Don’t Recycle That Pizza Box Until You Read This

Oil/grease is one of the worst contaminates in the paper recycling process because paper recycling undergoes a heat process, gets mixed with water and pulverized to paper pulp to make recycled paper. If there is oil in the paper pulp mixture then the paper ends up having spots and holes.

About three years ago we wrote about the fact that many corrugated cardboard pizza boxes are recyclable if and only if they are clean. You can read about the pizza box recycling debate here.

We hope that by spreading the word about this and providing you with some visuals about the seriousness of ruining entire batches of recycling because you didn’t know that oil soaked cardboard shouldn’t be recycled in any amount, we can make people aware of this simple point: it might be better to throw that oily box away.

If you still want to recycle that pizza then there are great ways to go about this:

1. If the top half of the pizza box has no grease on it then feel free to rip that half away from the bottom and recycle the top half!
2. Share this article with others who could learn a thing or two about how recycled paper is made, trust us, they won’t forget the next time they have an oily pizza box!

Story from Green Halo and The Economist about increasing #deforestation in #Indonesia

Between 2000 to 2012 in Indonesia 16m hectares (roughly the same area as Greece) experienced deforestation. Of that, 38% or 6m hectares was primary forest, the most valuable in terms of carbon and biodiversity.

Corrupt local politicians and army officers have been selling off forest land to be “cleared for palm-oil and paper-pulp plantations, illegal logging and much else”.

This land is usually cleared by burning the forests down, resulting in a thick and deadly haze cloud that travels across the lands which even caused Singapore and Malaysia to have the worst haze ever on record.

(Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/07/indonesia-and-environment#sthash.tzQ5NgWv.dpbs

And

http://mygreenhalo.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/indonesia-had-16m-hectares-of-deforestation-from-2000-to-2012-and-more-from-the-economist/ )

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Why You Should Stop Drinking Bottled Water!

This infographic is paperless and shows us why we should stop drinking from plastic water bottles:

Thanks to: http://www.naturalmat.co.uk/for providing this infographic!

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Why do I use #castiron ? #gogreen

Did you know that cast iron pans are a good way to get the iron that you need from your food naturally?

If you’ve never cooked with a cast iron pan before you might not know how durable they are or the fact that they result in the best crust on your food. Some say the flavor that comes from a cast iron pan that has been “seasoned” is the best as well.

Some people love cast iron pans, and some don’t but the non-toxic nature of cast iron is compelling.

Teflon coating, and other nonstick pans can be toxic at high temperatures and when pieces get scrapped off the pan the possibility of it going into food and being consumed is high.

This site has compelling reasons as to why cast iron pans are a prime choice when cooking:

http://www.lahealthyliving.com/1/post/2014/03/10-reasons-to-use-cast-iron-cookware.html

 

 

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Awesome #recycling #infographic with stats about our environmental impact

This gem just came on the web, besides the awesome graphic design and the fact that this is paperless environmental education this infographic is just jaw-dropping.

Prepare to be amazed:

 

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Coconut oil as #biofuel for an island is 1 thing to add to the amazing list of #coconut uses

Tokelau, a New Zealand island has an abundance of coconuts but the same can’t be said for other natural resources that help us survive. For this reason, Tokelau’s leader Foua Toloa announced in 2009 that the island will switch to using coconuts and solar power to provide all of the energy for the island. At the moment, diesel is administered to the island from New Zealand to meet the island’s electricity demands (about 42,000 gallons annually). In addition to diesel, gasoline and kerosene is also imported to the island.

In Tokelau, most of the population has modern appliances, including satellite TV and Internet. It’s astonishing to think that the island can run off of solar power and coconut oil but we applaud Foua Toloa and Tokelau for being so bold.  

The new energy plan is to transfer most of the islands’ power generation to 93% photovoltaic solar arrays and biofuel from coconuts will supply the remaining 7% of power generated in Tokelau. Some say that this effort is purely symbolic but we should note that this is part of an effort amount South Pacific island nations to encourage renewable energy systems.

Source: http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678915/a-tiny-pacific-island-is-now-powered-by-coconuts

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The Production of Bio-products as a Source of #Energy and Waste #Water Treatment

The fifth International Engineering Invention & Innovation Exhibition (i-ENVEX 2014) in Kangar just wrapped up and the goal medalists beat out more than 87 entries with their project on the production of bio-products as a source of energy and waste water treatment.

The goal medalists are from the UCSI University chemical engineering and the students names are Jing Ren, Selvaraja, Chun Man and Shapnathayammal. The team, including Teoh Kai Wen developed an alternative fuel source that helps overcome fossil fuel dependence, and also reduces the pollution resulting from fossil fuel production. “It combines both the immobilization of cellulase enzyme (attachment of cellulase to a solid support) and functionalization (surface modification) of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) processes,” Jing Ren explained. Jing Ren also said that: “The past few decades have seen cellulase enzyme being used as the catalyst in industrial processes but large quantities are often involved and the associated purchase cost for raw cellulase is very high”.

The raw material used in this project was palm oil sludge, which was usually disposed after palm oil production. The chemical engineers converted the waste into different products, “bio-oil” and “biochar” by processing the palm oil sludge with pyrolysis.

 

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Education/2014/06/08/Kudos-for-turning-waste-to-fuel/

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#DunkinDoughnut’s vs #McDonalds on #Beverage Containers

Dunkin’ Doughnuts is under pressure to replace their polystyrene foam with cardboard like many food chains around the USA have already done. Dunkin’ Doughnuts has been experimenting for the past few years and “aims to have an alternative cup in two to three years”. Dunkin’ Doughnuts says that the cup has to meet a few different criteria but according to Venessa Wong from Bloomberg Businessweek, other chains’ customers are “pretty used to paper”. This article shows some of the comparisons between what food chains and restaurants face to go green but the contrasts between where McDonald’s is now, compared to Dunkin’ Doughnuts’s strategy is enthralling.

Here is the second article that this summary refers to. Back in 2012, Mc Donald’s choose to phase out polystyrene beverage cups since petroleum-based food packaging persists in the environment for hundreds of years after use and polystyrene might even be a human carcinogen. This switch to paper cups reduced restaurant waste by 30 percent, and saved an estimated $6 million per year. Interestingly enough, McDonald’s is now: “the largest purchasers of recycled paper, used in its food containers, bags, and napkins”. One thing is for sure, eco-friendly packaging is sweeping the globe and taking care of our earth is extraordinary.

 

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#Cooking #Oil Made From Dumpsters, Trash Bins, Gutters, and Sewers – #China

China’s food safety problems have no better symbol than the illegal and utterly disgusting problem of gutter oil. Cooking oil is used heavily in Chinese food, so some street vendors and hole-in-the-wall restaurants buy cheap, black market oil that’s been recycled from garbage. You read that correctly. Enterprising men and women will go through dumpsters, trash bins, gutters and even sewers, scooping out liquid or solid refuse that contains used oil or animal parts. Then they process that into cooking oil, which they sell at below-market rates to food vendors who use it to cook food that can make you extremely sick.

This video, produced by Radio Free Asia, shows in excruciating detail how a couple of gutter oil vendors go about their work. It starts with the couple scooping sewage out of the ground, and it ends with unwitting Chinese consumers chowing down on the end product:

To reiterate, this is illegal, something that Chinese authorities are trying to stop and not used by all street vendors. But it’s also thought to be widespread. Being reprocessed garbage and sewage, gutter oil contains all sorts of untold carcinogens. Many of the operations, like the one shown in the video, are small-time. But there’s enough money to be made that some producers go much bigger.

In April, Chinese authorities uncovered a gutter oil production ring that spanned 13 cities and over 100 people, who somehow acquired rotten animal parts and boiled down the fat into oil. The sting, which came after a five-month investigation, yielded 3,200 tons of the stuff; authorities estimated the black-market producers had already sold a stunning $1.6 million worth of their product.

Food in China is delicious, and gutter oil typically is used just in some street food stalls or cheap, hole-in-the-wall dives. But it is a reminder why authorities there are deeply concerned about food safety issues.

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168,000+ Gallons of #Oil Spills into Galveston Bay

A barge moving through Galveston Bay collided with another ship Saturday afternoon, spilling over 168,000 gallons of marine fuel oil. The spill is particularly devastating, even though it isn’t the largest in recent memory, because Galveston Bay is a migratory bird habitat and shorebird season is fast approaching. On top of that, the type of fuel that spilled is particularly difficult to clean up. The ship was being towed when it collided with the other vessel, though there are no details at this point on how the collision occurred.

The ship contained about 924,000 gallons of the thick, tarry fuel known as RMG 380, but officials say that only one of the barge’s tanks was breached. The six crew members on the ship are all accounted for and are in “stable condition” according to the Coast Guard. Although the wildlife habitats that surround the area are at risk from contamination, the nearby town of Texas City is reportedly not at risk.

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