employ 50 to 60 jobs during full operation. “Creating green jobs that can’t be outsourced overseas is essential to rebuilding our local and state economy. Through projects like this, San Jose is becoming the world center for clean tech innovation. The proposed Zanker Road Biogas facility can be a model for other municipalities, showing how this technology can help solve their energy challenges,” Reed said.

With the completion of the proposed facility, San Jose would become the first city in the states with such capabilities. And we can only hope that other cities across the nation will adopt such facilities in the near future.

More: Who else is making bio-gas?

Photo Credit: bbchin via flickr under Creative Commons License

Photo2 Credit: PSA Farming

So what do we do with our old washing machines and such? We stumbled upon a place that picks up washing machines and other appliances. For free. Could this be real? This place called Rancho Grande, located in the Mission near Bernal Heights picks up appliances (and recently picked up some of our non working washing machines) for free. But where’s the Green slant? In the case of washing machines, they fix the machines (often with the used parts they have collected) and resell the working machnies for a susstantial discount verses new ones. The people at Rancho Grande say that the used machines from the 70s and 80s often last longer than the new ones because the current models have so many plastic parts that don’t last.

For machines that can’t be repaired (or the cost is too much) they first drain the oil (which is then reused) then take the appliance to a local metal yard where it finds new life as crushed metal scrap. Sure, the newer Energy Star models use less energy but like cars it’s probably a better bet to use the old one to its final days before buying a new, more energy efficient version.

That “Green Vision,” which is responsible for San Jose’s success in being a leader on the green frontier, includes goals of receiving 100 percent of the city’s electrical power from clean renewable sources, diverting 100 percent of its waste from landfills and converting waste to energy.

The facility surely would help San Jose meet zero waste and energy goals. Capable of taking in 150,000 tons of organic waste per year to process and produce energy will no doubt help clear up land fills. It is likely that the energy produced would be used to power the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant. Excess energy could be sold to the regional electric grid.

The Zanker Road Biogas project would be developed in three phases, each phase designed to increase capacity by 50,000 tons per year of organic materials—a combination of primarily food waste and the organic portion of the municipal solid waste stream—and produce two products: a renewable bio-gas containing methane and high-quality compost.

Paul Sellew, CEO of Harvest Power commented, “We applaud the City of San Jose for its proactive effort in making renewable energy from organic waste a reality. Our organic waste project will be a major step in moving the City to 100% renewable energy while at the same time enriching local soils with our high quality compost product.”

During development and construction, the facility could employ 30 to 40 workers and it is anticipated that it will employ 50 to 60 jobs during full operation. “Creating green jobs that can’t be outsourced overseas is essential to rebuilding our local and state economy. Through projects like this, San Jose is becoming the world center for clean tech innovation. The proposed Zanker Road Biogas facility can be a model for other municipalities, showing how this technology can help solve their energy challenges,” Reed said.

With the completion of the proposed facility, San Jose would become the first city in the states with such capabilities. And we can only hope that other cities across the nation will adopt such facilities in the near future.

More: Who else is making bio-gas?

Photo Credit: bbchin via flickr under Creative Commons License

Photo2 Credit: PSA Farming

In looking for green suggestions on how to handle the old mattress, I googled ‘mattress recycle’.  Nothing really useful came of my web search, however.  Health department laws prohibit donating the mattress to the Salvation Army or another charitable organization, and I could not find a local mattress recycling company.  I could try a local freecycle group, but the health department restrictions would probably come into play again.  So we have a nice, new mattress, and we just don’t know how to handle the old mattress in an environmentally-responsible way.

I invite you, dear reader, to weigh in on this one:  what’s the best way to dispose of an old mattress?

Photo from my personal collection.

That “Green Vision,” which is responsible for San Jose’s success in being a leader on the green frontier, includes goals of receiving 100 percent of the city’s electrical power from clean renewable sources, diverting 100 percent of its waste from landfills and converting waste to energy.

The facility surely would help San Jose meet zero waste and energy goals. Capable of taking in 150,000 tons of organic waste per year to process and produce energy will no doubt help clear up land fills. It is likely that the energy produced would be used to power the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant. Excess energy could be sold to the regional electric grid.

The Zanker Road Biogas project would be developed in three phases, each phase designed to increase capacity by 50,000 tons per year of organic materials—a combination of primarily food waste and the organic portion of the municipal solid waste stream—and produce two products: a renewable bio-gas containing methane and high-quality compost.

Paul Sellew, CEO of Harvest Power commented, “We applaud the City of San Jose for its proactive effort in making renewable energy from organic waste a reality. Our organic waste project will be a major step in moving the City to 100% renewable energy while at the same time enriching local soils with our high quality compost product.”

During development and construction, the facility could employ 30 to 40 workers and it is anticipated that it will employ 50 to 60 jobs during full operation. “Creating green jobs that can’t be outsourced overseas is essential to rebuilding our local and state economy. Through projects like this, San Jose is becoming the world center for clean tech innovation. The proposed Zanker Road Biogas facility can be a model for other municipalities, showing how this technology can help solve their energy challenges,” Reed said.

With the completion of the proposed facility, San Jose would become the first city in the states with such capabilities. And we can only hope that other cities across the nation will adopt such facilities in the near future.

More: Who else is making bio-gas?

Photo Credit: bbchin via flickr under Creative Commons License

Photo2 Credit: PSA Farming

If you’ve ever seen the movie Idiocracy, you may have a vague fear of giant landfills toppling over and spilling into the streets. Fortunately, that fear may never become a reality now that the Powermaster ReCyclone is available.

The ReCyclone works by grinding trash into small pieces, thereby reducing landfill space up to 97 percent.

Trash compacted by the ReCyclone can be used to create energy or compost material—organic waste becomes diesel fuel, and plastic becomes oil. The machine can grind up any piece of waste ranging from 20 microns to 12 inches.

For some perspective, the ReCyclone can get more gold out of electronic devices than from a gold mine (one metric ton of circuit boards contains between 80 and 1,500 grams of gold, which is 40 to 800 times the concentration of gold available in gold ore mined in the United States) and 1 kilogram of plastic recycled in the machine can yield 95 percent of 1 liter of diesel.

Read more of this story »