Tags: recycling

Researchers in India have been able to turn solid textile mill sludge into nutrient-rich compost in a 6-month experiment using vermicomposting and manure, according to a report published in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution. The process resulted in increased nitrogen and phosphorous content, both important for plant growth.

An event this Saturday on Staten Island invites artists to bring leftover ideas and pieces of work to an afternoon of collaborative dada production.  Day de Dada is August 1st from 1:00 to 4:00 on Van Duzer Street between Wright and Beach Streets, Staten Island. 

Starting January 1, Washington D.C. will be taxing shoppers 5 cents for every disposable paper or plastic bag in an effort to encourage bag reuse.  The tax revenue will go toward cleaning up the District’s Anacostia River.  The move follows San Francisco’s full-on ban of plastic shopping bags and L.A.’s

Steve Cohen’s Consilience editorial on New York City waste management offers some good examples of how other cities deal with their garbage and offers some alternative proposals for our current system, with a focus on composting.  He calls out the Lower East Side Ecology Center, which we’ve mentioned before, for its efforts to reduce the 47% of landfill waste that could otherwise be composted in New York City.

The Hugo Neu Metals Recycling Facility, in the Hunt’s Point area of the Bronx, is getting a stormwater management makeover. The Gaia Institute’s new system for the 6.5-acre facility recycles stormwater that would otherwise run off into the Bronx River Estuary.

Andy Lubershane’s weekly series Earthly Comics works to unpack environmental topics that can be difficult to understand: walkability; pervious concrete; cellulosic ethanol.  Not the stuff of Marmaduke, but it does break some complicated ideas down into digestible chunks, and it’s pretty lighthearted.

Good Magazine has created a simple, comprehensible primer on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the heinously enormous constellation of trash that covers about 10 percent of the Pacific Ocean.

(via unconsumption)

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Some required viewing for anyone concerned with consumption habits: The Story of Stuff.  The 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled story takes you on a provocative tour of our consumer-driven culture.  From resource extraction through sale, use and disposal, the video looks at all the stuff in our lives and how it affects communities at home and abroad.

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Waste? is a new web documentary series featuring people whose livelihoods capitalize on what gets thrown away: canners scouring the streets for redeemables; engineers powering their breweries with waste water; architects constructing homes out of tires.  The series explores what motivates this type of reuse: worldviews, necessity, bottom lines. 

The construction industry produces an estimated 164 million tons of building-related waste per year, making it the single largest contributor to landfills in the US–about 20% of stateside landfill waste is construction debris.  Worldchanging reports that do-it-yourself enthusiasts in England are testing a new business model that would reclaim almost 12% of England’s construction waste by reselling materials at ”ReIY’ (Reuse It Yourself) centers. 

Electronic waste contains some pretty dangerous stuff and is best kept out of landfills.  Starting in 2010, disposal of electronics with your regular trash will be illegal in New York City, and any resident who throws electronics into their trash will be charged a $100 fine. 

Will the trash and recycling slump in China impact recycling programs here in the West? The New York Times looks at the failing recycling industry in China and the ripple effects felt here at home.

The slide show accompanying the story is also pretty illustrative.