recycled

Interface sells carpet to the tune of $1,100,000,000 each year. That is just one reason why the business world listens up when Ray Anderson speaks. Ray describes his ecological awakening as “a spear in the chest,” a wound he has used to both his company’s advantage, and the planet’s. Giving rebirth to 133 million pounds of carpet is just the beginning. Anderson and his design teams are hard at work studying nature’s delicate technologies—like the sticky feet of geckos—to make products better, cleaner, and more beautiful. Here, the founder of Interface share his insights on biomimicry, right-brain thinking, cradle-to-cradle design, and our innate “biophilia.” :...

For those of you who are fed up with consumerism or simply don’t like shopping and are looking for another way to acquire things or get rid of stuff, check out Vols Tens in Catalonia, Spain. Similar o Freecycle, this web site let’s you find or give away things in a very easy way, although it is in Catalan only. Vols Tens, meaning ‘Want Have’ in Catalan, is an anti-consumerism, non-profit project, created to get/give things without having to pay.

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Video by Martin Connolly

The other day, as my roommate and I were on our way to sell a load of plastic bottles and paper boxes to our local recycling man, we were stopped by one of our vigilant neighbors. "Whoa, he's not there! He won't be back for two months!" Th...

Here is a small reminder that we really need to redesign everything about modern life, from the smallest, least noticed items on up. Who thinks about 8 - 10 billion polystyrene or polycarbonate hangers manufactured per year, of which only about 15% are recycled?

Green Heart Global, the parent company and designer of Ditto Hangers, that's who. Green Heart Global offers two options, both made from recyclable materials....

Image: Phooey Architects
What can’t the shipping container do? We know you can live in these fabulous prefab versions of shipping containers (such as the All-Terrain Cabin or Detroit's planned container condos by Steven Flum); you can shop in them (like in Freitag’s shipping container store in Zurich); you can even serve beer out of them (we like...

Ray Anderson started his company, Interface, back in the 1970s to make carpet. Like any business man, he wanted to shake up the market and make a healthy profit, which he’s done, and Interface now has 17 manufacturing locations on four continents. But this is not business as usual. Not anymore. Since having a sustainability epiphany, as he calls it, Ray has starting steering Interface toward one hell of a goal: zero negative effects on the planetary ecosystem by the year 2020, a goal he admits no corporation has yet reached. TreeHugger has long found inspiration in Interface’s elegant design solutions—products li...

DH Love Life: Worm Poop by Daryl Hannah
Daryl visits the amazing recycling superstars Terracycle to see their worm poop, their reused packaging and all the other inventive things they do with our waste.

Next Billion: Expo Zaragoza '08 and Other Reasons to Join the Water Conversation by Francisco Noguera. "If there was ever a good summer to be in Spain, 2008 was it. Not only because of the great celebrations that surely followed Torre...

You can find a few second hand markets in Barcelona, such as Antiguos Encantes, but finding cool stuff at a decent price is not easy, especially when you are not a local. On the other hand however, we all (Barcelonians are no exception) have a few too many objects sitting at home that we grew tired of, while constantly looking for new gift ideas or a special something for ourselves. So while the idea of second hand is attractive to many (cheap, more pers...

Graduate design students at the Royal College of Art take the environment seriously. The annual summer show is a great place to find out what the up and coming designers are thinking. Paul Thomas wants to create "natural solutions to man-made problems". His bicycle carrier system has already won a prize and a prototype is being designed. The Pop On Delivery System is a simple solution for carrying heavy recycled carrier bags on a bicycle. It clips onto a standard bike rack and locks on so that the plastic bags don't swing around. A ...

We recently heard a piece on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition about a school in Cairo's Manshiyet Nasser slum community where the city's young garbage collectors are learning the business and economics of recycling and using solar energy to do it.

The school is called the Mokattam Non-Formal Education Project, and has received funding form UNESCO and Procter & Gamble, a company whose products like shampoo are sold in the plastic bottles that end up on Cairo's streets....

we mulled over the notion of whether colourful Crocs footwear might be the Birkenstocks for a new generation. Many respondents argued that without containing recycled content or at least a way of recycling the worn-out shoes they couldn’t be considered ‘green.’

Earlier this year Crocs seemed to have taken steps, if you will, to address these issues. Their new line of SolesUnited are made with grounded up old crocs. The new styles have 20% of this recycled content. Going one further Crocs plan, for 2008, to develop partnerships with shipping companies and worldwide non-profit organisations,...

Collin did such a fine job of putting together our Earth Day posts last year that we decided to practice what we preach, conserve energy, and recycle them.

When it comes to strategies that help your garden grow, adding compost is a great way to mulch and add nutrients without using industrial fertilizers (not to mention a good use of food leftovers and other organic waste). Here are some tips and products that can help you compost and help the planet for Earth Day. Getting Ready for Earth Day: Compost Your Organic Waste

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Collin did such a fine job of putting together our Earth Day posts last year that we decided to practice what we preach, conserve energy, and recycle them.

Cleaning products are everywhere in our homes, and get everywhere when we use them; on our dishes, countertops, floors, hands...the list goes on and on. They're so pervasive that we follow this general rule: if you don't want it on your skin or in your body, don't use it. Thankfully, there is a large (and growing ever larger) contingent of green cleaning products, strategies and ideas to help you keep your house clean and green. :

Collin did such a fine job of putting together our Earth Day posts last year that we decided to practice what we preach, conserve energy, and recycle them.

When it comes to equating everyday behavior with saving the planet, few things are as high on the list as recycling. Here are some tips and resources for incorporating recycling into your life, not just on Earth Day, but every day.::Getting Ready for Earth Day: Recycle!...

Here's an ad campaign for Adidas new eco range, Grun, that is bringing together quite a few green concepts into one curious melange. First we've got the product--Adidas has a a new line of shoes which are made from recycled and natural materials. They are also making clothing from hemp and bamboo; the new Reground range is fully biodegradable, including the first ever completely biodegradable zipper. Their Recycled line is made of materials such as old tires. Then the advertis...

Spring has finally reached the northern reaches of the Northern Hemisphere, and that means amusement parks, and in Denmark's case, lots of beer drinking (it's legal to imbibe on the streets). In addition to amusing and not-so-amusing public drunkenness, the drinking policy also leads to mountains of street trash after a warm spring night.

But at the famous Copenhagen amusement park Tivoli (one of the world's very first in-city large scale permanent parks) there's no trace of plastic cups on the grounds or even in the bins, and that's not because of overzealous maintenance staff - it's due to Tivoli's plastic cup deposit and return system that gets an approximately 80 perce...

Howies is the English eco tee-shirt brand that everyone loves. It was a small company, started in Wales seven years ago by a young couple who wanted to produce cool and environmentally friendly sportswear. The Hieatts were ahead of just about everyone when it came to really caring about all aspects of the production of their clothing, use of organic fabrics and social responsibility. Plus they had a sense of humour. They worked their guts out in the beginning; both having full time jobs and chil...

Help is a new line of healthcare products designed by Richard Fine who was inspired when shopping for pain relievers for a headache. The experience only made his head hurt more: the ugly packaging screamed out slogans under the neon lights, adding to the confusion.

Fine’s response was to create simple packaging out of 100% recycled soft molded paper pulp, designed to be calming. The first two products are “help I have a headache” tablets and “help I’ve cut myself” bandages.

So now we know that 'help' is at hand!