The Environmental Humanities Initiative — a one-year-old university-wide collaboration that spans myriad disciplines and connects two historic strengths of the university, humanities and environmental studies — has had a “ripple effect” across campus. The initiative aims to deepen understanding of how nature and culture are interconnected, says its lead faculty coordinator, Paul Sabin, professor of […]

Global soft drink companies have made their biggest commitment yet to eliminating the use of throwaway plastic bottles, in an action plan presented to parliament. In a report sponsored by the likes of Danone, Suntory and Nestlé, the companies give unequivocal backing to a government-implemented deposit and return scheme. Their ambition is for zero plastic […]

A leading beer company has come up with a sticky solution to the environmental damage caused by six-pack rings and wrapping. In what it is heralding as a world-first, Carlsberg’s new multi-pack beer cans are held together solely by glue – a move that is set to reduce the Danish brewer’s use of plastic to […]

Our species is pretty good at wasting food. Some we discard at the farm for being undersized or oddly shaped. Others we allow to decay in their shipping containers, thrown away before they even reach shelves. We leave even more foodstuffs wasting away in grocery stores, often by letting it sit there until it reaches […]

Ah, the question we’ve all asked at least once while staring over the recycling bin: “Is [Product X] recyclable?” If only it were a yes-or-no question. The latest effort to define recyclability came in July 2018, when The Association of Plastic Recyclers released a set of four conditions that would determine if plastics are considered […]

As Election Day nears, state and local officials should take a serious look at what can realistically be achieved before setting future recycling goals. Election Day is little more than two months away. While waste and recycling haven’t been big issues in this election, I expect to see more than the normal number of recycling […]

On the banks of the Hoquiam River in southwestern Washington, a mostly sunken vessel lies along a bank at an angle with only its mast and the top of its pilothouse marking its resting place. This stretch of river is a misty, placid working patch of water marked with boats, boatyards and Highway 101 bridges. The […]

Oregon plans to suspend its recycling program for up to two years to re-educate the public on ways to improve the process. China has stopped accepting most recycling materials from the U.S. due to contamination. “The recycling world is changing dramatically worldwide,” said City Administrator Mike Beazley at a recent council meeting. “It’s affecting this […]

Vermont topped the list, with Delaware, Tennessee, Minnesota, New Hampshire, California, Pennsylvania, Washington, Maryland and Texas rounding out the top 10. Call2Recycle announced that in 2017, it recycled more than 8 million pounds of batteries through its battery recycling program. And just this week, the company released its top-performing battery recycling states in the U.S. […]

The Kroger Co. announced it will phase out single-use plastic bags and transition to reusable bags across its family of stores by 2025. Seattle-based QFC will be the company’s first retail division to phase out single-use plastic bags. The company expects QFC’s transition to be completed in 2019. “As part of our Zero Hunger | Zero […]