6 Things You’re Recycling Wrong
Can you recycle coffee cups or greasy pizza boxes? If you’re tossing things in the recycling bin out of sheer hope, you might be an “aspirational recycler.” We have all done it: a greasy pizza box, a disposable coffee cup, the odd plastic bag. Sometimes, we want things to be recyclable, so we put them in the recycling bin. Waste managers often call this wishful or aspirational recycling. But, unfortunately, putting these objects in with the rest of the recycling can do more h
Can Humanity Curb its Consumption and Effectively Recycle?
Time for a brief trip in the Way-Back Machine to when couples had large numbers of children, say, to work on the family farm. People were pretty frugal, so the oldest child’s clothing got passed down to the next in line, and so forth. The clothes were called hand-me-downs, and the methodology was definitely a thing. Modern folk might call it “recycling,” although recycling started centuries ago. Japan began reusing waste paper in the 11th century; in 1690s America, a mill nea
EU Proposes a Total Ban on Plastic Forks and Other Products
The European Commission proposed a total ban on some single-use plastic products and measures to drastically cut the consumption of others, in the latest push by the EU to reduce carbon emissions and marine litter threatening its seas. The ban will apply to plastic cotton buds, cutlery, plates, straws, drink stirrers and sticks for balloons, according to the proposal unveiled on Monday and is subject to approval by EU governments and the European Parliament. Member states wil
