It’s hard to keep track of all the greenhouse gases that are steadily collecting in the atmosphere – from auto emissions and coal plants to methane emissions from cattle and landfills. Fortunately, Ecofys has created an easy-to-understand infographic that breaks down the source and sector of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters.

Read the rest of Amazing Infographic Shows Where the World’s Greenhouse Gases Come From

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Post tags: carbon emissions, coal, coal power, deforestation, global emissions, green transportation, greenhouse gases, methane emissions, Waste, waste storage

Greek yogurt is delicious, high in protein, and a good alternative to sugary snacks. However the $2 billion dollar a year industry has a dark side that comes in the form of toxic acid whey. It takes three to four ounces of milk to create yogurt and the rest becomes a runny, hazardous byproduct that cannot be released back into the environment. As it decomposes, acid whey depletes oxygen from streams and rivers, killing wildlife and creating “dead zones” over large areas.

Read the rest of Byproducts from Greek Yogurt Prove Toxic to the Environment

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Post tags: acid whey, biogas, byproduct, chobani, dead zone, fertilizer, greek yogurt, lactose, New York., toxic, Waste

Where there are million of animals, there are millions of tons of waste. In a clever solution to a major waste disposal problem, Australian researchers have found a way to convert 1.4 million tons of Chinese pig excrement into fertilizer and a source of alternative energy. The project, which is operated by the Adelaide, Australia Cooperate Research Centre For Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE), has won a national science award for its solution for pig waste in China.

Read the rest of Australian Researchers Propose Turning Millions of Tons of Pig Waste into Alternative Energy for China

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Post tags: adelaide, australia, biodigester, biogas, china, cooperative research center for contamination assessment and remediation of the environment, CRC CARE, excrement, federal government 2013 star award, fertilizer, hlm asia pl, huazhong university of science and technology, pig, poocare, prof. ravi naidu, Waste

Earth Day is tomorrow – and our inboxes are already filled to the brim with marketing gimmicks and greenwashed products. In a sad turn of affairs, the environmental message behind Earth Day has been drowned out by marketing bravado and buried beneath mountains of “eco” tote bags and redundant reusable bottles. We’ve shared what we think are the 5 dumbest Earth Day gimmicks – and now we want to see the worst examples of Earth Day greenwashing that YOU have ever run across. Leave a comment below with the most audacious Earth Day greenwashing gimmicks you’ve seen and we’ll publish the most deplorable!

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Post tags: earth day, earth day 2013, earth day gimmick, earth day sale, eco incentives, Environment, green design, green products, Greenwashing, is it green, sustainable design, Waste

In the crusade to cut global CO2 emissions, we tend look to power plants, cars, and manufacturing. Nowadays, our building materials are also garnering attention, and researchers from Kansas State University have developed a type of concrete made from biofuel waste that has a lower carbon footprint than conventional concrete. The world uses about 7 billion cubic meters of the mixture each year, making it the most utilized industrial material after water. Taking advantage of the byproducts from biofuel production such as corn stover, wheat straw, and rice straw, the team was able to create a stronger concrete and save excess material from ending up in the landfill.

Read the rest of Concrete Made with Biofuel Waste is Strong, Durable, and Has a Lower Carbon Footprint

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Post tags: 2013 capitol graduate research summit, biofuel, byproduct, carbon dioxide, cellulosic enthanol, cement, CO2, concrete, corn ethanol, emissions, ETHANOL, feraidon ataie, global warming, greenhouse gas, high-lignin ash, kansas state university, national science foundation, Topeka, Waste, water issues

For those that aren’t very deft at handling chopsticks, now there’s a good reason to opt for the reusable fork instead. In the latest news of ecological disaster in China, the country’s taste for disposable wooden chopsticks is threatening its forests. China uses an astounding 80 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks per year to feed more than 1.3 billion people. The country chops down 20 million mature trees annually to fuel the habit, and China’s forestry leaders have acknowledged that it will have to transition to a different type of cutlery.

Read the rest of China Produces 80 Billion Disposable Chopsticks Per Year, Putting its Forests at Risk

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Post tags: china, Chinese chopsticks, Chinese food, chopsticks, disposable chopsticks, disposable products, environmental destruction, forestry, forests, sustainable forestry, takeout food, trash, Waste, wood chopsticks, wooden chopsticks

With the closing of the Richard H. Gorsuch Station coal-fired power plant, a group of 83 municipalities in Ohio were faced with the dilemma of how to establish a new energy plan by 2013. While a core group, known as American Municipal Power, collectively made a choice to establish a contract with another dirty coal power plant, the city of Oberlin has instead opted to source their energy from garbage! So far, the city is receiving 55% of its power from two nearby landfills.

Read the rest of Oberlin, Ohio Uses Landfill Garbage to Provide Clean Energy For its Residents

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Post tags: American Municipal Power, Black and Veatch, garbage, green energy, landfill gas, Mahoning County Landfill, Oberlin, OHIO, renewable energy, Waste, Waste Management Renewable Energy LLC

Now there is something better you can do with that viscous mess of cooking oil instead of sequestering it in a can or pouring it down the drain. The UK-based company Biobot offers the Biobot 20, a tabletop processor that converts household oil waste into something a bit more useful. The Biobot 20 helps small producers refine their excess vegetable oils into fatty-acid methyl ester (FAME) through a conversion process known as transesterification. Close to carbon-neutral, biodiesel is a great way to become independent of the fossil fuel industry and take transportation into your own hands.

Read the rest of The Biobot 20 is a Tabletop Biodiesel Processor for Waste Cooking Oil

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Post tags: biobot, biobot 20, biodiesel, catalyst, fatty acids, fuel, gas, methanol, process, refine, sodium hydroxide, sodium methoxide, transesterification, UK, vegetable oil, Waste

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: Architect and Author Alejandro Bahamon on ‘REMATERIAL From Waste to Architecture’

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Alejandro Bahamón, Architecture, book review, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green materials, Maria Camila Sanjinés, material reuse, Recycled Materials, rematerial, Rematerial from waste to architecture, reuse, Sustainable Building, Waste

You’d think that the world’s tallest building – a structure that requires amazingly complex engineering and technology to reach its heights – would have an equally impressive sewage system. Unfortunately, that’s not the case because it isn’t hooked up to a municipal wastewater treatment system – so when you poop in the Burj Khalifa, that waste is actually trucked out of the city. Trucked out of the city! We’re frankly flabbergasted by the inefficiency of such a system. One of the world’s most advanced buildings relies on an arcane method to transport wastewater to a treatment facility outside of town. So remember, if you happen to visit and use the Burj Khalifa’s restroom, some unfortunate person has to collect your poop and drive it out of Dubai.

Read the rest of The Incredible Story Of How The Burj Khalifa’s Poop is Trucked Out of Town

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Post tags: Architecture, burj khalifa, Burj Khalifa Tower, burj khalifa waste, dubai, epic fail, poop, SOM, trucking waste, Waste, wastewater, wastewater system, wastewater treatemen, world's tallest building

The University of Brighton just began construction on the UK’s first building made completely of waste. Designed by local architect Duncan Baker-Brown, the structure will be composed of excess building materials from city construction sites and other area industries. The design team plans on setting up a a production line near the Grand Parade site so that craftsmen, students, and local residents can become involved in the building process.

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Post tags: brighton, duncan baker-brown, Europe, grand parade, the house that kevin built, UK, university of brighton, Waste

UK mobile network provider O2 just announced that they will not be releasing a charger with the new HTC smartphone. Why you ask? Well, their research has revealed that the UK “has more than 100m chargers lying in drawers, tangled in cupboards and generally gathering dust. The majority of phones are now upgrades and chargers that use USB cables, meaning the bit of plastic that plugs into the wall can actually be used by pretty much every phone.” By doing this, the company believes they can divert an amount of plastic waste from landfills equivalent to the weight of 1,000 London buses!

Read the rest of O2 to Sell New HTC Smartphone Without Chargers, Cut Four Olympic Swimming Pools Worth of E-Waste

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Post tags: environmental impact, HTC smartphone, landfills, mobile phones, o2, phone charger, recycling, smartphones, universal charger, Waste

Read the rest of Giant Elephant Made of Recycled Tires Roams the Earth for African Environmental Awareness

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Post tags: Andries Botha, Animals, Annelies Brans, Art, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Recycled Materials, recycled tyres, rubbish, the hague, The Rainbow Nation, Waste

Gayle Chong Kwan dazzles audiences once again with Wastescape – an ambitious art installation made out of thousands of discarded milk bottles made to look like stalactites and stalagmites. This artificial cave-like environment has been constructed in a dark corner of London’s Southbank Center as part of the ongoing Festival of the World.

Read the rest of Wastescape is an Artificial Cave Lined With Thousands of Chiseled Milk Bottles in London

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Post tags: Art, Design, eco design, Festival of the World, Gayle Chong Kwan, green design, Recycled Materials, southbank center, sustainable design, UK, Waste, wastescapes

After 34 years of operation, the Brazilian government has decided to close Rio de Janeiro’s Jardim Gramacho dump, the world’s largest open-air landfill. Located on the outskirts of the city, the dump is to be replaced by a modern recycling plant.

Read the rest of Rio de Janeiro Set to Replace The World’s Largest Open-Air Landfill With a Recycling Plant

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Post tags: gramacho, Jardim Gramacho, Jardim Gramacho Landfill, landfill, Pollution, recycling, rio 20, rio landfill, trash mountain, Waste, Waste Land

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Post tags: Aurora Robson, eco design, eco-art, green design, PET, Plastic bottles, Pollution, recycled art, sustainable design, Waste, waste to treasure

Read the rest of HOW TO: Use Naturemill’s Metro Composter to Compost Indoors Without the Odor

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Post tags: composting, Eco, Gardening, green, green kitchen, how-to, indoor composter, Metro, naturemill, Sustainable, Waste

Last year, when BIG unveiled its fantastical ski resort on top of a waste-to-energy incinerator plant in Copenhagen, we were admittedly intrigued. But we weren’t at all surprised when the City of Copenhagen denied the project yesterday because they believe it will damage the climate and environment. Although the double duty concept sounded fun, in reality the incinerator plant was going to be enlarged meaning increasing the amount of trash burned and CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere. Even though the incinerator plant is desperately in need of a renovation, the city wants to encourage waste reduction, reuse and recycling instead of burning more trash and having a sexy ski slope.

Read the rest of BIG’s Waste-to-Energy Ski Slope Incinerator Scrapped Due to Environmental Concerns

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Amagerforbraending, Amagerforbraendingen, architecture news, big, copenhagen, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, incinerator plant, inhabitat-news, recycling, ski resort, ski slope, ski slope incinerator, ski slope incinerator plant denied, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, trash, Waste, waste to energy plant

Read the rest of Makeshift Magazine Launch Celebrates Innovative Design in Unlikely Places

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Post tags: A Journal of Creativity, adaptive reuse, Africa, asia, developing world, earth-friendly, Eco, eco-conscious, green, green design, informal economy, informal sector, ingenuity, inhabitat, innovation, invention, inventive, Makeshift, makeshift magazine, Makeshift: A Journal of Creativity, re-culture, Recycle, Recycled Materials, repurpose, Repurposed Space, resourceful, reuse, south america, sustainable design, Sustainable Materials, trash, Waste

Whiskey isn’t just good for a stiff drink at the end of the day; it’s also a handy tool for powering electric vehicles. At least that’s what the Bruichladdich Whiskey Distillery on the Scottish isle of Islay is using for their Nissan Leaf.

Read the rest of Scottish Distillery Powers Their Nissan Leaf With Whiskey

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Post tags: anaerobic, anaerobic digester, biodynamic, bruichladdich, carbon dioxide, cheaper fuel, Climate Change, CO2, Consumption, eco design, eco habitat, eco-conscious, eco-friendly, electric, electric vehicle, emissions, Environment, environmental design, ev, EV concept, green design, green infrastructure, green living, green technology, green transportation, infrastructure, islay, leaf, mark reynier, Nissan Leaf, Organic, Recycle, reduce, reduction, Scotland, single malt, sustainable design, sustainable living, Waste, Whiskey, whiskey distillery