Category: recycle

Recycler Hungry for Australia’s Stinky Old Shoes

Sweat-stained running shoes, double-pluggers that have blown out, work boots that smell so bad they could kill a cat at 20 paces. They’re pure gold to recyclers and Australians are being urged to surrender them to mark Global Recycling Day on Saturday. As the nation transitions to a circular economy, more and more niche recycling…


Coles, Woolworths Takes Responsibility for 12,000 Tonnes of Unrecycled Plastics

About 12,400 tonnes of soft plastic from suspended recycling program REDcycle could fall under the control of Coles and Woolworths as the two supermarket giants offer to pick up the bill. REDcycle, Australia’s largest soft plastic recycling scheme, paused its activities in November 2022, after The Age newspaper revealed it had been stockpiling plastic for…


Australian Supermarkets Form Taskforce to Combat Collapse of Recycling Program

Supermarket giants Coles, Woolworths, and ALDI will form a task force to address the suspension of a soft plastic recycling program following the collapse of REDcycle. REDcycle halted its soft plastic program on Nov. 9 citing “unforeseen challenges exacerbated by the pandemic” with its downstream recycling partners. The interim application of the “Soft Plastics Taskforce”…


Cole’s Marine Waste Shopping Bags ‘Not Genuinely Reusable,’ Environmental Group

The Boomerang Alliance, an environmental group that represents over 50 environmental and government organisations have criticised Coles new reusable bags made from plastic marine waste as a “not genuinely reusable.” “Coles have missed a golden opportunity to reduce the use of wasteful plastic bags by continuing to sell disposable shopping bags,” said Toby Hutcheon, Campaign…


Only About 5 Percent of Plastic Waste Gets Recycled in US, New Report Says

By Frank Kummer From The Philadelphia Inquirer PHILADELPHIA—Only 5 percent to 6 percent of the 46 million tons of plastic waste generated annually in the U.S. gets recycled, a big dip from the last estimate of nearly 9 percent just a few years ago, according to a new study by two environmental groups focused on…


Service Learning: Nurturing Children’s Sense of Charity in the Classroom

It was mid-December, shortly before Christmas vacation. The elementary and middle school students had just finished their annual Christmas carol performance at the local senior center. Teachers handed cards to their students, and the children started visiting people in the audience. I proudly watched one of my students, an 8-year-old girl, hesitantly approach an elderly…


The Untold Truth of California’s Recycling | Heidi Sanborn

Many Californians care about recycling, but you may not know a lot of what you’re recycling ends up in the landfill. We used to rely on China to take our recyclables, but they’re no longer taking them. My guest is Heidi Sanborn, executive director at the National Stewardship Action Council. She discusses California’s recycling infrastructure…


A Boy Who Started His Own Recycling Business at 3

He is doing an excellent job protecting the environment and is build a career at the same time.


‘Upcycling’ Promises to Turn Food Waste Into Your Next Meal

How would you like to dig into a “recycled” snack? Or take a swig of juice with “reprocessed” ingredients made from other food byproducts? Without the right marketing, these don’t sound like the most appetizing options. Enter “upcycling.” That’s the relatively recent term for the age-old concept of using low-valued foods or food processing byproducts…


Up-Cycle Your Old Furniture To Add Onto Your Garden

Somewhere in your home, there might be a furniture item that you have always wanted to get rid of. And as spring has arrived and we are in the midst of spring cleaning perhaps this is the time. And yet, as you wonder how to toss or what recycling fees are for old furniture you…