From eWeek, 15 Oct. 2007
The article presents steps to achieve sustainable information technology (IT), and provides developments related to electronic waste (e-waste) management in the U.S. The steps include the reduction and the reuse of e-waste, the minimization of energy consumption, and the prohibition of toxic materials. The author emphasizes that IT companies must create a recycling plan that will address equipment obsolescence. She suggests that IT managers must consider the use of low-power hardware whenever possible.
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Wednesday, January 23, 2008
"IT Planner: 5 Steps to Green IT."
"Sculpting New Uses for Society's Scraps"
From Waste news, 17 Sept. 2007
Program focuses on turning waste into works of art
Junkyard artists are not hard to find, nor are most of their works, but a San Francisco area sculptor is using hazardous waste to create pieces that don't resemble junk. Ellen Babcock uses polystyrene foam and layers of discarded construction sealants to sculpt works mimicking marble and agate. But she's not copying the media for lack of materials. Rather, through her pieces she seeks to draw attention to the scarring rock quarries leave on the earth, as well as the resources needed to mine and ship marble, quartz and other such material. "I'm more aware than ever that what we choose to use and throw away has impact on the earth," Babcock said. "That's our mission, basically, to encourage folks to recycle more, conserve resources and have fun and support the local arts community," she said.
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"To Incinerate or Not to Incinerate"
From Alternatives Journal, 2007
The article presents a debate between Richard Gilbert and Mark Winfield concerning the significance of incineration. Gilbert believed that incinerating waste is a better environmental solution than landfilling. He suggested that the waste management system's objective should be to lessen material flows and potential waste. He pointed out that high costs for incineration and landfill can be good if they shorten material flows and encourage or support recycling. Winfield argued that the widespread incineration would not eradicate the need for landfill. This suggests that debate presentation as incineration versus landfill is misleading. He agreed to Gilbert's view that increasing the cost of waste disposal will improve the economic diversion viability.
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"Landfill-on-Sea"
From Ecologist, Sept. 2007
Old plastic rubbish doesn't die - it just gets tossed away in far-off places that we rarely get to see. Daisy Dumas assesses its impact on the world's largest floating landfill - the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
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"New Breed of Recycling Plant to Re-use All Waste and Make Landfill History"
From New Scientist, 10 October 2007
While most waste-treatment plants consider this mess too wet, sticky and smelly to recycle, these new plants plan to reclaim between 25 and 80 per cent of the paper, glass, plastics, steel, aluminium and lead that misses the recycling bin. They will also make use of the organic-rich "goo" from food, gardening, wood and paper, which makes up about 50 per cent of household rubbish. As a result, just 30 per cent -- and ultimately, as little as 15 per cent -- of all household waste will become landfill, compared to around 50 per cent under conventional recycling.
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"Johnson & Johnson's Redesigns Go for Green"
From Plastics News, 5 Nov. 2007
Johnson & Johnson is embracing new ideas in its packaging, including an emphasis on post-consumer recycled content for the plastic used in some of its iconic brands. The firm is launching a new bottle for its Johnson's baby shampoo that uses post-consumer PET, said chief design officer Chris Hacker during an Oct. 19 presentation at the Connecting'07 World Design Congress in San Francisco.
And baby shampoo bottle is not J&J's only product going green. There is recycled content in packaging for its Aveeno and Neutrogena skin-care brands as well, and a corporate environmental initiative that is tackling issues from recycling office paper to reducing carbon dioxide and overall waste.
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"Coke Goes for Greener Image with $44M Recycling Plant"
From USA Today, 9 June 2007
Coca-Cola announced Wednesday that it will pour $44 million into its first U.S. plastic-bottle-recycling plant as part of a larger $60 million effort to give the company a "greener" environmental image. "It's important to consumers, it's important to our system and our employees, and it's the right thing to do," says Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America.
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"Economics of Recycling"
From Rock Products, Oct. 2007 -- Click On PDF Full Text for the complete article
The article focuses on the production of marketable product from reclaimed building materials in the U.S. According to the article, most reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) used in the country comes from somewhere besides the standalone aggregate producer. An uneasy peace between virgin aggregates and the recycled aggregates is accounted. It has been claimed that 140 million tons of concrete are recycled in the U.S. each year.
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"Land Applied Biosolids Restore Disturbed Rangelands"
From BioCycle, Sept. 2007 - click on PDF Full Text for complete article
The article examines the potential of land applying aerobically digested biosolids to improve the forage and soil quality at disturbed rangelands in the U.S. The author explains that treated municipal sewage sludge or biosolids is a valuable and inexhaustible resource for restoring the vigor of disturbed rangelands. He further claims that biosolids represent a low cost source of organic matter as well as provide buffering capacity when land applied. Moreover, biosolids land application on arid or semi-arid rangelands poses little threat to groundwater resources in areas with adequate groundwater depths.
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"Zero Waste Plan for Vermont Sold Waste District"
From BioCycle, October 2007 - click on PDF Full Text for complete article
This program comprised the collection of organics from businesses, schools and residents for composting. It was established in 1984 and had provided recycling, composting and management programs for 22 rural communities. The state's initial goal was to divert 50 percent of its waste from landfills by 2005 and it started collecting organics in April 2004 after the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation gave $21,055 grant in June 2003.
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"'Endocrine Disruptor' Won't be on the Label But Avoiding Chemicals Is Not Impossible. "
From USA Today, 31 October 2007
Though scientists, environmentalists and manufacturers probably will debate the dangers of chemicals in popular products for years to come, many consumers wonder what they can do today to make "greener" choices at the store. The Food and Drug Administration doesn't require companies to study whether products contain chemicals such as endocrine disruptors. These chemicals -- which include preservatives called parabens that are found in many shampoos and conditioners -- act like hormones and are linked to reproductive and development problems in infants.
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"Wash and Aware"
from Progressive Grocer, 1 April 2007.
Growing consumer interest is beginning to convince some traditional grocers of the opportunity in green cleaners.
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"clean up YOUR ACT"
from Vegetarian Times March 2007
Natural spick-and-span options are better than ever, so say goodbye to toxic chemicals in cleaning products
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"Greener Computers"
Article in Mother Earth News, Apr/May 2007
Discusses what you need, what you don't, how to save and how to recycle an old machine.
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Handbook of Pollution Control and Waste Minimization
Discusses factory and trade waste, waste minimization, and pollution prevention.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Extraordinary Chemistry of Ordinary Things
Shows how chemistry affects our lives. * To emphasize the experimental basis of chemistry, chapters begin with demonstrations that readers can perform for themselves. * Think, Speculate, Reflect, and Ponder sections include questions that ask readers to think critically about the connections between chemistry, society, and individual values.
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Garbage and Recycling: Opposing Viewpoints
Reference material answers pro and con such questions as
"How Do Political and Social Systems Affect Garbage Disposal?"
"Is Recycling Environmentally and Economically Successful?"
"Do Specific Types of Waste Pose a Threat?"
"Can New Technologies Solve Waste Problems?"
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Wiley Encyclopedia of Energy and the Environment
Reference encyclopedia includes an introduction to energy production and use and their impact on the environment. This encyclopedia offers an easily accessible treatment of energy-related topics and their impact on the environment. Feature articles on all important aspects of energy production, use, and environmental impact are arranged alphabetically by subject. Discussions include legal and policy issues as well as technological and environmental concerns. Photos, figures, and tables help illustrate major points, clarify difficult material, and summarize important data.
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Pollution: Opposing Viewpoints
Reference book -- debates several controversial questions, including whether various forms of pollution continue to be a serious problem, whether pollution poses a public health threat, and what policies and programs will best reduce pollution.
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Recycling Sourcebook: A Guide to Recyclable Materials, Case Studies, Organizations, Agencies, and Publications
Reference sourcebook: The first half contain 28 essays by experts on various aspects of recycling, grouped by ``Recycling Materials,'' ``Recycling in the Community,'' ``Recycling in Institutions,'' and ``Recycling in the Home.'' The second half is a directory of over 4000 recycling agencies, organizations, publications, funding sources, research centers, and regional collection agencies. In addition, there is a glossary and an appendix listing certified products and materials.
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Macmillian Encyclopedia of the Environment
Reference encyclopedia -- provides basic information about such topics as minerals, energy resources, pollution, soils and erosion, wildlife and extinction, agriculture, the ocean, wilderness, hazardous wastes, population, environmental laws, ecology, and evolution.
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Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy
Reference encyclopedia provides a snapshot of the history and science of energy production, conservation, and use. Multidisciplinary in scope, the 253 signed and illustrated articles cover topics ranging from biofuels and bicycles to steam engines and thermodynamics. The work ends with a energy time line that puts major events in the history of energy into context.
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McGraw-Hill Recycling Handbook
Reference handbook offers an overview of recycling, including the current laws that govern recycling, the strategic goals of recycling programs, and the need to boost public awareness of the value of recycling. The handbook examines a wide range of recyclable materials--from papers, plastics, and cans to construction and demolition materials and household wastes. For each material, it discusses collection and separation procedures, costs, the potential for re-use, the projected market, and problems and solutions. Numerous illustrations highlight the technology used in creating an integrated system of waste management.
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Environmental Encyclopedia
Some 1,300 alphabetically arranged articles relevant to the broad field of environmental studies, the signed entries are written in plain language by contributors with scientific background as well as versatile freelance writers (all are identified). Entries range in length from a single paragraph defining a term (e.g. adaptation, acute effects, permeable, rain shadow) to several pages on processes and the significance of, for example biomass fuel, earthquakes, famines, ocean dumping, and solid waste. The second volume appends a historical chronology, a chronology of environmental legislation in the US, a listing of organizations, and a general index.
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Encyclopedia of World Environmental History
Reference encyclopedia on human ecology and the effect of human beings on the environment, tracing the interaction of humankind and nature over the course of history. Over 500 signed articles by international scholars, which vary in length from one to ten pages, cover such general topics as climate, law and regulation, nations and regions, places and events, deceased environmentalists, and religion. Black-and-white maps and photographs accompany the text, as do sidebars that feature extracts from historical documents, environmental literature, and religious traditions. Each entry has a bibliography.
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Encyclopedia of Environment and Society
Reference encyclopedia on social ecology, human ecology, and environmental aspects of social change.
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Toxic Waste Sites: An Encyclopedia of Endangered America
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated over 12,000 hazardous waste sites in the United States. Exclusive from these are 1,299 "Superfund" sites, or National Priority Listings, that are considered to be the worst in America. Each entry gives a brief history of the site, its pollutants, and remediation efforts. Entries also include references to government publications, as well as addresses, if available, to write to for further information. The book also includes an informative overview, glossary, over 50 maps, and a table of contaminants.
In Reference Area
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Conservation and Environmentalism: An Encyclopedia
Reference encyclopedia on conservation of natural resources and environmental protection and sciences
Reference Book
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Encyclopedia of Environmental Studies
Reference encyclopedia on environmental engineering and environmental protection, emphasizing pollution and ecology.
Reference Book
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Thursday, January 17, 2008
WasteWise Update
The WasteWise Update is the Environmental Protection Agency's WasteWise program's principal technical assistance periodical. Each WasteWise Update details a single waste reduction strategy and provides case studies of organizations that have successfully implemented that strategy.
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13101 Reasons to Reduce Your Solid Waste
The brochure for the WasteWise program from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which can help minimize federal agencies' waste while maximizing cost-effect operations.
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Calling All Cell Phones: Collection, Reuse, and Recycling Programs in the U.S.
Discusses recycling of cell phones and other electronic devises.
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Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash
Before the twentieth century, trash was nearly nonexistent. Strasser paints a vivid picture of an America where everything possible was reused: scavenger pigs roamed the streets, "swill children" collected kitchen garbage, and peddlers traded manufactured goods for rags and bones. Over the last hundred years, however, Americans have become hooked on disposability, fashion, and constant technological change, and the rise of mass consumption has led to waste on a previously unimaginable scale. Waste and Want recaptures a hidden part of our social history, vividly illustrating that what we throw away defines us as much as what we keep.
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Rubbish!: Dirt on Our Hands and Crisis Ahead
Discusses the social aspects, history, and management of refuse disposal.
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Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage
It is from the discards of former civilizations that archaeologists have reconstructed most of what we know about the past, and it is through their examination of today's garbage that William Rathje and Cullen Murphy inform us of our present. Rubbish! is their investigation into all aspects of the phenomenon of garbage. Rathje and Murphy show what the study of garbage tells us about a population's demographics and buying habits. Along the way, they dispel the common myths about our "garbage crisis" -- about fast-food packaging and disposable diapers, about biodegradable garbage and the acceleration of the average family's garbage output. They also suggest methods for dealing with the garbage we do have.
Discusses the University of Arizona's Garbage Project and other research in refuse disposal.
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Ethics of Waste: How We Relate to Rubbish
Discusses environmental responsibility, waste minimization, and the moral and ethical aspects of refuse disposal
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Filth: Dirt, Disgust, and Modern Life
Historical information about waste management and urban health in London and Paris in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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fat of the Land: the Garbage of New York -- The Last Two Hundred Years
Once a director of policy planning for the city's Department of Sanitation, environmental policy adviser Miller traces the history of garbage in New York from the earliest collectors through the 19th-century barons trading in fertilizer and explosives to the current feuding bureaucrats and disease. He includes social and scientific theories of class and disease.
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Environmental and Health Impact of Solid Waste Management Activities
Discusses health and environmental aspects of refuse and refuse disposal.
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Recycling: Additional Efforts Could Increase Municipal Recycling: Report to Congressional Requesters
Discusses efforts to increase municipal recycling and Environmental Protection Agency rules and practices.
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: Response to a Recurring Environmental Circumstance
It's title says it all:
Full name: A regulatory strategy for siting and operating waste transfer stations: response to a recurring environmental circumstance : the siting of waste transfer stations in low-income communities and communities of color.
From the Environmental Protection Agency, Waste Transfer Station Working Group
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The Economics of Waste
Information about the economics aspects of refuse disposal, factory and trade waste, pollution, and recycling.
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Tribal Waste Journal
Online journal containing information about waste disposal by Native Americans
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Waste Management Observations on the Congressionally Approved New Hampshire-Vermont Solid Waste Company
This report provides information on (1) the structure and
operations of the New Hampshire-Vermont Solid Waste Project; (2)
how the project's structure and operations compare to those of
other interstate waste management projects; and (3) issues that
need to be addressed in the future, as the expiration of the
incineration contract approaches and the districts consider their
options.
From the U.S. General Accounting Office
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Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: Facts and Figures
Latest publication describing the national waste stream based on data collected from 1960 through 2006. Contains information on the benefits of recycling, as well as data on waste generation, recycling, and disposal. Has data tables that present detailed data that is produced each year. Includes a summary of methodology for developing this data.
Published yearly by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
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Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash
The book behind it all -- CGCC's OneBook for Spring 2008!
Royte tracks her trash to see where it goes.
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Urban Recycling and the Search for Sustainable Community Development
Discusses urban recycling, sustainable community development, community based recycling, and recycling practices in a variety of urban locations.
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Waste Generation, Characterization, Collection, Transfer, and Disposal
This DVD is endorsed by the EPA and hosted by Dr. John Sutherlin, of the University of New Orleans' Urban Waste management and Research Center.
The U.S. produces 200 million tons of municipal solid waste per year. Divided into two episodes, this program defines the constituent parts of the municipal solid waste stream and discusses methods of collecting, transferring, and disposing of them. The impact of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is assessed.
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Reusable News
Quarterly newsletter from the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response
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Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Resource Conservation Challenge Strategic Plan: What Can You Save Tomorrow--Five Year Plan
by the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Government
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America's Environmental Report Card: Are We Making the Grade?
Lays out the scientific facts about water and air pollution, energy, global warming, and the ozone layer with illustrations and charts a course of action for protecting the environment.
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Dell Earth
Site from Dell computers about what they are doing and what you can do to recycle computers and limit pollution.
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Washed Up: The Curious Journeys of Flotsam and Jetsam
Where does it all come from? From tennis shoes, gold doubloons, and rubber ducks to seedpods and dead whales, the ocean gives up many curious prizes. Moody walks the coast, dons her wet suit, and heads out to sea to understand the mysterious debris that accrues along the tide line. Learn about the Pacific Garbage Patch, a 200-mile swirl of current that holds everything from car parts to basketballs to kilos of heroin.
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Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers
Website of technical information about plastics for recycling and marketing by manufacturers of plastics. It also has great consumer plastic recycling tips.
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The Waste Crisis: Landfills, Incinerators, and the Search for a Sustainable Future
This book describes the magnitude and complexity of the solid waste management problem, focusing on municipal wastes (placing them in the perspective of other wastes such as hazardous, biochemical, and radioactive debris), and seeks solutions to the problem. It describes the components of an integrated waste management program, including recycling, composting, landfills, and waste incinerators, and presents in detail the scientific and engineering principles underlying these technologies.
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Arizona Recycles
Great website where you put in your zip code and find info on all kinds of recycling--like for aluminum cans, motor oil, and electronics, located near your home.
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Computers and the Environment: Understanding and Managing Their Impacts
Chapters include an introduction to computers' impact on the environment, a look at green demand and disposal, and information on recycling personal computers.
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Arizona Departmet of Environmental Quality--Waste Programs Division
This State of Arizona website has links to information on hazardous and solid waste disposal as well as many more sites.
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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saving the Environment
Simple, easy ways to make a difference. Contains an overview of the crisis facing the Earth, simple facts about what global warming means for us and for plants and animals, and practical ways to be part of the solution, not the problem. Tips on making Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle a part of life.
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American Chemistry Council--Plastics Divison
Plastic manufacturers website offering info on plastic products and recycling.
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The Extraordinary Chemistry of Ordinary Things
Has great articles including chemicals, pollution and the environment.
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Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
Revolutionary way of thinking of making stuff and reusing!
High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden toxics, and Human Health
Talks about high tech manufacturing toxins--with a special section on how to recycle your old computer!
Electronics, a new opportunity for waste prevention, reuse, and recycling
An electronic report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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