In the wake of bans on U.S. exports of contaminated recyclables, many U.S. recycling programs cut back or eliminated entire categories of recyclable materials that they accept. The reasons are often economic; it’s simply not as profitable to recycle the material as before, because China paid for boatloads of materials. U.S. recycling firms had started re-calibrating their business to recycle […]
Kobe Nagar, CEO of Durham, North Carolina-based 374Water, explains the company’s compact wastewater processing technology, the Supercritical Water Oxidation (AirSCWO) system. Operating the system generates energy, industrial CO2, nitrogen gases that can be used in manufacturing, distilled water, and minerals extracted from wastewater, making it extremely affordable as a solution for many water treatment uses. The smallest version fits in […]
Much has been written about last week’s Greenpeace report decrying the state of plastic recycling. Our recycling system is not just broken but considered a joke, a defeatist view that will cost us in the long run if we abandon the idea of recycling. Indeed, at a meeting of climate professionals in Seattle last week, several people told me “recycling […]
Discover how our food production and even our yards and gardens can play a role in reducing CO2 levels. We’re joined by Ben Cloud, CEO of Biodel Ag Inc., a Maricopa, Arizona, company that recently introduced Sequester, a soil treatment that restores the soil’s ability to capture and hold CO2 that also promotes improved plant growth. Sequester is available for […]
To honor Earth Day’s 52 years of environmental action, Earth911 is presenting 52 Actions for the Earth. Each week through Earth Day 2023, we will share an action you can take to invest in the Earth and make your own life more sustainable. Individual action is necessary to stop climate change, but it is not enough. Industry and governments must […]
Robert Pasin, chief wagon of Radio Flyer, discusses the benefits and process of becoming a B Corp. Radio Flyer makes, in addition to the wagons we know from our childhoods, tricycles, scooters, inflatables, adult e-bikes, and a suite of Tesla electric toy vehicles. It became the first global toy and e-bike brand to become a certified B Corp., the emerging […]
Alice Bodreau, strategic partners manager for Europe at the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, joins Mitch Ratcliffe to discuss the new Circular Economy Glossary. She led the development of the glossary in partnership with IKEA to help provide a common language for different industries to explore and activate the circular economy. We wanted to learn more about their approach to building circular […]
Heading up coffee purchasing at Equator Coffees, a company focused on quality, sustainability, and social responsibility, I often field the question, “What coffee should I buy to ensure the farmers are getting a fair deal?” This sort of question could easily expand into a dissertation about the complexities of commodities trading, currency speculation, and the likelihood of rain in Brazil, […]
Few things are as pleasant as spending a quiet autumn morning on the porch with a cup of coffee, listening to wind rustle the leaves on the trees, and watching as they drift to the ground. Except the roar of a leaf blower somewhere in the neighborhood nearly always destroys that scenario. Our quest to create tidy, visually pleasing landscapes […]
This article is the second in a six-part series that explores how we get our electricity and what we need to know about how renewable — and non-renewable — electric power is generated. After a century of growth — and destruction — powered by fossil fuels, most of us realize that we need to wean ourselves off this limited and polluting […]