Curiosidades

A former computer programmer is spending his days trawling around fish and chip shops collecting used cooking oil in a bid to help save the planet. The Scotsman reports that Alexander MacDonald converts old cooking oil into biodiesel and his business has become so popular that during the recent Grangemouth …

GLOBE-Net reports that as part of a Joint Venture, the technology group The Linde Group and the North American company Waste Management Inc. will build the world‘‘s biggest plant for the conversion of landfill gas into environmentally friendly biogas in Livermore, California. The plant will begin operating in 2009. It …

The cost of needlessly wasted food to UK households is £10 billion a year, £2 billion higher than previously estimated according to new research published today by WRAP. The research gives detailed new insights into the nature and amount of food waste thrown away in the UK and is believed …

Hair-care products, wound-care dressings and drug encapsulation are among the potential uses of new, soy-oil-based polymers known as “hydrogels,” developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Peoria, Ill. ScienceDaily reports that ARS chemists Sevim Erhan and Zengshe Liu developed the soy-oil-based hydrogels as a biodegradable alternative to the synthetic …

Pepsi is introducing its lightest 500ml flavored non-carbonated beverage bottle yet. The company has reduced the plastic in this bottle by 20%, which will eliminate approximately 20 million pounds of waste from the environment. The lighter bottles will begin hitting store shelves this month. Environmental Expert reports that the new …

new group to consider how to reduce the number of single use carrier bags and promote bags for life was announced in Scotland. Cabinet Secretary for the Environment Richard Lochhead made the announcement following a meeting with major retailers where he promised to work closely with retailers to tackle Scotland‘‘s …

Plans to ban or charge for single-use plastic bags are a diversion from the real environmental issues, one of the government‘‘s own advisers has said. BBC reports that waste and recycling expert (and RRF Trustee) Professor Chris Coggins said such a government policy allowed the supermarkets to pass on responsibility …

CleanTech Biofuels, Inc. has announced that the equipment purchased from the University of California at Berkeley is now in place and operational. Testing of cellulosic feedstocks has begun. Waste Business Journal reports that it is estimated that Americans produce 4.4 pounds of waste per day, or 229 million tons of …

The UK Government‘‘s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has published the second provisional set of estimates from the Department‘‘s 2007/8 survey of municipal waste in England. These provisional results incorporate the second quarter of the financial year (July to September 2007) and are based on information supplied …

An article from Dr Maggie Clarke of Maggie Clarke, a long-time New York City-based solid waste scientist, researcher, educator, and activist. Amid the pages and pages of ideas and proposals to move New York toward sustainability in “PlaNYC”, there is barely a mention of solid waste. Even though solid waste …