recycling

With America Recycles Day coming around on Monday, it's a good time to consider the impact of digital technology on waste.

It doesn't require too much imagination. Just visualize the obsolete cell phones, computers, TVs, modems, and tangle of wires sitting somewhere in your home--I suspect many of us have electronic stuff that's basically just baggage. The EPA estimates that nationwide there were 2.25 million U.S. tons of PCs, peripherals, TVs, and phones discarded in 2007, and e-waste is the fastest growing category of waste.

Now, think about what this tech equipment is made of. … Read more

Smartphone manufacturers, Google, and wireless operators may think they're doing consumers a favor by preinstalling or bundling apps into the Android OS on their new smartphones, but some wireless subscribers would rather they didn't.

In this week's Ask Maggie column, I help a reader figure out the best way to disable applications that come bundled with Android phones and OS upgrades. I also explain why some phones easily connect to a 3G wireless and why some end up on slower-speed networks. And finally, I give a reader advice about how she can recycle old cell phones.

Ask … Read more

The picturesque Cotswolds of England will soon be using those lovely animals dotting its hillsides to provide power to some of its homes.

A turnkey biogas station made by Alfagy plans to convert agricultural waste, including both feedstock and manure, into electricity.

The plant, which is scheduled to open November 1, is located on the southern outskirts of Cirencester, an ancient Cotswolds town famous for being a thriving mercantile city during the Roman Empire. But Alfagy says the station could reduce at least two of the area's current imports by using what its people have on hand.

While there … Read more

Europeans will soon be able to throw their candy wrappers into the composting bin.

U.S.-based bioplastics producer Cereplast announced Wednesday that its patented bioresin will soon be used to make food packaging for a variety of foods in Europe.

The company signed a multimillion-dollar deal to supply its Cereplast Compostables 7003 bioresin to Sezersan Ambalaj, one of the leading producers of food packaging for Europe. Sezersan, which is based in Turkey, will use the resin to produce completely biodegradable food-packaging.

The bioresin is starch-based and can be created from corn, wheat, tapioca, or potato starches, making it 100 … Read more

The trash and recycling services company Waste Management is expanding into the organic gardening business, the company announced Wednesday.

The Houston-based company has acquired Garick, which manufactures things like mulch, garden compost, and playground turf made from recycled organic materials.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. WM only went so far as to announce that Garick's composting facilities will be used to augment WM's existing organic recycling services, and offer a line of organic garden products made from WM-collected biomass waste.

The new line of products will include organic garden compost, which is often referred to … Read more

Chrysler has found a way to make use of 180,000 pounds of polyurethane foam that would otherwise end up in a landfill. And if you find yourself in a 2011 Grand Jeep Cherokee, you'll be sitting on some of it.

The seats and headrests found in the new 2011 Grand Jeep Cherokees are partly composed of new recycled foam. Starting a green-versus-greener debate, the recycled foam comprises by weight 5 percent of the seat and 10 percent of the headrest, and replaces the previously used amount of soy foam. To put it in perspective, 180,000 pounds of … Read more

Crave's on fire this week with plenty of pseudo-inappropriate comments that may make you think you're listening to that other CNET podcast. But don't fret: We keep things just this side of decent with a hand-crank car driven by a beatnik (to new age dance music, no less), a super awesome garbage can made from repurposed trash, and an adorably annoying alarm clock that is will provide endless drunken entertainment at your next party. Things start to go a little off the deep end when we take a look at a flash drive preloaded with porn and wax poetic about a unique boat that--as Eric so aptly notes--"unzips the pants of the ocean." Finally, this week's fat-inducing food mashup disgusts Jasmine so much that she almost drops an F-bomb.

The company that turned Cheetos bags into MP3 speakers is now transforming Chester Cheetah into 32-gallon garbage cans.

New Jersey-based recycling company TerraCycle is teaming up with Pioneer Plastics USA to make heavy-duty trash cans out of recycled polypropylene that was once chip bags.

The cans are 80 percent post-consumer--most of the material is from chip bags collected by TerraCycle's Chip Bag Brigade program. About 20 percent is from scraps of rubber elastic trimming that are leftover in the production of disposable diapers.

The old Cheetos and other chip bags are first shredded, and then run through a densifying … Read more

Designer David Graham has created a kit called Move-it that transforms any cardboard box into a trolley. This lets the user easily move large packages (up to 44 pounds) even without a dedicated trolley.

The kit is quite simple, with handle and wheel parts that stick onto the box. The adhesive is secure but easily removable so the parts (including the wheel, axle, and chassis) can be reused or recycled. The system is designed to hold up on wet pavement. Watch the video below to see how it works.

In some places, retailers give out flimsy trolleys to those who … Read more