Patagonia Launches eBay Storefront to Buy, Sell Pre-Owned Gear
Patagonia always had a reputation for making durable, low-impact outdoor apparel, but the California label is taking its sustainable ethos one step further with the launch of Common Threads, an initiative that seeks to help consumers, well, consume less. Together with online-auction website eBay, Patagonia created a virtual swap meet on Wednesday for buying and selling used Patagonia gear—an unexpected retail model that’s a first for a major brand. The underlying message, one that underscore one of eBay’s core commandments, is clear: The greenest product is the one that already exists.
Read the rest on Ecouterre here.
(Spotted on Twitter, via Zeynep Arsel.)
Got old meds? Medication disposal is becoming easier — JournalTimes.com
A Houston-based company, Sharps Compliance, aims to make it easier for Americans to dispose of unwanted medications — 200 million pounds of which are estimated to be improperly disposed of every year.
Consumers can purchase Sharps’ postage-paid envelopes at Walgreens, CVS/pharmacy, Rite Aid, and Kroger stores, among other outlets, to mail in non-controlled substances.
“This addresses a problem we’ve had for years,” David Tusa, president and CEO of Sharps, said. “Meds remain in the medicine cabinet and then people or children accidentally overdose, or people flush them and they work their way into the water systems. It’s estimated that 35 to 40 percent of medicines go unused in any given year.”
Sharps’ envelopes go to a disposal company in Texas that … burns the medicines. The ash in Texas is then repurposed into concrete and used to create roads.
An alternative: Consumers in the U.S. can, on a designated day (most recently April 30, 2011), drop off medications at locations participating in the Drug Enforcement Agency’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
(photo via Walgreens)
Mayor pushing to ban plastic bags at Austin stores
See also earlier Unconsumption posts here on other plastic-ban ordinances.
In packaging news: PepsiCo unveils North America’s first soft drink bottle made from 100 percent recycled PET plastic
PepsiCo’s press release says the ”development of the 7UP EcoGreen™ bottle is a significant achievement” and a “breakthrough” for the beverage sector.
Creating a bottle made from 100 percent recycled plastic for soft drinks is more challenging than creating a bottle for non-carbonated beverages because of the stress on materials from carbonation pressure.
By introducing the 7UP EcoGreen bottle in Canada, PepsiCo Beverages Canada will reduce the amount of virgin plastic used by approximately six million pounds over the course of one year. Studies published by the Association for Post-Consumer Plastic Recyclers in 2010, estimate this reduced use of virgin plastic will lead to a reduction of more than 30 percent in greenhouse gas emissions and more than 55 percent in energy use, based on current 7UP production levels.
![Plastic wine bottles gaining favour
This is news to me:
Wine producers from New Zealand, the United States and even France are switching from glass to plastic wine bottles, saying they are lighter, good for the environment and not bad for the wine.
The PET, polyethylene terephthalate, bottles are 100 per cent recyclable, unbreakable, lighter and smaller to transport than glass and take less energy to create.
“We see [plastic] as a positive step in terms of energy and production,” said Michael Wentworth, of New Zealand’s Yealands Estate. “It’s 89 per cent lighter than glass, so you’re reducing your carbon footprint there, as well as any time you ship it.”
The plastic containers have not changed the taste of the wine … Yealands said because its sauvignon blanc and merlot, which have both been bottled in plastic, have done well in blind-tasting wine competitions.
Read the rest: Plastic wine bottles gaining favour - The Globe and Mail](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lninygtvPW1qzv12bo1_250.jpg)
Plastic wine bottles gaining favour
This is news to me:
Wine producers from New Zealand, the United States and even France are switching from glass to plastic wine bottles, saying they are lighter, good for the environment and not bad for the wine.
The PET, polyethylene terephthalate, bottles are 100 per cent recyclable, unbreakable, lighter and smaller to transport than glass and take less energy to create.
“We see [plastic] as a positive step in terms of energy and production,” said Michael Wentworth, of New Zealand’s Yealands Estate. “It’s 89 per cent lighter than glass, so you’re reducing your carbon footprint there, as well as any time you ship it.”
The plastic containers have not changed the taste of the wine … Yealands said because its sauvignon blanc and merlot, which have both been bottled in plastic, have done well in blind-tasting wine competitions.
Read the rest: Plastic wine bottles gaining favour - The Globe and Mail
Texas to get the first packaging-free grocery store in the U.S.
In.gredients, which is slated to open this fall in Austin, will sell loose and bulk items, including “local, organic meats, dairy, baking goods, cooking oils, spices, grains, seasonal produce — the whole spectrum.” Customers will need to bring reusable containers from home (or use the store’s compostable containers), and weigh them before filling with the products they want.
In.gredients’ package-free, zero-waste retail concept, similar to that of Unpackaged in London, is a great business model. The benefits of precycling — avoiding wasteful packaging — and buying only the amounts you need of locally sourced products, creating less landfill and saving money in the process, are many.
If you have friends in Austin, encourage them to support in.gredients. And let’s hope in.gredients will expand to other markets. [Hi, Houston next, please.]
No matter where you live, check it out: You can follow the company’s progress here (blog and Web site), here (Facebook), and here (Twitter).
World wastes 1 billion tons of food a year -- CNNMoney
The United Nations said Wednesday that about 1.3 billion tons of food is lost or wasted every year, which amounts to roughly one third of all the food produced for human consumption.
According to the [United Nations] report, food losses occur as a result of inefficiencies in food production and processing operations that diminish supplies. Food waste, by contrast, is when retailers and consumers throw edible food in the trash.
Consumers in rich nations waste a combined 222 million tons a year, according to the report. That’s almost as much as all the food produced in sub-Saharan Africa.
The report puts much of the blame on retailers in rich nations that throw out food simply because it looks unappealing, and the food industry’s ‘all-you-can-eat’ marketing tactics, which encourage consumers to buy more than they need.
Full story here.
New thrift store offers exchange, upcycling - The Brown Daily Herald
Two [Brown University] undergraduates have teamed up to create Brown’s first student-run thrift store, providing an outlet for students to donate, exchange and buy used goods. The Vault, which opened two weeks ago, was started by Hannah Winkler ‘13 and Tara Noble ‘12.5 in the hopes of providing various environmentally friendly ways for the community to handle unwanted items.
There are three components to the Vault — a thrift store, an item exchange and a workshop. The thrift store currently sells clothes, jewelry, books and other accessories donated by students, and Winkler said she also hopes to offer housewares in the future. For the item exchange, Brown students can bring in their unwanted clothing or other items to receive store credit for other goods in the thrift store.
The Vault is also unique in that it offers various workshops that align with Winkler and Noble’s goal of upcycling, a process that converts old or useless materials into items that have more value and a positive environmental impact.
The Vault offered a T-shirt workshop Monday in Salomon, where students could bring in used clothing and upcycle them into other items, such as bags or wristbands. Noble said other workshops are also planned for the future, on papermaking, repair-and-mending and seasonal workshops.
Would love to see student-entrepreneurs launch similar ventures on or near other college campuses.
![New biodegradable golf ball made from discarded lobster shells:
Golfers on the high seas can breathe a little easier — and so can the marine life around them — thanks to a biodegradable golf ball made from lobster shells. The ball is intended for use on cruise ships and so should lead to fewer regular golf balls ending up in the ocean.
Though biodegradable golf balls already exist, this ball is the first to be made with crushed lobster shells [a byproduct of the lobster canning industry] with a biodegradable binder and coating, creating value from waste material.
[University of Maine] Undergraduate student Alex Caddell, a golfer who assisted in the engineering effort, said the balls perform similarly to their traditional, white-dimpled counterparts.
The University of Maine has filed a provisional patent for the lobster-shell mixture, which can also be used for such products as plant pots that decompose in the ground, surveying stakes and other applications.
(via Golf Balls Made Out of Lobster Shells | Biodegradable Golf Balls for Cruise Ships | InnovationNewsDaily)
(Photo credit: University of Maine.)
[Hat tip to Marg Ryan, @margryan on Twitter!]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lj04b8E8io1qzv12bo1_400.jpg)
New biodegradable golf ball made from discarded lobster shells:
Golfers on the high seas can breathe a little easier — and so can the marine life around them — thanks to a biodegradable golf ball made from lobster shells. The ball is intended for use on cruise ships and so should lead to fewer regular golf balls ending up in the ocean.
Though biodegradable golf balls already exist, this ball is the first to be made with crushed lobster shells [a byproduct of the lobster canning industry] with a biodegradable binder and coating, creating value from waste material.
[University of Maine] Undergraduate student Alex Caddell, a golfer who assisted in the engineering effort, said the balls perform similarly to their traditional, white-dimpled counterparts.
The University of Maine has filed a provisional patent for the lobster-shell mixture, which can also be used for such products as plant pots that decompose in the ground, surveying stakes and other applications.
(Photo credit: University of Maine.)
[Hat tip to Marg Ryan, @margryan on Twitter!]
Last fall, Lowe’s installed recycling centers in its 1,700+ U.S. stores, encouraging customers to deposit CFLs, rechargeable batteries, unwanted cell phones, and plastic shopping bags in them. (Related fact: “The EPA estimates that more than 500 million CFLs, approximately three of every four CFLs sold in the U.S. each year, are improperly discarded.”)
Now there’s this news, just in time for spring gardening: Green-living advocate Danny Seo reports (on his Daily Danny site) that Lowe’s now accepts plastic plant pots, trays, and tags for recycling:
Generally, curbside recycling programs are not able to accept plastic nursery plant containers such as plant pots, trays, and hanging baskets, so this program gives consumers a recycling option. No matter where consumers originally purchase the plant, they are encouraged to return the materials to Lowe’s garden center to be recycled.
When consumers return the pots and trays to the store, they are picked up by local annual vendors and sorted. The reusable material are sterilized and reintroduced to the production cycle. Material not deemed “reusable” will be crushed, banded and sent for recycling.
Via poptech:
PepsiCo unveils the world’s first 100% plant-based, plastic-free bottle (via curiositycounts)
