Sustainable Products

How Green Will the London Olympics Be?

The 2012 Olympic games in London will be one of the greenest Olympics yet. Organizers say sustainability is at the core of the games – everything from the venues to the food provided for the world’s most elite athletes.

Starting with the venues, many places where the athletes will compete were already in place such as the Wimbledon courts. Public transportation has been significantly beefed up for athletes and travelers. And, new bike and walking routes and paths have been added across London. Olympic organizers have also been hard at work to make sure much of the food is sustainably sourced and minimum packaging is used.

Organizers have also created what they call a revolutionary new system to deal with the waste left behind from all the incoming people – pledging to keep it all from the landfills during the games.

To see more about the eco-friendly efforts surrounding the 2012 games, check out this video.

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Nike's New Green Shoe

For years now, Nike has been striving to make their products more eco-friendly. Their newest shoe is part of their ‘Better World’ initiative and in manufactured in a greener way. This is the Nike Flyknit shoe and is made differently than most other sneakers. It has a minimal design, is lightweight, and the upper piece is actually one piece instead of several cut pieces from different materials. The shoe is expected to be on store shelves in July. And, be sure to check out this Do Your Part video to see Nike does with old running shoes and how you can join the effort.

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A Wind Farm Without The Blades

Take a look at this! It’s a proposed wind farm that’s probably unlike any wind farm you’ve seen. Discovery News is showcasing a new design by Atelier DNA which has come up with a concept that does away with the traditional blades in favor of what looks more like stalks. These stalks capture energy when they are blown by the wind and that energy is stored in batteries at the base of the stalk. The design created for a proposed no vehicle park site in Abu Dhabi. Among the potential benefits are less noise pollution and less chance of injury for wildlife and birds in the area.

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IKEA's Big Solar Plans

IKEA is making big news but it’s not for anything they’re selling. In fact, it’s for something you’ll only be able to see from above. 85% of IKEA’s stores in the United States will soon be generating energy from solar panels on the stores’ rooftops. CleanEnergyAuthority.com reports the Swedish company is working to have solar panels operating on 38 of its 44 stores by this summer.


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Bridges Made From Recycled Plastic

Image Credit: Vertech Composites

Commuters in North Carolina and Wales are the first to drive over two eco-friendly and innovative bridges. The bridges are made from recycled plastic waste made strong enough to support heavy traffic. The world’s first recycled plastic bridge opened in Fort Bragg, North Carolina a few months ago. 94 percent of the material used to make the bridge is recycled, including glass and about 85,000 pounds of high-density polyethylene plastic. That’s the same as half-a-million one gallon plastic milk jugs. The U.S. Army Environmental Command says the bridge not only diverts waste from the landfill, it also resists rot and damaging insects without chemical treatments.

In Europe, engineers have just completed a similar bridge made from recycled water bottles and sandwich containers. The bridge crossing the river Tweed in Wales was installed in just four days after being constructed off-site. The bridge in Wales was designed by U.K. based company Vertech Composites. Because it is made from plastic the company says the recycled bridge will never rust or require regular maintenance or painting. Vertech says the bridge is expected to last 50 years which would result in a savings of $300 dollars per square foot compared with bridges made with traditional materials.

Vertech hopes to make its recycled thermoplastic products more widely available as a replacement for timber, laminated products and other virgin materials. CEO of Vertech, William Mainwaring, says “With this unique technology we can now recycle it ourselves to produce increasingly sought after high quality and sustainable construction materials for the European market.”

 

 

 

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Luxury Designer Creates Eco-Shoe

Photo Credit: Women's Wear Daily

Renowned footwear designer Manolo Blahnik is adding some green to his shoe designs. Blahnik is creating two eco-friendly shoe styles made from sustainable materials. The footwear giant is teaming up with sustainable designer Marcia Patmos to create the shoes which will be made entirely of discarded tilapia skins, raffia and cork .

Patmos tells Women’s Wear Daily,  “I am always researching sustainable materials and developments. I love the idea of tilapia skin because it is a by-product of the food industry that would otherwise be discarded, but it’s actually a beautiful material perfect for small leather goods. I love bringing the idea of sustainability into the luxury market, it doesn’t have to be limited to T-shirts and grocery bags.”

One design is a double-strap, open-toe, flat sandal while the other is a high-heel style. Both shoes will come in nude, yellow, black and electric blue. The shoes will retail for $895 dollars and be available in the spring.

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Huge Energy Potential In Landfill Plastic

 

There is real value in some of the garbage that ends up in landfills. A new study says if all of the plastic sent to the dump was instead turned into energy, it could power more than 5 million homes every year. The Columbia University study found that while plastics recycling is on the rise, 85 percent of plastic waste ends up in landfills. The study also found if petroleum-based plastics were sent to a plant that converts plastics into fuel oil, enough fuel would be produced to power six million cars for a year.

Authors of the study say capturing energy from plastics and other waste makes sense because it provides a good domestic source of energy with minimal impact on the environment. In the U.S., plastics are primarily made from natural gas but the study says new technologies in other countries are turning non-recycled plastics into crude oil, electricity and other fuels.

The study also broke down how much plastic is being recycled and how much is being sent to the landfill in each state. Connecticut has the best record with a recovery rate of 65 percent that includes both recycling and waste-to-energy conversion. Columbia researchers say as the U.S. looks for alternative fuel sources, research like this is crucial to helping identify alternative energy for policy makers.

 

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Plastic Bag Bans Growing Across U.S.

October 19, 2011

The first plastic bag ban in the state of Oregon just went into effect. The city of Portland is banning plastic bags at all major grocery and drug stores. Shoppers are encouraged to bring reusable bags although paper bags will still be available. Many stores are offering shoppers alternatives at a small price such as a thicker reusable bag for ten cents. The city is spending about $10,000 dollars on ads for buses and radio encouraging shoppers to bring reusable bags when they go shopping. The city is also giving away thousands of bags through social service agencies.

Aspen, Colorado also just voted to ban the use of plastic bags. Grocery stores will also be required to charge twenty cents for shoppers to use paper bags. Boulder is another city that may be moving toward a ban. The movement started with a group of students from local schools who lobbied the city council to consider a ban or a fee on plastic bag use. The students belong to the Net Zero Club and the Colorado Daily reports their idea has been included in the city’s Zero Waste Master Plan. The city council is considering three options: putting a fee on disposable paper or plastic bags, a ban on plastic bags or a ban on plastic bags with a fee on paper bags.Two other cities in Colorado are looking at plastic bag regulation. The town council of Basalt approved a plan to charge a fee for plastic bags at grocery stores. In Carbondale, officials are leaning toward a ban on plastic bags rather than a fee.

Supporters of plastic bag bans say they have a major environmental impact. In the state of California alone, residents use 12 billion plastic bags every year. Because the bags are so light they float into water and never biodegrade. They are often broken into smaller pieces that are harmful to sensitive marine life.

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Thrift Stores Thrive at Halloween

October 12, 2011

If you’re looking for an eco-friendly and cost effective option for Halloween costumes, check out your local thrift store. Second-hand shops like Goodwill do a bulk of their business around this time of year and provide a treasure trove of ideas. Goodwill Industries says 10 to 20 percent of its business occurs around the Halloween season. It’s estimated Americans spent nearly $6 billion dollars on Halloween costumes, decorations and treats last year. And each year, an increasingly large portion of that is going to thrift stores.

There are more than 30,000 resale, consignment and thrift stores in the United States. Goodwill Industries says Halloween sales accounted for a good portion of its $2.3 billion dollar store revenue last year and October has the most sales of any month. Year round, Goodwill diverts 3.4 billion pounds of usable goods from the trash and landfill. Goodwill even has a Halloween Headquarters page on its website with ideas of how to create your own costume with second-hand clothing and accessories.

Halloween shoppers at Goodwill are also investing in the community since 90 cents of every dollar generated funds job training programs for the disabled and disadvantaged. Goodwill says many shoppers continue the eco-friendly cycle and donate the clothes or costumes they bought back to the store.

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New Products Made Out of Old Carpet

October 4, 2011

It’s estimated nearly five billion pounds of carpet was sent to U.S. landfills in 2003 alone. Carpet stores and recycling companies are teaming up to help put a dent in that number by turning old carpet into new products. The world’s largest carpet manufacturer, Shaw, is partnering with local recycling companies to create a carpet collection network throughout the country. The company expects to collect more than 300 million pounds of carpet waste every year. The company also uses an ‘Evergreen Nylon Recycling’ program which converts used Nylon 6 carpet back to its original starting material.

Another major U.S. flooring company recently announced a new carpet and padding recycling program. Empire Today is partnering with the Carpet America Recovery Act to collect and recycle the old carpet removed by its carpet installers. A pilot program testing the idea collected more than six million pounds of carpet and padding to be recycled. The recycling program is currently operating in 25 communities and will continue to expand throughout the year.

The title of the first zero-waste carpet store in Michigan just went to Cash-n-Carry flooring in Traverse City. The store is recycling all of the used carpet it collects from homes and businesses through the Carpet Landfill Elimination and Recycling company, or CLEAR. CLEAR turns recycled carpet into everything from new carpet and cushion to picnic tables and automobile parts.

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