Ted Talks - What I discovered in New York City Trash by Robin Nagle

Doughnut Economics - Kate Raworth

How to Manage Your Home Waste

source: 

Three Parts:Reducing Your GarbageReusing and RecyclingComposting

Having trouble keeping up with your family's garbage output? Putting a bit more thought into the way you manage your household waste can help you get more organized. With careful planning, you'll be able to save money and have less of an impact on the environment. See Step 1 to find out how to deal with garbage, food scraps, and recyclables.

Part 1 of 3: Reducing Your Garbage

1. 
   Use cloth bags instead of plastic. This small measure will greatly reduce the amount of waste you bring into your house. No matter where you're shopping, you can bring your own reusable cloth bags instead of accepting plastic bags from the store. Plan ahead by purchasing several reusable bags and storing them where you won't forget to bring them along next time you go shopping, like in your kitchen or in the trunk of your car.
   • If you forget to bring your cloth bags to the store, you can still reduce waste! Ask the person bagging your groceries not to use double bags. Most stores now sell cloth bags, so you could spring for those instead of accepting plastic or paper - you can never have enough around the house.
   • Using cloth bags isn't limited to grocery shopping. Take one along when you go shopping for clothes, tools, or any other items you may need.
2. 
   Buy food that has less packaging. If you tend to buy food that comes in boxes wrapped in plastic with individually-wrapped serving sizes inside, you're probably producing more waste than you want to. Look for ways to buy food with minimal packaging, especially plastic packaging, and you'll see your daily mound of garbage turn into a tiny hill. Here are a few tricks to try:
   • Use the bulk food section. You can buy rice, beans, cereals, teas, spices, and other dry foods in the bulk food section of your grocery store. Store the foods in airtight glass or plastic containers when you get home.
   
   
   
3. Do vermicomposting. You can make your own worm composting system.
   • Make dinner instead of heating it up. Take-out food and microwaveable dinners require a lot of packaging, and it all just goes in the trash. It definitely takes more time, but consider replacing some of your instant meals with homemade creations. Your waistline will thank you, too.
   • Buy dairy items in containers you can return. An increasing amount of dairy companies offer a return system in which you buy a glass jug of milk, cream or buttermilk and return the jug for a deposit. This is a great way to cut down on using plastic.
   • Buy from farmer's markets. They offer mounds of fresh produce that have never touched plastic. Bring along cloth bags to carry your purchases home.
4. 
    
    
    
   4.   Don't use bottled drinks unless you have to.^[1] Bottled water - and other bottled drinks - are a major source of waste in many places. In some places bottled water is safer to drink than tap water, but if that's not the case in your area, consider using tap water instead. You can always filter the water if you don't like the way it tastes. This is more economical and much better for the environment.
   • If you really want to go the distance, you can nix other bottled and canned drinks, too. For example, instead of buying a case of ginger ale, why not make your own? Homemade lemonade and limeade are also great choices.
   • If you do choose to buy drinks by the bottle, choose large containers, rather than small ones. Get a 5 gallon (18.9 L) container of water with a dispenser instead of buying an 18-pack of small bottles.
5. 
    
    
   5    Reduce your paper usage. If you like using computers, there are very few reasons you still need to have a lot of paper waste in your house. Taking measures to reduce the amount of paper you buy, as well as the amount of paper that gets sent to you in the mail, can save you the headache of having to sort through piles of papers.
   • Go paperless when it comes to bills; choose to pay them online instead.
   • Consider reading your news online instead of having a newspaper delivered to your house.
   • Take measures to stop junk mail from overflowing your mailbox.
6. 
   Consider making your own household cleaners and detergents. Many of the containers used for cleaners and detergents aren't recyclable, so they end up going in the garbage. If you have the time and inclination, making your own formulas and storing them in glass containers will end up saving tons of money and significantly reduce your garbage output. You'll also end up creating a chemical-free environment for your family. Here are a few great recipes to try:
   • Make your own laundry detergent
   • Make your own glass cleaner
   • Make your own bathroom cleaner
   • Make your own kitchen cleaner
   • Make your own hand soap
   • Make your own shampoo and conditioner

Part 2 of 3: Reusing and Recycling

1. 
   1
   Donate items when possible. If you have old clothing, electronics, or other items you don't want but are still in decent shape, donate them instead of throwing them out in the trash. Better they end up in a classroom or someone's closet than the landfill.
   • Old clothes and fabric scraps can be donated to a fabric recycling facility.
   • Schools often accept donations of old computers and other electronics.
   • Contact a local homeless shelter or donation center to see about donating furniture, electronics, cars, and any other items you're finished using.
2. 
   2
   Reuse containers. Durable containers can be reused a number of times before they need to go out with the garbage or recycling. Bottles, boxes and bags can all serve a second purpose if you know how to use them.
   • Use paper bags to hold recyclables, if you don't have a bin. You can also use them to fashion book protectors - a flashback to grade school days.
   • Reuse paper by printing on both sides, or letting your children draw on the back of used paper.
   • Use food-grade glass containers (that didn't previously contain anything toxic) to store dry goods and leftovers.
   • Plastic containers are fine to use for storage, but be careful about reusing them too many times to store food. Plastic, even if it's food-grade plastic, can eventually break down and start leaching chemicals into the food.
3. 
   3
   Follow your city's recycling policies. In some places you need to sort plastic, glass, and paper recyclables and and turn them in separately, while other cities allow you to place all recyclables in the same bin and be done with it. Some cities provide recycling pickup, while other places have a recycling center where you can drop everything off. Check your city's website and follow its policy regarding proper recycling.
   • In general, the following household waste can be recycled:
     • Plastic containers numbered 1 - 7^[2]
     • Paper products like computer paper, egg cartons, newspaper, and cardboard
     • Glass containers
     • Aluminum cans, aluminum foil
4. 
   4
   Dispose of trash and hazardous waste properly. There are some household items that just can't be recycled or reused. These items have to be thrown out with the trash or disposed of at a hazardous waste facility. Try to reduce your consumption of the following items, and when you do use them, dispose of them according to your city's laws:
   • Batteries
   • Paint
   • TVs, computers, and other electronics
   • Light bulbs

Part 3 of 3: Composting

1. 
   1
   Save your food scraps and yard cuttings from the trash. Food scraps and yard cuttings don't need to be thrown out. Instead, you can compost them and turn them into rich, nutritious soil that can be used to nourish your garden - or donated to someone else who will be able to use it for theirs. There are many ways to compost; some compost mixtures allow for items like meat and dairy to be included, while others are strictly for fruit and vegetable scraps. To start a basic compost pile, save these items:
   • Green items, which break down quickly, like raw vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, tea bags, grass cuttings, leaves
   • Brown items, which break down slowly, like sticks and branches, paper, cardboard, eggshells, sawdust
2. 
   2
   Create a compost site. Select an area in a sunny or partially shaded spot in your yard for your compost site. Ideally, you'll compost directly over dirt or grass, but if you don't have a large yard area, you can compost on a concrete patio. Here are a few different ways you can structure your compost site:
   • Make a compost pile. This is the simplest way to compost. All you have to do is make a pile in your yard. It should be located well away from your house, since composting sometimes attracts mice and insects.
   • Make a compost box. You can construct a box made to the exact dimensions that suit your needs.
   • Buy a compost bin. They're available at most home and garden stores, and come in a variety of different shapes and sizes.
3. 
   3
   Choose to make either a cold or hot compost heap. Making a cold heap requires less effort, but it takes longer for the compost to be ready. Making a hot heap requires a little work, but you'll have compost in as little as 6 - 8 weeks. Here's the difference:
   • To make a cool compost heap, fill your bin with a few inches of both green and brown materials. Keep piling more in whenever you need to get rid of food scraps or toilet paper rolls. When the bin is full, leave it to compost. It may take up to a year to full compost, but you can use the compost forming at the bottom of the bin as needed.
   • To make a hot compost heap, mix your green and brown materials well, and fill your bin all the way up (or heap up a big pile). It will warm up and get hot to the touch; when this happens, stir it up, and it will cool. When it heats up again a few days or weeks later, stir it up again. Keep doing this until it stops heating up after you stir, then let it rest to finish composting.
4. 
   4
   Maintain your compost site. If it seems to be rotting too fast and turning slimy, add more brown items to slow it down. If it seems to be too dry to work its magic, add some water or more green items. The more effort you put into tending to your compost site, the faster you'll have usable compost.
5. 
   5
   Use your compost when it's ready. You'll know your compost is ready when it turns a rich brown or black color and takes on an earthy smell. Your compost can be used to fertilize your vegetable or flower garden, or you can simply spread it around your yard to give your grass and other plants a nutrition boost.

 

WASTE REDUCTION TIPS

 

Practical ways to reuse waste at home

• Take unwanted toys and books to hospitals, early childhood education centres or schools. 
• Give unwanted clothes to opportunity shops or used clothing bins. 
• Use empty plastic packaging containers for freezing or storing food items. 
• Save wrapping paper and boxes to use again. 
• Use old jars for storage or for homemade jam or preserves. 
• Take old magazines to your local doctors' or dentists’ surgery. 
• Shop at second hand stores or use trading websites and classifieds to purchase items that are unwanted by others. 
• Donate household items or shop at your council’s resource recovery centre. 

 

Practical ways to reuse waste at work

• Donate old computers to schools or community education centres. 
• Use waste packaging on inward goods e.g. boxes and wooden pallets, for storing materials or for dispatching your own product.   
• Make memo pads out of waste paper.   
• Re-use envelopes - purchase reuse labels.   
• Use second hand stores, trading websites and classifieds to buy and sell used items. 
• Register with your local waste exchange programme. 

HA Schult made Sculpture

http://www.greendiary.com/2011-artwork-waste.html 

THE CASE OF RECYCLING

"The issue is that for too long now we have let privately-owned waste management companies dictate what is recyclable. We understand now that everything can be recycled, but there isn’t enough profit to entice most companies into doing it. The real money maker is solid waste, or garbage."

packagingdigest.com packagingdigest.com

packagingdigest.com

How is it that we cant manage our refuse before it swallows us?

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Fashionistas push for waste prevention

Source: fashionindustrynetwork.com

Last 10 years we watch a global shift from end of pipe waste management to waste prevention and reuse concepts. This shift clearly moves us closer to resource management optimization processes rather than the typical waste management activities. It concerns more industrial supply chains than the waste management industry and the usual end of pipe solutions.

But at the same time it provides a new practical view on how we deal with waste. It helps us a lot to understand waste as an indication of inefficient production and consumption patterns. In other terms, it helps us to understand that Waste is a Choice, as my friend Maarten Goorhuis (ISWA STC Vice-Chair and Chair of the ISWA Working Group on Recycling and Waste Minimization) usually says starting his presentations about waste prevention.

A good example of that way of thinking is given by some initiatives in the textile & clothing manufacturing sector. The real importance of them is that they try to combine effectiveness in waste prevention by utilizing personal attitudes and behavioral trends. Let’s see more details.

We all know that rapidly changing fashions increase the production and consumption of textiles and clothing. And definitely, they also increase the amount of end of life clothes that are driven to waste, in one or another way. Despite improvements in the environmental impacts in the manufacture of textile and clothing over the last 25 years, the overall volume of production and consumption of these products has increased. The relocation of manufacturing from Western countries to Asian nations and more efficient production has reduced the cost of clothing and textiles, but this has had the unintended consequence of increasing consumption and counteracting some of the environmental benefits of new manufacturing technologies.

In addition, the fast cycles of fashion and deliberately planning products to have a limited lifespan have shortened the life cycle of textiles and clothing. Garments have become cheaper, the quality reduced and clothes are typically worn for only a short time before disposal. Although reuse and recycling of clothing has also increased, this only partly offsets the increased levels of textile consumption, the proliferation of textile waste, and the environmental and social impacts, (such as where and how fibres are cultivated) associated with higher volumes of textiles and clothing production. 


A recent study (Niinimäki, K., Hassi, L. (2011) Emerging design strategies in sustainable production and consumption of textiles and clothing. Journal of Cleaner Production 19: 1876-1883) provided the suggestion that a more sustainable production and consumption of clothing could be achieved if consumer values are used to rethink design and business strategies. A good example could be an increased personalization of clothing that could increase both consumer attachment to products and their useful lifetime.

The study explored different design strategies that increase the lifespan of textiles and clothing by making the consumer the centre of the innovation processes. It argues that innovative thinking about how consumers experience and value textiles and clothes is needed for more sustainable production and consumption.

For example, the use of a product could be extended if it is designed to be personalized. This would allow consumers to develop an emotional attachment with the garment or textile and can be achieved by mass customization of products using fast digital manufacturing technologies that enable consumers to select from a variety of styles and colors to design their own look. Digital textile printers, embroidery and laser cutting machines can design products tailored to an individual’s specifications.

The manufacture of ‘halfway products’, for example, kits that offer consumers the opportunity to creatively assemble (and repair) the product could also increase attachment and usage, as could clothing designed with detachable parts that can be customized by the consumer.
In addition, designers can co-create products with consumers to increase attachment to the product, for example, through the internet, with consumers making the final design decisions. Services that focus on consumer needs can also be used to extend the lifetime use of textiles and clothing and postpone product replacement. For example, high-quality garments that can be used in renting, leasing, lending or sharing schemes; and services that modify the garments can all be offered. New business opportunities could be found in this switch to a services-orientated economy; manufacturers can offer higher quality garments, increase customer satisfaction and extend the use of the product. 

At least, we hope that this may be a succesful initiative - after all if waste prevention becomes trendy, there will be positive impacts worldwide, especially in the global interconnected cities where fashion plays a crucial role...

Posted 30th January 2012 by Antonis Mavropoulos