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The Bicyclean Uses Pedal Power to Safely Recycle E-Waste

submitted by Samuel Bendett

              

inhabitat.com - by Morgana Matus - September 28, 2012

The Unites States generates more electronic waste than any other nation on earth.  According to the EPA, more than 4.6 million tons entered domestic landfills in 2000, and 50-80% of our total e-waste is exported to developing nations where defunct electronics wind up in dumps, polluting the environment, and littering neighborhoods. That’s why 22-year-old engineering graduate Rachel Field has invented the Bicyclean – a pedal-powered grinder and e-waste separation system.

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Wastewater Service Likely Culprit in Norovirus Outbreak

submitted by Albert Gomez

newstalkzb.co.nz - by Jacqui Stanford - September 21, 2012

An investigation has found Cardrona's wastewater service is the likely culprit in a norovirus outbreak that hit the snow resort town last month.

Over a 15 day period 66 people went down with the nasty bug.

After a boil water notice was put in place no new cases have been reported.

Public health officials say sampling shows the norovirus is likely to have come from wastewater systems in the area.

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbhea/1893145557-wastewater-service-likely-culprit-in-norovirus-outbreak

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Heinz® Ketchup Inspires More Environmentally Responsible Living This Summer with PlantBottle™ Packaging Promotion

submitted by Alison Thompson

businesswire.com - July 17, 2012

A new Heinz(R) Ketchup campaign called "Join the Growing Movement" invites consumers to promise to be more environmentally responsible through a mobile application. For each pledge, Heinz will help plant a tree, up to 57,000 trees. (Photo: Business Wire)

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=multimedia_detail&eid=50344063&newsLang=en

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120717006392/en/Heinz%C2%AE-Ketchup-Inspires-Environmentally-Responsible-Living-Summer

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Wastewater Key to Addressing Growing Global Water Shortage

Wastewater reclamation plant in Lansing, KS // Source: lansing.ks.us

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - August 10, 2012

Parched cities and regions across the globe are using sewage effluent and other wastewater in creative ways to augment drinking water, but four billion people still do not have adequate supplies, and that number will rise in coming decades

Wildlife, rivers, and ecosystems are also being decimated by the ceaseless quest for new water and disposal of waste. Changing human behavior and redoubling use of alternatives are critical to breaking that cycle.

Those are the conclusions of a sweeping review in a special 10 August issue of the journal Science.

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What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management

submitted by Albert Gomez

web.worldbank.org

As the world hurtles toward its urban future, the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW), one of the most important by-products of an urban lifestyle, is growing even faster than the rate of urbanization. Ten years ago there were 2.9 billion urban residents who generated about 0.64 kg of MSW per person per day (0.68 billion tonnes per year).

This report estimates that today these amounts have increased to about 3 billion residents generating 1.2 kg per person per day (1.3 billion tonnes per year). By 2025 this will likely increase to 4.3 billion urban residents generating about 1.42 kg/capita/day of municipal solid waste (2.2 billion tonnes per year).

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Swimming With the Trash: A Marine Drone Seeks to Scoop up Plastic

submitted by Albert Gomez

      

good.is - July 11, 2012

While there's been plenty of media pointing out or raising awareness about the disaster submerged right beneath sea level— the mountain-sized patch of plastic and other garbage that's been collecting in oceans around the world, particularly in the Pacific—there's less attention to some of the solutions that are currently in the works. Part of the reason is that the problem seems so huge (indeed, it's beyond the point of return) and so distant that it's not necessarily the easiest to conceive of steps to take action against.

Yet a crew of big-thinking designers has a concept for a trash-skimming and sensor-equipped "marine drone" that could detect trash in the ocean and scoop it into its net to be recycled. The drone is designed to navigate the ocean for two weeks at a time and would use an infrasound system to keep fish at bay.

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Loo turns poo into power

www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com - June 27, 2012

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have invented a new toilet system that will turn human waste into electricity and fertilizers and also reduce the amount of water needed for flushing by up to 90 percent compared to current toilet systems in Singapore.

Dubbed the No-Mix Vacuum Toilet, it has two chambers that separate the liquid and solid wastes.  Using vacuum suction technology, such as those used in aircraft lavatories, flushing liquids would now take only 0.2 liters of water while flushing solids require just one liter.

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Injection Wells: The Poison Beneath Us

      

A class 2 brine disposal well in western Louisiana near the Texas border. The well sat by the side of the road, without restricted access. (Abrahm Lustgarten/ProPublica)

propublica.org - by Abrahm Lustgarten - June 21, 2012

Over the past several decades, U.S. industries have injected more than 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquid deep into the earth, using broad expanses of the nation's geology as an invisible dumping ground.

No company would be allowed to pour such dangerous chemicals into the rivers or onto the soil. But until recently, scientists and environmental officials have assumed that deep layers of rock beneath the earth would safely entomb the waste for millennia.

There are growing signs they were mistaken.

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Food Waste Recycling

submitted by Albert Gomez

environmentalleader.com - by John Evans - June 11, 2012

U.K. - Sending our rubbish to landfill sites continues to be a major topic for debate as proposals for wind farms and incinerators are becoming more common.

At present, the Local Government Association estimates that we offload twice as much rubbish into landfill sites than Germany does, although Germany has a larger population. Due to the fact that land available for landfill sites is running out, pressure from Brussels and Westminster is making the use of these sites more expensive, which in turn is increasing the pressure to recycle our waste.

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Video - Zero Waste Family - Johnson Family - CA

submitted by Samuel Bendett

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj0JBJ6muDs&feature=related

Uploaded by on May 14, 2011

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