Recycling creates a million jobs

If you send trash directly to a landfill not much happens, but if you recycle it a series of business touch the trash and that creates jobs. Here is a report from a few years ago that shows recycling creates 25 jobs, while sending trash to the landfill only creates one job (per ton of …

Zero waste college football – Ohio State’s 105,000 seat stadium goes zero waste

Ohio Stadium is the largest stadium in the country to attempt zero waste. With 105,000 seats and a massive tailgating section this is a challenge. Their goal is get near-zero waste with 90% of the trash turned into recycling and compost. The success has been fast and big with a 61% reduction in trash sent …

The first step towards zero waste – reduce the amount of trash cans in your home

Living a zero waste lifestyle isn’t hard if you start simple. And the first step is to get rid of some of the trash cans in your home. Leave a few in the major areas and make sure to leave one for recycling. Soon you will find the majority of your trash to be recyclables …

Californians create record-low trash in 2011 – still more than national average

From a high of 6.3 pounds of trash per day in 2005, Californians have lowered their output in 2011 to a record-low of 4.4 pounds/day. Good news for the state with the highest population, and yet compared to the national average – 4.4 pounds – that’s not much of a drop, more like stopping the …

California moves one step closer to Zero Waste – 75% reduction by 2020

We are getting better, but one can never rest on their laurels: Garbage drops as CA’s recycling goal grows Californians have slashed the amount of stuff they throw away each day, pushing per capita disposal rates down to a record low last year even though the economy picked up steam. It’s a good showing — …

What does Zero Waste mean?

I’m the radical sitting next to you. I do things the American populace would consider crazy and yet nobody seems to notice. I slide by without a peep from the authorities. What am I talking about? I live a completely Zero Waste lifestyle. It’s hard to believe and you should see the reactions I get …

How zero waste, local food, and sustainable transport are a part of the London 2012 Olympics

Pulled from the London 2012 Olympics Sustainability report (pdf):   If everyone lived as we do in the UK we would need three planets. Our unsustainable lifestyles have meant that for the last 30 years we have been ‘eating into the Earth’s capital’ rather than ‘living off its interest’. The promotion of sustainable development has become one of the …

REI pursuing sustainability – getting rid of the polybags

When thinking about the sustainability of REI’s operations, the complexity of the task quickly becomes apparent. Where does a person start? Our annual stewardship report details one such area: our efforts to reduce REI’s waste-to-landfill. We conducted a retail waste audit to better understand the details. To paint a picture, imagine this: Our teams literally went “dumpster …

11 documentaries about cities – streaming on Netflix

Here are 11 new and new-ish documentaries now streaming that offer interesting, frustrating and downright sad stories about cities.   Bill Cunningham New York 2010, 84 minutes Directed by Richard Press A film about octogenarian and New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, who rides his bike around New York City taking pictures of clothes …

Our local toxic waste dump…in Huntington Beach

Down the street on Magnolia, just a few blocks form the beach, is the ASCON Landfill Site. This 38-acre parcel of land is a toxic waste dump containing waste from construction and oil drilling. It is considered a California Superfund site, meaning that it is one of the most toxic in the state. According to …