Driving is far from the most sustainable way to get around, but current trends in scientific research seem to point to a reduction in its carbon footprint thanks to an unlikely partner: food waste. First, we saw food waste finding its way into the gas tanks of British delivery trucks, and now, Ohio State University scientists have discovered a way to use food waste to partially replace the petroleum-based filler used in car tires.

This discovery responds to a rapidly escalating problem in tire manufacturing. While tires are made of rubber, about 30 percent of a typical car tire is made of carbon black, a filler that makes the rubber durable. But carbon black is problematic for a number of reasons.

This material is made with heavy petroleum products, which means that its production isn’t just unsustainable, it also requires American tire makers rely on foreign oil. Add to this the fact that carbon black has been deemed possibly carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and an alternate solution has been a long time coming.

The answer, it seems, was in uniting two sustainability issues: Katrina Cornish, an Ohio Research Scholar and Endowed Chair in Biomaterials at Ohio State, has created a new filler that replaces carbon black, made with porous, mineral-rich eggshells and heat-stable tomato peels. This new filler not only allows the rubber to stay both strong and flexible but also exceeds industrial performance standards. The added bonus: it keeps these food byproducts out of landfills.

Different studies put our national food waste at between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply, or an estimated 70 billion pounds of food every year, according to non-profit Feeding America. And while we could all do our share at cutting back on waste at home, some of the biggest food waste culprits aren’t individuals – they’re commercial producers.

According to the USDA, Americans consume nearly 100 billion eggs each year, about half of which are used by commercial food factories, and 13 million tons of tomatoes per year, most of which are canned or processed. Cornish and her team are sourcing the eggshells and tomato skins for their product from these commercial producers, cutting down on landfill waste in the process – and that’s a huge deal.

A 2012 report from the NRDC noted that only about three percent of discarded food is composted in the United States; the rest ends up in landfills, where it creates about 23 percent of U.S. methane gas emissions. Replacing carbon black with these food byproducts that would otherwise be contributing to that 23 percent improves our carbon footprint on all counts. (Just be sure to carpool, too!)

Related on EcoSalon
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Designers Turn to Food Waste to Make Upcycled Fashion

The post Scientists Send Food Waste On the Road for Good appeared first on EcoSalon.

The utterly amazing and touching Landfill Harmonic tells the story of a group of young musicians in the “Recycled Orchestra” who create music with instruments made out of trash.

All of the instruments played by the Recycled Orchestra are crafted out of the likes of water pipes, bottle caps, spoons, forks, plastic buttons and recycled wood found in the landfill near Ascuncion, Paraguay. Support the efforts of the team behind Landfill Harmonic the Movie on Kickstarter to let the story of these young musicians be shared with the world.

Back in 2009, filmmakers Alejandra Amarilla Nash and Juliana Perananda-Loftus wanted to make a film that presented the lives of underprivileged children and youth in Paraguay. Through research and experiences that proved to become valuable stories, the two ladies discovered an incredible project in the slums outside of Ascunsion (Paraguay’s capital). The Recycled Orchestra in Cateura was to become the star of their documentary to show how a “creative and simple solution can bring powerful social transformation to the poorest communities.”

Environmental technologist Favio Chavez and hidden genius/trash-picker, Nicolas Gomez, started the Recycled Orchestra when they teamed up to craft instruments made out of trash. The slums of Cateura are built on top of a landfill, which provides the main source of livelihood for the proud and vibrant people of the area. In a community where a traditional violin is worth more than a house, and collecting trash is the steadiest job available, the prospects of joining an orchestra are an incredible opportunity for the youth. As most of the families in the community have no money for real instruments, oil drums found new life as cellos and violins, water pipes and spoons as flutes and packing crates as guitars.

Having begun filming in 2010, the documentary team has continued to return to the slums in Cateura to capture the development and progress of the Recycled Orchestra. The team is now looking for additional funding to finish their Landfill Harmonic film and showcase it to the world. There are only 5 days left to reach any of their numerous goals (the highest would be to organize a world tour for the Recycled Orchestra), so check out the Kickstarter campaign to view the compelling trailer and learn the details.

The Recycled Orchestra has offered the children and teenagers in Cateura a much brighter alternative to the world of drugs and alcohol that prevail in the slums. Landfill Harmonic the Movie follows the stories of these kids and their families, bringing inspiration, humility and awareness to worldwide audiences. The team behind the film also aims to work the world’s largest Musical Instruments Museum in Scottsdale, AZ to set up a permanent exhibition of recycled musical instruments and the Recycled Orchestra. If the Kickstarter campaign is successful, there are plans to bring the Orchestra to the exhibition opening in Arizona in 2013, and around the US on a concert tour. Support this heartfelt project today – a mere $20 donation will get you a DVD of the Landfill Harmonic film, which is to be released in 2014.

Images: Landfill Harmonic

The post From Trash to Tunes: Landfill Harmonic Tells the Story of the Recycled Orchestra for Children appeared first on EcoSalon.

This is part two in our series on the Sharing Economy and how it can save money, time, and help you become more connected to your community. Part One explained how sharing services can help you save money. Today’s installment highlights some of the ways collaborative consumption can reduce waste and our impact on the planet.

We’re imprisoned in an ever growing mountain of our own waste. Streets are littered with the cast off shells of purchases we couldn’t live without. Massive houses suck up huge amounts of energy so that we can each have our own flat screen television, and enjoy 80 degree indoor temps in the middle of winter. We “need” a car for each member of the family, even though research shows that the average personal vehicle sits idle 22 hours a day. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a Texas-sized island of floating plastic debris, poisons the sea and kills marine life.

We’ve consumed our way into billions of dollars of debt, and buying more stuff, even very green stuff, isn’t the way out. Collaborative consumption allows us access to the things we need and want without assuming the burden (or carbon footprint) of ownership. When resources are shared, the total number of new things that must be produced goes down, taking related pollution and eventually landfill-bound waste, with it. Here are some more ways the sharing economy can help you achieve a zero-waste lifestyle.

1. Reduce

According to the EPA, the average passenger vehicle emits around 5.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Living without a car would be ideal, but it’s not a reality for those of us with big families or who live in sprawling suburbia. Car sharing, membership-based services that allow you rent a fleet car or your neighbor’s ride, can be a painless compromise. Studies have shown that car sharing reduces the number of cars on the road as well greenhouse gas emissions, all without forcing people into a car-free lifestyle. But if you are trying to go carless, bike sharing can ease the transition. The most popular urban bike sharing programs place bike stations at convenient locations, like outside train stations or shopping areas. This makes it easy to make short trips without hailing a cab or losing your parking spot.

2. Reuse

Few of us can commit to making our own…everything, but thanks to collaborative consumption we can gain access to the things we need without driving to a big box store to buy overpriced, over-packaged things made in China. Before assuming that you need to buy, why not check in to see if your community has what you’re looking for? There are literally hundreds of services that make it peer-to-peer rental, barter, and consignment as easy as checking your email. By swapping, you extended the lifecycle of each shared item, which means things are in use much longer before they head to the landfill.

3. Repurpose

Although it’s easy to share tangible things, like clothes, electronics, cars, but don’t think for a minute they’re the only things we can share. We can also share time, space, and perhaps most importantly, skills. Time shares are a great way to turn free time into a valuable currency that can be used to stimulate the local economy. Hacker and maker spaces are collectives for those who would rather produce than consume. Members share knowledge of beer making or woodworking or solar panel construction as well as the space and tools required to realize their projects. There are even repair cafes dedicated specifically to teaching people how to repair broken items so that they don’t get trashed just because they’re a little worn.

Image: Robert S. Donovan

The post 3 Ways to Share Your Way to A Zero-Waste Lifestyle appeared first on EcoSalon.

Oxfam and the London College of Fashion partner with Marks & Spencer to do some shwopping.

It’s always refreshing to see how far sustainable fashion has come. One needn’t search any further than the crowd at the launch of British retailer Marks & Spencer’s (M&S) new sustainable fashion initiative in East London’s Brick Lane neighborhood last week.

As vintage-clad guests sipped champagne inside, thousands of donated clothing items covered the building edifice outside, serving as a powerful visual representation of the 2 million tons of clothing that end up in British landfills each year.

Through a partnership with Oxfam and the London College of Fashion, M&S used the event to introduce the idea of “shwopping:” for every clothing item purchased in their stores, M&S wants customers to swap a donated item of any brand, which they will then pass on to British charity Oxfam. The ultimate goal is to “collect as many clothes as [M&S] sells.”

As Britain’s largest retailer, M&S launched their “Plan A” initiative in 2007, with the goal of becoming the most sustainable major retailer in the world by 2015. While the idea of shwopping addresses waste reduction, the iconic British brand – which has 21 million customers per week – is also improving its practices in the areas such as energy efficiency, packaging, food sourcing, and resource consumption.

Since 2008, when Oxfam began offering £5 vouchers to customers who donated M&S clothing to one of its many charity shops around the UK, the effort has collected 10 million unwanted garments from the wardrobes of Britons.

Despite concerns from critics that the new effort will reduce the amount of donations given to smaller charities, Leona Everitt, head of PR for OxFam, said these donations are needed now more than ever. In addition to providing inventory for Oxfam’s more than 600 hundred shops and online store, Everitt explained that clothes donated to Oxfam are also sold to foreign markets in a responsible way.

“For charity shops like OxFam, what happens during a recession is that our sales go up but our donations go down,” Everitt said. “The pieces that we can’t sell in a charity shop get sorted, recycled, or sold in a responsible way.”

Standing amid racks of clothes featuring “shwopped” pieces from various designers and celebrities, was Absolutely Fabulous actress Joanna Lumley, the public face of the shwopping campaign. Lumley, who has long been a public supporter of Oxfam, spoke about how the initiative accomplishes multiple goals: getting people to be more conscious about what they’re accumulating, reducing landfill waste, and supporting the global efforts of Oxfam.

“Fashion doesn’t suddenly have to become gloomy,” said Lumley. “But if you keep buying clothes your wardrobe will keep getting fuller and fuller. However, if you give pieces away, they will go on to have another fabulous life.”

Images: Unity PR

The post ‘Shwopping’ is Chic: Marks & Spencer’s Sustainable Fashion Launch appeared first on EcoSalon.

ExclusiveTouring St. Helena and beyond.

“He died of stomach cancer,” are nearly the first words that come out of our tour guide’s mouth. The guide, a diminutive woman of no more than four and a half feet, is adamant on this point. We’re standing in the drawing room of Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile house on one of the remotest islands in the South Atlantic. After the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was captured by the English and was exiled to St. Helena, one of only three inhabited islands in The South Atlantic Ocean. The Saints, as they are called, maintain that Napoleon’s death at age 51 was of natural causes – not of arsenic poisoning which many of the French believe – in parting, our guide might as well have said, “we really, really, really didn’t kill him…really!”

St. Helena is home to about 5,000 residents most of which live in a small town called Jamestown. This island is rarely visited by tourists, as there is no airport. Leaving or visiting the island means boarding a ship. Supplies come every six weeks by ship from South Africa.

A British Protectorate, St. Helena served as an important resupplying point for The East India Trading company in days of yore. The streets are cobblestone and the architecture British colonial. Just off the key, a mote stands in front of a castle gate that extends across the valley floor to the steep cliff sides that rise on either side of the town. Along the cliffs are decrepit bunkers and batteries used for defending Jamestown from attack. Dying of natural causes or murdered didn’t matter, Napoleon wasn’t going anywhere.

Our crew was on a stop over enroute from Walvis Bay, Namibia on our way across the Atlantic to Montevideo, Uruguay. St. Helena sits about 400 nautical miles directly north of the northeast border of The South Atlantic Gyre, the area where my crew is sailing through to study plastic pollution.

Arriving in the morning, we swam from our ship waiting for customs and immigration to clear us. From the deck I spotted a massive Whale Shark cruising the anchorage. Standing on the bow-sprit of our sailing vessel, Sea Dragon, I could see her speckles, her leviathan, ponderous bulk, wallowing in the clear cerulean water below. Witnessing such creatures in a place known to few on the planet is to enter another dimension, one more like the place a child’s mind manifests when in enthralled in a fantastical storybook.

It’s at these moments nature makes me present, illuminating for me the phantasmagorical industry that she really is, that she wants to be, if we just let her. A degree of respect pays for itself in aesthetic truth and bounty preserved. Conservation itself is an investment in the bank of wonder. For me, everyday on the sea conjures such revelations. It’s truly a gift to be 37-years-old and feel my baseline notion of purity deepening, when many believe the world is or already has gone to shit. 24-hour news cycles be damned. Give me mother ocean, a stiff breeze, dawn and dusk. I will navigate my own way.

I was off to the landfill and to the one beach to look at washed up plastic. Yes, our taxi driver was surprised. There are few taxis on the island and typically they’re only used for tours. There is nowhere else to go than Jamestown. To me, seeing waste from a community of 5,000 people who consume products of the modern world in a limited space is a fascinating enterprise. It’s akin to geneticists studying pure bloodlines of indigenous peoples. Self-reliance and limited space can often make proper waste management not a moral responsibility but a practical need.

The dump was better than many I’ve seen. One of the things I look at as a plastic pollution researcher is how the stuff enters the ocean. Often, island landfills will be situated just adjacent the sea where winds will blow a river of plastic trash out at the same break-neck speed with which humans consume it. St. Helena’s was no different than other islands with regard to how its landfill was sited, but I could tell by how the tree line leaned that the dominant wind was onshore and constant under-tilling of the earth stopped the vast majority of blow-trash from entering the ocean. However, the location was atop of what would be a watershed when the rains came.

It’s a funny concept, burying trash that doesn’t biodegrade. It’s not really going anywhere. There is no “away” in “throwaway” as they say. Living on a small island reminds you of that immediately. The plastic buried here are the dinosaur bones of tomorrow. And to tomorrow the anchor comes up and the quest continues. South America, here I come. How dirty are you?

Editor’s Note: This is part 12 in a special series. Voyage with Stiv and catch the exclusive each week here at EcoSalon during his months-long journey into the heart of the South Atlantic Gyre and beyond.
Images: Stiv Wilson

The post Garbage, Saints and Whale Sharks of The South Atlantic appeared first on EcoSalon.

But that time capsule has an impact.

The average American produces a little over 4 pounds of trash per day, and although we might be diligent about separating our recyclables, once the garbage truck comes along, to us, our waste is out of sight and out of mind. While we return to the house with an empty garbage can, our waste takes off on a journey for the landfill, where mountains of trash pile up to be pushed around by bulldozers and circled by vultures in the air.

Where does your trash go?

We rounded up a list of the top 10 biggest landfills, just to show the ultimate impact of our everyday waste. According to Waste & Recycling News, these are the biggest landfills, based upon tonnage received in 2007. Here are some interesting facts about these places, including some very uplifting ones (really).

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1. Apex, Las Vegas, Nevada. 3,824,814 tons.

America’s largest landfill, Apex, lies just an hour north of Sin City. Storing nearly 50 million tons of rotting trash, Apex is no small operation. Surprisingly enough, things seem to be slowing down. According to General Manager Mark Clinker commercial and residential waste has actually decreased. Maybe there’s still hope?

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2. Puente Hills, Whittier, California. 3,756,718 tons.

Taking in a third of Los Angeles County’s trash, Puente Hills is a big player when it comes to waste. But talking about trash doesn’t have the same effect as seeing it. Last year, the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI), a Culver City-based think tank, sponsored a tour of Puente Hills in an effort to raise awareness about waste. Tickets sold out in minutes. But the landfill doesn’t just process waste. Puente Hills is the largest recycling location in the US, taking more than one million tons per year of recyclable materials.

Concerts

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3. Newton County Landfill Partnership, Brook, Indiana. 2,692,455 tons.

A stone’s throw from Chicago, Newton County Landfill is responsible for taking a large part of the city’s waste. Chicago residents produce about 1 million tons of trash per year.

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4. Atlantic Waste, Waverly, Virginia. 2,669,423 tons.

Virginia’s largest landfill, Atlantic Waste is owned by the trash giant, Waste Management. In 2008 the landfill was fined for some 8,000 gallons of leachate – in other words, garbage juice – which spilled into surrounding wetlands.

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5. Okeechobee, Okeechobee, Florida. 2,640,000 tons.

Surprisingly enough, visitors to Okeechobee won’t just see piles of trash, they’ll also get a view of local wildlife. Of the 4,150 acres that make up the site, 1,550 have been placed in conservation easement, offering visitors a variety of recreation and conservation related activities.

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6. Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site, Aurora, Colorado. 2,561,809 tons.

Colorado’s largest landfill, Denver Araphoe Disposal Site accepts around 12,000 tons of waste per day. But some of that trash is going to good use. In September of 2008, DADS launched its waste-to-energy system to convert methane into electricity. In partnership with the City of Denver, the system generates enough power to fuel about 3,000 homes. (Photos are from adjacent landfill site Lowry, which ceased operations in 1990 and is now part of the waste-to-energy system)

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7. El Sobrante, Corona, California. 2,173,216 tons.

Another landfill owned by Waste Management, El Sobrante works closely with the Wildlife Habitat Council to manage more than 640 acres for the benefit of 31 different species, two of which are endangered.

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8. Rumpke Sanitary, Colerain Township, Ohio. 2,128,165 tons.

Located near Cincinnati, Rumpke Sanitary brings in a lot of trash, but like other landfills, is doing its part to put some of it to good use. The landfill site hosts three methane recovery facilities that have the potential to recover approximately 15 million standard cubic feet of landfill gas daily. In total, the facilities produce enough energy to power 25,000 homes.

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9. Frank Bowerman, Irvine, California. 2,059,859 tons.

One of California’s largest landfills, Frank Bowerman also boasts the world’s first landfill gas-to-LNG plant. The plant has the capacity to produce 5,000 gallons of LNG per day, which has about the same environmental benefits as taking about 150,000 vehicles off the road per year.

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10. Columbia Ridge, Arlington Oregon. 2,050,602 tons.

Columbia Ridge processes waste from all over the Northwest, serving major cities Portland, OR and Seattle, WA.

Each week here at EcoSalon, the editors choose a post from the archives that we think you’ll love. The original post can be found here.

Images: D’Arcy Norman, Steve Marcus, Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, WM, Google, Farache, EPA, Center for Land Use Interpretation, Craig Ruttle, n6vhf, Eric Mortenson.

The post Tons of Trash: Tour America’s 10 Largest Landfills appeared first on EcoSalon.

Beyond the smell and decay, landfills are considered modern archeology sites, collections of discarded items that give clues to the lifestyles of those who used them. In fact, Harvard-trained archeologist Bill Rathje recently told the LA Times, “The best time capsule in the world is a landfill.”

But that time capsule has an impact.

The average American produces a little over 4 pounds of trash per day, and although we might be diligent about separating our recyclables, once the garbage truck comes along, to us, our waste is out of sight and out of mind. While we return to the house with an empty garbage can, our waste takes off on a journey for the landfill, where mountains of trash pile up to be pushed around by bulldozers and circled by vultures in the air.

Where does your trash go?

We rounded up a list of the top 10 biggest landfills, just to show the ultimate impact of our everyday waste. According to Waste & Recycling News, these are the biggest landfills, based upon tonnage received in 2007. Here are some interesting facts about these places, including some very uplifting ones (really).

1. Apex, Las Vegas, Nevada. 3,824,814 tons.

America’s largest landfill, Apex, lies just an hour north of Sin City. Storing nearly 50 million tons of rotting trash, Apex is no small operation. Surprisingly enough, things seem to be slowing down. According to General Manager Mark Clinker commercial and residential waste has actually decreased. Maybe there’s still hope?

2. Puente Hills, Whittier, California. 3,756,718 tons.

Taking in a third of Los Angeles County’s trash, Puente Hills is a big player when it comes to waste. But talking about trash doesn’t have the same effect as seeing it. Last year, the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI), a Culver City-based think tank, sponsored a tour of Puente Hills in an effort to raise awareness about waste. Tickets sold out in minutes. But the landfill doesn’t just process waste. Puente Hills is the largest recycling location in the US, taking more than one million tons per year of recyclable materials.

3. Newton County Landfill Partnership, Brook, Indiana. 2,692,455 tons.

A stone’s throw from Chicago, Newton County Landfill is responsible for taking a large part of the city’s waste. Chicago residents produce about 1 million tons of trash per year.

4. Atlantic Waste, Waverly, Virginia. 2,669,423 tons.

Virginia’s largest landfill, Atlantic Waste is owned by the trash giant, Waste Management. In 2008 the landfill was fined for some 8,000 gallons of leachate – in other words, garbage juice – which spilled into surrounding wetlands.

5. Okeechobee, Okeechobee, Florida. 2,640,000 tons.

Surprisingly enough, visitors to Okeechobee won’t just see piles of trash, they’ll also get a view of local wildlife. Of the 4,150 acres that make up the site, 1,550 have been placed in conservation easement, offering visitors a variety of recreation and conservation related activities.

6. Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site, Aurora, Colorado. 2,561,809 tons.

Colorado’s largest landfill, Denver Araphoe Disposal Site accepts around 12,000 tons of waste per day. But some of that trash is going to good use. In September of 2008, DADS launched its waste-to-energy system to convert methane into electricity. In partnership with the City of Denver, the system generates enough power to fuel about 3,000 homes. (Photos are from adjacent landfill site Lowry, which ceased operations in 1990 and is now part of the waste-to-energy system)

7. El Sobrante, Corona, California. 2,173,216 tons.

Another landfill owned by Waste Management, El Sobrante works closely with the Wildlife Habitat Council to manage more than 640 acres for the benefit of 31 different species, two of which are endangered.

8. Rumpke Sanitary, Colerain Township, Ohio. 2,128,165 tons.

Located near Cincinnati, Rumpke Sanitary brings in a lot of trash, but like other landfills, is doing its part to put some of it to good use. The landfill site hosts three methane recovery facilities that have the potential to recover approximately 15 million standard cubic feet of landfill gas daily. In total, the facilities produce enough energy to power 25,000 homes.

9. Frank Bowerman, Irvine, California. 2,059,859 tons.

One of California’s largest landfills, Frank Bowerman also boasts the world’s first landfill gas-to-LNG plant. The plant has the capacity to produce 5,000 gallons of LNG per day, which has about the same environmental benefits as taking about 150,000 vehicles off the road per year.

10. Columbia Ridge, Arlington Oregon. 2,050,602 tons.

Columbia Ridge processes waste from all over the Northwest, serving major cities Portland, OR and Seattle, WA.

Each week here at EcoSalon, the editors choose a post from the archives that we think you’ll love. The original post can be found here.

Images: D’Arcy Norman, Steve Marcus, Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, WM, Google, Farache, EPA, Center for Land Use Interpretation, Craig Ruttle, n6vhf, Eric Mortenson.

The post Tons of Trash: Tour America’s Largest Landfills appeared first on EcoSalon.

How often do you have to empty the trash cans around your home? If you take a trip outside to the dumpster every couple days, it’s time to examine why your garbage bins fill up so quickly. To cut down the amount of waste you send off to the landfill, here’s a list of things you shouldn’t be throwing away.

Water Bottles

Yes, they can be recycled but, with a water filter on your faucet and a reusable thermos, there’s no need for disposable water bottles. Stopping the bottle habit is one of the best things you can personally do for the environment.

Tissue Boxes

When you go to the store to restock your supply, buy refills for the boxes you already have instead. Better yet, switch to a handkerchief.

Paper Napkins

Cloth napkins are a much better choice in all regards. They’re reusable and much more stylish.

Paper Towels

Bar towels are just as effective as their disposable counterparts. Though washing cloth towels year after year may seem counter-intuitive to eco-friendly folks, in the long run it’s much better for the environment than disposables.

Razor Blades

Buy a razor sharpener to make dull blades like new again. (Whoever invented the idea of throwaway shaving razors has a special place in a melting ice cap.)

Counter Wipes

Your counters will gleam all the same when you clean them with a sponge or rag.

Paper Coffee Cups

When you swing by your favorite café for a steaming cup of joe, bring your own reusable cup. Consider purchasing personalized photo mugs for yourself and your loved ones, and spread the eco-friendly inspiration.

Cotton Balls

There’s nothing a disposable cotton ball can do that a washcloth or reusable make-up applicators can’t.

Plastic Utensils

If you’re going on a picnic, bring along a reusable flatware set.

Paper Plates

Laziness is not a sufficient excuse for using paper plates. So, when you throw a big party, suck it up and wash a massive load of dishes instead. Or, our favorite, put the kids to work!

Plastic Shopping Bags

When you go shopping, bring along a reusable tote to carry your purchases. You’ll look more stylish than you would lugging around flimsy old plastic bags, and you’ll make a non-confrontational eco statement, too.

Dryer Sheets

You can easily make your own reusable dryer sheets and kiss the disposable alternative goodbye.

Printer Cartridges

When you run out of ink, refill your printer cartridges at places like Walgreen’s or CVS instead of throwing them away and buying new ones.

Coffee Filters

Replacing disposable coffee filters with one that’s reusable will cut down your amount of daily waste.

Ziploc Bags

To keep food fresh, rinse out empty containers of cottage cheese or yogurt to store leftovers time and time again.

Swiffer Pads

Convenient? Yes. Eco-friendly? Not by a long shot. So, stick to your old-fashioned mop.

Baby Wipes

Considering how many times you have to wipe your baby’s butt every day, the environment would be better off if you used washcloths instead.

Paper Lunch Bags

Pack your lunch in a reusable bag instead of the more traditional paper alternative.

Plastic Hand Soap Dispensers

Invest in a reusable hand soap dispenser. In addition to giving your bathroom a decorative touch, it’s less expensive to refill them with bulk quantities of liquid hand soap.

Disposable Contact Lenses

As long as you take proper care of your contact lenses and clean them in solution every night, substitute disposables with non-disposables. Instead of tossing a pair after a couple weeks, they can last up to a year.

Each week here at EcoSalon, the editors choose a post from the archives that we think you’ll love. This original post can be found here.

Image: L’Enfant Terrible

The post The Top 20 Things We Throw Away (That We Shouldn’t) appeared first on EcoSalon.

Overloaded by trash, the city tries an unusual method to combat the smell. Next strategy? Perhaps recycling.

Article by Kathy Ehrich Dowd and image by Th145 via Wikimedia Commons. First published March 2010 at Tonic.com.

Stinky landfills are a bit like stinky armpits – only a whole lot bigger. And what do we do when our armpits smell a bit rank? Put on some deodorant, of course. And it seems Beijing has come up with the same solution for their foul-smelling pits of garbage.

According to Treehugger.com, the city is installing 100 giant deodorant guns at its Asuwei dump site, following smell complaints from local residents.

The high-pressure fragrance cannons reportedly spray gallons of an odor-fighting agent per minute, with a range of up to 20 feet. City officials will also cover the trash with plastic to help minimize the stench.

Although their smell-control efforts might work in the short-term, it doesn’t solve Beijing’s bigger issue: it can’t keep up with all the trash it produces. Local officials say the city of 17 million generates more than 18,000 tons of trash daily, 700 tons more than its current dumps are equipped to handle.

“All landfill and treatment sites in Beijing will be full in four years. That’s how long it takes to build a treatment plant. So we need to act right now to resolve the issue,” said Wang Weiping, a waste expert in the city government. “It’s necessary to restructure the current disposal system. We cannot rely on landfill anymore. It’s a waste of space.”

One reason for the trash problem is it seems Chinese citizens are not very good recyclers. Less than 4 percent of its trash is recycled, versus 35 percent in the UK and US. (Go us!)

So it seems those deodorant guns are simply a stop-gap measure. But perhaps all that stinky trash will motivate China to recycle a lot more. In other words, perhaps Red China will become Green China before we know it.

Editor’s note: Article by Kathy Ehrich Dowd and image by Th145 via Wikimedia Commons. Originally published by our friends at Tonic.com. Tonic is a digital media company and news source dedicated to promoting the good that happens each day around the world. Tonic tells the stories of people and organizations who are working to make a difference, by inspiring good in themselves and others. Be sure to visit them and say hi, and follow Tonic on Twitter, too!

The post Beijing Installs Giant Deodorant Guns to Battle Landfill Stench. Seriously. appeared first on EcoSalon.

Beyond the smell and decay, landfills are considered modern archeology sites, collections of discarded items that give clues to the lifestyles of those who used them. In fact, Harvard-trained archeologist Bill Rathje recently told the LA Times, “The best time capsule in the world is a landfill.”

But that time capsule has an impact.

The average American produces a little over 4 pounds of trash per day, and although we might be diligent about separating our recyclables, once the garbage truck comes along, to us, our waste is out of sight and out of mind. While we return to the house with an empty garbage can, our waste takes off on a journey for the landfill, where mountains of trash pile up to be pushed around by bulldozers and circled by vultures in the air.

Where does your trash go?

We rounded up a list of the top 10 biggest landfills, just to show the ultimate impact of our everyday waste. According to Waste & Recycling News, these are the biggest landfills, based upon tonnage received in 2007. Here are some interesting facts about these places, including some very uplifting ones (really).

1. Apex, Las Vegas, Nevada. 3,824,814 tons.

America’s largest landfill, Apex, lies just an hour north of Sin City. Storing nearly 50 million tons of rotting trash, Apex is no small operation. Surprisingly enough, things seem to be slowing down. According to General Manager Mark Clinker commercial and residential waste has actually decreased. Maybe there’s still hope?

2. Puente Hills, Whittier, California. 3,756,718 tons.

Taking in a third of Los Angeles County’s trash, Puente Hills is a big player when it comes to waste. But talking about trash doesn’t have the same effect as seeing it. Last year, the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI), a Culver City-based think tank, sponsored a tour of Puente Hills in an effort to raise awareness about waste. Tickets sold out in minutes. But the landfill doesn’t just process waste. Puente Hills is the largest recycling location in the US, taking more than one million tons per year of recyclable materials.

3. Newton County Landfill Partnership, Brook, Indiana. 2,692,455 tons.

A stone’s throw from Chicago, Newton County Landfill is responsible for taking a large part of the city’s waste. Chicago residents produce about 1 million tons of trash per year.

4. Atlantic Waste, Waverly, Virginia. 2,669,423 tons.

Virginia’s largest landfill, Atlantic Waste is owned by the trash giant, Waste Management. In 2008 the landfill was fined for some 8,000 gallons of leachate – in other words, garbage juice – which spilled into surrounding wetlands.

5. Okeechobee, Okeechobee, Florida. 2,640,000 tons.

Surprisingly enough, visitors to Okeechobee won’t just see piles of trash, they’ll also get a view of local wildlife. Of the 4,150 acres that make up the site, 1,550 have been placed in conservation easement, offering visitors a variety of recreation and conservation related activities.

6. Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site, Aurora, Colorado. 2,561,809 tons.

Colorado’s largest landfill, Denver Araphoe Disposal Site accepts around 12,000 tons of waste per day. But some of that trash is going to good use. In September of 2008, DADS launched its waste-to-energy system to convert methane into electricity. In partnership with the City of Denver, the system generates enough power to fuel about 3,000 homes. (Photos are from adjacent landfill site Lowry, which ceased operations in 1990 and is now part of the waste-to-energy system)

7. El Sobrante, Corona, California. 2,173,216 tons.

Another landfill owned by Waste Management, El Sobrante works closely with the Wildlife Habitat Council to manage more than 640 acres for the benefit of 31 different species, two of which are endangered.

8. Rumpke Sanitary, Colerain Township, Ohio. 2,128,165 tons.

Located near Cincinnati, Rumpke Sanitary brings in a lot of trash, but like other landfills, is doing its part to put some of it to good use. The landfill site hosts three methane recovery facilities that have the potential to recover approximately 15 million standard cubic feet of landfill gas daily. In total, the facilities produce enough energy to power 25,000 homes.

9. Frank Bowerman, Irvine, California. 2,059,859 tons.

One of California’s largest landfills, Frank Bowerman also boasts the world’s first landfill gas-to-LNG plant. The plant has the capacity to produce 5,000 gallons of LNG per day, which has about the same environmental benefits as taking about 150,000 vehicles off the road per year.

10. Columbia Ridge, Arlington Oregon. 2,050,602 tons.

Columbia Ridge processes waste from all over the Northwest, serving major cities Portland, OR and Seattle, WA.

Photo Credits: D’Arcy Norman, Steve Marcus, Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, WM, Google, Farache, EPA, Center for Land Use Interpretation, Craig Ruttle, n6vhf, Eric Mortenson.

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