September 11: A Message from the Dalai Lama
The events of this day cause every thinking person to ponder deeply the larger questions of life. There are two possible responses to what has occurred. The first comes from love, the second from fear.
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States Need to 'Legalize' Electronics Recycling
Yes, electronics recycling is a hot topic, and yes, manufacturers must take national action. But can they? Read what Michele Raymond, recycling industry expert, has to say.
Private Sector Pioneers: How Companies Are Incorporating Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
Green purchasing practices don't make headlines, but they are quietly changing companies and products from the inside-out. Read this excellent overview of why and how they do it, with examples from Herman Miller, Anheuser-Busch, Volvo, DaimlerChrysler and others.
17 Eco-Industrial Parks Take Shape
There are 17 eco-industrial projects underway in the U.S., Canada and Denmark, taking a variety of forms. For example: A Computer and Electronics Disposition Eco-Industrial Park in Austin, Texas is being positioned as a leader in the emerging field of electronics recovery and recycling. The businesses in the park will use the latest industrial ecology techniques for wide-scale energy, resource and waste efficiency. The plan calls for reuse, sale of parts and units, recycling, remanufacturing, and ultimate disposition of all computer and electronic equipment. Tenants will benefit from shared social services such as job-training, transportation, public space, child-care and technology research. The anchor business will be a computer and electronics disposition facility. There will be a Research & Development Center, a business incubator (Innovation Center), and the non-profit managing partner of the park. Future resident companies will feed off the product streams of the anchor facility. The Industrial Ecosystem Development Project, in Research Triangle, North Carolina, completed a two year, EPA-funded research project to match company wastestreams in a six-county region. The challenges of industrial waste matchmaking and the specific industry inputs and byproducts they found offer a useful guide for implementing such programs elsewhere. 182 facilities furnished information on […]
Cutting Through the Confusion
For sustainable energy technologies to find their rightful place in emerging energy policies and regulatory structures, advocates must be active and informed. Jane Weissman, a board member of the American Solar Energy Society summarizes the key issues.
NIKE Adopts The Natural Step
The Nike Environmental Action Team (N.E.A.T.), formed in 1993, is in charge of Nike’s worldwide environmental efforts, and introduced the company to The Natural Step (TNS). Six months ago, senior management approved N.E.A.T.’s corporate sustainability policy, rooted in the principles of The Natural Step. Nike has committed to making the principles of The Natural Step a common language and mental model for all 22,000 employees. The company mission statement focuses on creating closed-loop systems by eliminating waste, developing “cradle to cradle” product life cycles, and recognizing the value of employee learning and capacity-building. Nike switched from petroleum to water-based adhesives in most shoe styles, and saved $4.5 million dollars and 1.3 million gallons of solvent in the process. It saves half a million trees each year simply by using two shoe box designs made from 100 percent post-consumer cardboard (reduced from 18). The “Reuse-A-Shoe” program reclaims worn and defective footwear and grinds them into granulated rubber for sports surfaces and carpet padding, keeping 7.5 million shoes out of landfills. Nike’s environmental initiatives: [sorry this link is no longer available]
A New Frontier for Agriculture
Many people are betting that Agriculture is the bridge to an economy fueled by Renewable resources. BioEnergy, BioFuels, Energy from SuperEnzymes, BioPlastics - essential words for the coming vocabulary.
The Carboydrate Economy: BioFuel
Manure, restaurant grease, tree trimmings, rice straw are all great examples of “one person’s garbage is another person’s treasure. Once thought of as intractable, problematic wastes, they are suddenly the basis for huge new markets as raw materials for electricity and fuel. Soybeans, rapeseed oil, and other crops suddenly are much more than food – they can run cars and buses. They are called “Biofuels” – electricity and fuel that is generated from plant matter. The two most common types in the U.S. are bioethanol and biodiesel. Biodiesel is a clean burning fuel made from domestically produced renewable fats and oils – most commonly soybean oil. It has similar fuel economy and performance as conventional petroleum diesel. Ethanol is now the third-largest use for corn after animal feed and exports.Tests show its use results in a 90% reduction in air toxins, according to the National Biodiesel Board. Rather than contributing to the waste stream and pollution, energy crops open a new market for agriculture, conserve soil, and reduce global warming.Bioenergy is less expensive than other renewable energy sources and can be delivered through the present energy infrastructure. You can pump liquid bioenergy into your car at the “gas” station as […]
The Carbohydrate Economy: Return to BioBased Products
Plastic made from corn? How about carpet, clothes, dishes, and paint? It may sound funny now, but 100 years ago plant matter was the basis of almost all products. Petroleum increasingly replaced plants as society’s fundamental medium and by the 1980s almost eliminated biological materials as a source of products and fuels. Now, due to a confluence of factors – high petroleum prices, low crop prices, increasing environmental costs associated with using petroleum, better technology for making plant-based products, and government support – the tide may be turning again. This transition is not small potatoes. David Morris, vice president of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), coined the term “carbohydrate economy” 15 years ago. Shifting society’s engine toward renewable, environmentally benign materials, where farmer-owned manufacturing enterprises process the crops they grow has enormously positive ramifications. By substituting biochemicals – derived from vegetable oils, fiber and grain crops, citrus fruits, nuts and trees – to make industrial solvents, equipment lubricants, paints, and plastics, the environmental costs associated with the production, use and disposal of these products are greatly reduced. Pollution is no longer generated from extracting and processing crude oil into chemicals. End-of-life disposal is also not an issue – the […]
U.S. Paper Industry Nears 50% Recovery Goal
The American Forest & Paper Association reports that the U.S. paper industry recovered 49.4 million tons of paper and paperboard last year, increasing from 45 percent in 1999 to about 48 percent in 2000. The industry association says the 3.5 point percentage gain is among the largest one-year increases. “We are making solid progress toward a goal that was once thought difficult to attain, says Henson Moore, president and CEO of AF&PA. U.S. mills only increased their use of recovered paper by 2.3% in 2000, but production of paper and paperboard declined 2.8%. Exports of recovered paper increased by more than 20% in 2000, with shipments to Canada, China, and Mexico leading the way. Some paper grades such as old newspapers (68% in 1999 to 71% in 2000) and corrugated cardboard (69% to 75%) showed particularly strong recovery rates. Since the industry began measuring progress toward the 50% goal it set in 1995, there has been incremental progress each year. Since then, there has been a 66.6% increase in the recovery rate.
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