According to the Smithsonian , larvae from black soldier flies already eat the food waste from about 2, restaurants in China. The larvae are great at converting this waste into body mass. Using the black soldier fly larva effectively reduces the amount of organic waste rotting in the landfill. Instead of producing climate-warming greenhouse gases in the process, it can be used to cut the cost of growing and feeding livestock for human consumption.
What do you want to happen to you after you die? Do you want to be buried in a coffin or cremated? Or do you want your body to be composed for further use, giving new life? With Recompose , the latter option is possible. Recompose, formerly the Urban Death Project, offers an alternative to cremation and conventional burial practices by gently converting human remains into soil. But corpses do take up a lot of space, water and energy to be buried in the stereotypical western tradition.
For example, each year in the U. Worse, embalming fluid leaks into groundwater, and further carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere from the manufacturing of caskets, headstones and grave liners. More people will be born, more people will die. We have to think about Western burial practices more strategically if we want to use our limited usable land more efficiently, economically and ecologically.
So, yes, glass is recyclable. Which is a problem, because glass will take about 1 million years to break down. A report from the Journal of Cleaner Production finds that waste glass can be repurposed into building material without needing to remelt it and without requiring much water to produce. This makes glass recycling much more efficient. As of , conventional glass recycling technologies need glass to be separated into different glass types and to be remelted, which takes a lot of energy.
Why cut more stones out of the earth when we could make stone-like products out of our own waste? Zero waste stores are becoming a reality. In no part of the process — from manufacturing to what the consumer buys in the store — will anything need to be thrown away. For example, at Package Free Shop , every single one of their products is compostable , recyclable or reusable in some way, even the packaging of their products.
That makes them liars! Menstrual cups and other sanitation products even legally require packaging. At some places, such as The Fillery in NYC, customers bring their own containers and bags, weigh them at the beginning of their shopping trip, fill their containers with food or other products, and pay at the counter. Sweden was one of the first countries to revolutionize this process, and their technology got so good that they ran out of their own trash to burn.
They had to import trash from other countries to keep their recycling plants going. Imagine, there might be a day when the landfills stinking up the earth could be used to safely and effectively power homes across the world. There is a huge mass of floating plastic in the ocean. The effects of marine pollution and, specifically, plastic are being researched as we speak, while commercial recycling efforts are underway to reduce this growing problem.
He stated:. At last measurement, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or GPGP was upped to more than 80, tons, which is at least four times, and perhaps as much as sixteen times, the size previously estimated for this floating pile of plastic.
Finding plastic pollution solutions and controlling the handing of plastic waste is one of the most important topics for commercial waste recycling professionals and environmentalists alike. The recent study was conducted by an international team of scientists, six universities, and an aerial sensor company.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum. Ecology expert Paul Caplat has outlined tips on how to make the most environmentally friendly choice this year. I accept. The Ocean Cleanup has been collecting plastic waste using a metre floating barrier. Take action on UpLink. UpLink — Take Action for Ocean. Forum in focus. Read more about this project. Explore context. Explore the latest strategic trends, research and analysis.
Environmental organization The Ocean Cleanup has been collecting plastic waste using a metre floating barrier. It would work by allowing the debris to drift into the collection platforms on its own, making the work efficient due to the use of floating booms. From clothing by Marina DeBris to containers by Method that use recycled ocean plastic, there are many products being made today from the Garbage Patch.
Encouraging new products would help to increase the harvest of the trash and reduce its negative environmental effects. Every ocean has its own garbage patch. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch just happens to be the largest of them. With a little work and some ingenuity, it is clear that we can reduce or eliminate this trash in our waters over time. Crystal Lombardo is a contributing editor for Vision Launch. Crystal is a seasoned writer and researcher with over 10 years of experience.
She has been an editor of three popular blogs that each have had over , monthly readers. Sign in.
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