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by Sharon Vaknin, Crave - CNET, April 12, 2010
Though some moviegoers' powerful identification with "Avatar" may have inspired them to ponder the planet and rethink their carbon footprint, they likely missed the irony: millions of nonbiodegradable, plastic 3D glasses were reportedly distributed for the movie.
Luckily, cinemas may be on their way to adopting a more sustainable technology. Cereplast, an L.A.-based maker of bioplastics, has partnered with Oculus3D to create what appear to be the first biodegradable 3D glasses. Unlike current 3D glasses that are made using petroleum-based plastic, these will be manufactured with plastic derived from plant materials.
Cereplast and Oculus3D say they'll be ready to distribute their glasses this summer, according to Greenwala, where we first spotted the news. With the rising cost of oil and a high interest in 3D movies, biodegradable 3D glasses could be just the right move for the movie industry.
RealD--the predominant developer of technology for 3D glasses, and one of four providers of 3D systems for showing "Avatar"--implemented a recycling program for its plastic glasses last fall. Moviegoers are given the option to toss their glasses into a bin after the movie or keep them for reuse.
Glasses that end up in the bin are taken to a sanitizing facility, repackaged, and returned to theaters for redistribution. Intact glasses can be washed up to 500 times, but any that are cracked, scratched, or damaged are likely sent to landfills. RealD told CNET it could not comment on its recycling program because the company is in a quiet period.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Biodegradable 3D glasses coming to theaters?
Friday, February 12, 2010
New law: They don't take plastic
Starting this Thursday, N.C. is outlawing plastic bottles in landfills. But recycling rangers likely won't bust you.
By Lynn Bonner, charlotteobserver.com, Sept. 28, 2009
Public service announcements, fliers, and corporate-gift cards are all aimed at getting N.C. households to comply with a state law kicking in Thursday that bans plastic bottles from landfills.
But don't look for the trash cops if soda bottles end up in your garbage cans.
"That's not the spirit of the law," said Scott Mouw, the state's recycling director. "Clearly, this is more of a law of spirit or intent, everyone recognizing the positive reasons to recycle."
State enforcement efforts will be targeted at haulers who show up at landfills with loads of banned material. Most local governments don't have the power or the interest in dogging residents who don't recycle.
Charlotte's Solid Waste Services department does not conduct enforcement, spokeswoman Brandi Williams said. "It's a state law, so it is on them to enforce it," Williams said.
Charlotte offers a volunteer recycling program in which households place certain items in red bins and workers collect them weekly. Workers who pick up recycling sort the plastic, metal and paper at the curb.
Starting next July in Charlotte, recycling will be collected every other week, instead of weekly. The city is trading the red recycling bins for larger rolling containers similar to its trash cans. Workers will dump everything into trucks, and the plastic-metal-paper sorting will be at an automated facility.
The move is part of a plan to save about $26 million over 10 years.
Without enforcement efforts, though, North Carolina's embrace of recycling has been more of a half-hug.
North Carolina missed a 10-year recycling goal it set back in 1991 for reducing trash disposal. In fact, more trash went to landfills, not less. Garbage disposal went from 1.01 tons per person in 1992 to 1.21 tons per person by June 2001.
The state now has a new goal: Recycle 2 million tons of bottles, cans, and other materials each year by 2012. N.C. residents currently recycle about 1.3 million tons a year.
The state recycles fewer than one in five bottles, Mouw said, and he's sure that rate can go up.
One of the state's new tactics to persuade people to keep plastic out of the trash is to focus on the empty bottles as a raw material for the state recycling industry. The state has plants that are a step in the manufacturing chain that turns used bottles into new bottles and other materials. The largest plastics recycling plant in the nation is to open in Fayetteville next year.
Though state law bars specific materials from landfills - such as aluminum cans, big appliances and tires - recycling practices vary across the state and are largely governed by local ordinance.
Some communities, such as Orange County and Cary, constantly add items to their list of recyclables, while other localities make a more limited effort.
Orange County, which includes Hillsborough and Chapel Hill, recycled more plastic per person than any other county last year, according to state figures. Orange residents recycled about 29.5 pounds of plastic bottles per person in 2007-08.
Pamlico County was the next closest with 14.8 pounds per person. The state average was 3.8 pounds per person.
"People across the county have a really high recycling ethic," said Blair Pollock, Orange County's solid waste planner.
Four counties didn't collect plastic for recycling. Some of the state's municipalities - Kannapolis being the largest - don't have curbside recycling, Mouw said.
Katie Burdett, who wrote about plastics recycling as a requirement for her master's in public administration from UNC Chapel Hill this year, said the state would need to require recycling and develop an enforcement strategy to maximize the ban's impact.
Local communities' recycling success largely depends on the commitment of those in charge of running it, said Burdett, who interned in the state recycling office. Communities that do best have someone whose sole job it is to encourage recycling, keep in touch with major garbage producers and watch the recycling markets, she said.
Charlotte Observer staff writer Fred Clasen-Kelly contributed.
Friday, December 18, 2009
What’s Cooking? Recycled Kitchen Countertops!
Upgrading your kitchen can be a daunting task. And while you probably want the most modern kitchen you can afford, it’s also important to think about the environmental impact of any new items you purchase.
Greenopolis, Dec. 14, 2009
Consumers are more aware than ever about sustainable choices for products for their home improvement projects. A kitchen makeover is a great place to incorporate some earth-friendly choices into your remodeling goals.
For instance, wood countertops, including reclaimed wood countertops, are becoming popular again.
White oak, maple, even madrone - a hardwood known for its reddish hue - are popular choices today. Beautiful, durable, and sustainable, wood is a warm alternative to granite and manufactured stone. Wood has its own natural beauty, holding its own against surfaces with cooler colors and textures.
Many companies also now make butcher block from reclaimed or salvaged wood. Reclaimed wood countertops can be made from pallets, water tanks, even telephone poles. Butcher block can also be made from bamboo, a sustainable wood source. Interested in wood countertops? Start with Endura Wood’s maple butcher block.
Click here to read the full article
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Government wants your input on plastic bags
By Staff Writer, Winnipeg Free Press, Dec. 8, 2009
WINNIPEG - Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie wants your thoughts about what to do with plastic bags.
Blaikie said in a news release today the province wants ideas from consumers, vendors and bag manufacturers. Proposals already before government include:
* plastic carry-out bags sold and distributed in Manitoba contain a minimum of 25 per cent post-consumer recycled material, increasing to 50 per cent within five years;Click here to read the full article
* all larger stores that distribute plastic bags have take-back programs for recycling plastic bags;
* all plastic bags sold or distributed in Manitoba be imprinted with a message reminding users to recycle or reuse the bag; and
* all compostable or biodegradable plastic bags sold or distributed in Manitoba be required to meet national or international standards and be certified as such.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Drive for 'zero waste zones'
Restaurants unite with businesses for greener disposal of garbage.
By Meridith Ford Goldman, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dec. 1, 2009
Stop. Wait a minute. Did you just throw out that dryer lint? Think of all those Thanksgiving leftovers that might make your garden grow. Did you know that they — along with a multitude of other garbage such as coffee grounds, tea bags, yard trimmings and that apple core you were just about to throw away — are all compostable?
Steve Simon of Fifth Group Restaurants knows. In a move toward helping Midtown become a “zero waste zone,” he’s leading restaurants such as Ecco, La Tavola Trattoria and South City Kitchen into a new era of composting and recycling.
Industry and the private sector setting an example for saving the planet? Did we hear that right?
“As recently as a year ago,” Simon says, “I was the poster child for what not to do.”
Now, he and other members of the Green Foodservice Alliance (an environmental affiliate of the Georgia Restaurant Association, but working to be its own association) are helping restaurants and businesses work to produce “zero waste.” The goal is to recycle, compost, reuse spent grease for biofuel and donate consumable food to charity.
“I don’t know if the restaurant industry is the largest producer of trash, but it’s certainly a possibility,” Simon says. Ecco, Fifth Group’s flagship restaurant in Midtown specializing in Mediterranean cuisine, no longer dumps waste into the garbage — kitchen workers and servers scrape scraps into a compost heap. Fifth Group restaurants no longer have garbage Dumpsters on their restaurants’ sites.
So did big business suddenly get a conscience?
“I think what’s happened over the last few years is that the collaboration between government, the private sector and trade associations has helped get the kinks out of a very kinked-up system,” says Holly Elmore, the founder and executive director of the alliance. Ten years ago, just getting a trash or recycling hauler to come to your business on a regular schedule was a “nightmare,” according to Simon. Now, entrepreneurs such as Farmer D Organics are actually making money from trash and waste.
The bottom line was a motivating factor. “When businesses in Georgia, particularly Atlanta, started losing conventions because the city and state aren’t perceived as ‘green,’ it got business owners’ attention,” Simon says. “It’s really an ‘oh, by the way, this is the right thing to do’ kind of thing.”
Trash as a moneymaking investment aside, why are composting and recycling so important?
Well, let’s go back to environmental protection 101: landfill use would be tops on the punch list. Producing less waste creates smaller landfills. Composting and recycling properly are the way to start. Methane emissions at landfills are contributing factors to global warming, and Americans, according to the EPA’s Web site, produce 4.4 pounds of garbage per person, per day — a figure that has nearly doubled since 1960. Simon’s research estimates that 80 percent of what’s in our landfills might have value — in other words, it could be recycled for profit.
So what can this urban tale teach the average consumer? First, it’s up to you to “take responsibility and learn,” Elmore says. Don’t expect your overworked local government or municipality to lead the way.
“Know your city’s plan and regulations. The last thing we want is for contamination to occur in single stream recycling [all recyclables in one bin] — one mistake, and the whole bin could end up in the landfill,” Elmore explains.
She recommends using a compost tumbler (available at Farmer D Organics and most Whole Foods Markets) for composting, and stresses the importance of proper disposal of kitchen grease. “Don’t pour your grease down the drain!” Elmore exclaims.
Follow the restaurants’ lead and recycle it by storing it in a plastic container, then finding a source in your area such as Green Grease, Inc., a business in Clarkston that has just begun consumer-based programs for dropping off kitchen oils for recycling. Entrepreneurs Todd Williams and Warren Brawley will provide a plastic recycling bin for your used cooking oils for $7, and arrange when to pick it up based on the amount of oil generated. Or you can drop it off at Green Grease in a plastic container. Either way, it’s better than eventually throwing it in the trash.
“Everytime you buy something,” says Elmore, “you really should be thinking about how you’re eventually going to dispose of it.”
Not all garbage is suitable for consumer composting. Recycling and composting regulations differ. Know your city and county’s regulations. For more information, go to www.georgia.uscity.net
/Recycling_Centers or www.earth911.com or www.gacompost.org. Contact Green Grease at 678-754-4887 or 404-447-2217.
Click here to go to original article
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Pipe-clogging cooking oil recycled into eco-friendly fuel
By David Kernodle, News 14, Nov. 27, 2009
click here for news video
CHARLOTTE -- Black Friday isn't just a busy day for shoppers. Plumbers often spend the day clearing pipes clogged with discarded oil from Thanksgiving dinner.
But there are alternatives to dumping it down the drain. Charlotte Energy Solutions owner Mark Englander collects, refines, repurposes and eventually resells any and all old cooking oil -- most commonly for fuel.
“Five gallon jugs for $1.50 a gallon,” he said.
Englander says demand for recycled cooking oil for fuel purposes is so high he can hardly keep up. One of his customers, Vince DiFrancesco, brought in two containers, about four gallons, of leftover cooking oil from Thanksgiving, and less than 10 minutes later, a buyer was in line to ready to fuel his car.
The Charlotte Energy Solutions cooking oil drop-off site is located at 337 Baldwin Avenue, near uptown Charlotte.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Resorts work to reduce waste, increase recycling
By Pamela LeBlanc, statesman.com, Nov. 22, 2009
VAIL, Colo. — Worms that eat coffee grounds. Old motor oil that heats workshops. Patio furniture made of recycled milk jugs.
Colorado ski resorts are going beyond standard recycling in an effort to green up their industry — and lure skiers and snowboarders concerned about the impact their sport is having on the mountains they love.
Sometimes it's hard to reconcile our ski-loving, traveling side with the side that cringes at the environmental effect of all those people on the snowy slopes and the travel we do to get there. On one hand, you're gliding past pristine, snow-frosted pines, sucking crisp mountain air into your lungs and bursting with love for the outdoors. Then you sit down for an hour at an on-mountain restaurant and watch heaps of napkins, disposable silverware and plastic cups get tossed in the garbage can.
Click here to read the full article
What's on the horizon for eco-friendly products?
By Heidi Thorne, The Business Ledger, Nov. 21, 2009
The eco-friendly product world continues to evolve. Since staying on top of what’s happening in this arena is critical for my business, I thought I’d share with you some of the trends that I see emerging:
Plastics that safely degrade/biodegrade
Since petroleum-based plastics can have life spans that run into millennia, I think we will see a preference for degradable and biodegradable products that don’t add to the billions of tons of waste plastic already in existence.
You might ask why we can’t just recycle all that plastic. The answer is that we can, but the levels of participation in recycling are still very low.
Let’s take plastic bags for example. The Worldwatch Institute reports that each year Americans “throw away” about 100 billion plastic bags; only 0.6 percent is recycled.
Click here to read the full article
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Where To Take Thanksgiving Cooking Oil?
The green way to dispose of used cooking oil
Charlotte Energy Solutions, is accepting used cooking oil for recycling purposes.
Drop it off at our location day or night.
337 Baldwin Ave.
Charlotte, NC 28204
(704) 333-4358 or mark@charlotteenergysolutions.com
Thinking of making fried turkey this Thanksgiving? Thousands of Charlotteans do each year and some would argue it's the only way to go, but clean-up can be troublesome. Luckily, there are many options for how to dispose of the remaining cooking oil.
Cooking oils can usually be used multiple times when used for deep-frying. Simply strain the left-over oil to remove any batter pieces or other debris, place the oil in a clean, sealable plastic container and use it again.
Small amounts of cooking oil can also be combined with organic materials for composting, or soaked into shredded paper and discarded in the trash.
With 3 to 5 gallons of cooking oil, however, it isn't practical to simply toss it into the trash -- and forget about pouring it down the drain!
Cooking oil and grease poured down drains can build up in pipes causing backups at home, in municipal water systems, and wreak havoc on sewage treatment. Dumping into a storm drain is even worse, because all that grime will flow directly into lakes, rivers and oceans and pollute natural habitats.
Instead, large quantities of oil can be recycled and turned into other products -- including biodiesel fuel.
We are centrally located near downtown Charlotte between the two hospitals at
Charlotte Energy Solutions
337 Baldwin Ave,
Charlotte, NC 28204
(704) 333-4358
mark@charlotteenergysolutions.com
www.CharlotteEnergySolutions.com
Carolina Green FoodService Supply - Biodegradable, compostable, & sustainable foodservice packaging & restaurant supplies.
http://carolinagreensupply.com
