Green Garbage

A great idea from BigBelly Solar. Philadelphia has installed several of these on their city streets. Below is the press release from BigBelly. 

BigBelly is the world's only solar-powered cordless compaction system. It uses the sun's energy to automatically compact trash at the point of disposal, dramatically increasing capacity by 5 times within the same footprint as ordinary receptacles. Increased capacity reduces collection trips and can cut related fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by 80%. The enclosed design keeps pests out and litter in. Safe and easy to use, the BigBelly has proven successful in urban streets, parks, colleges, arenas - and in all weather conditions.

Reducing Your (Creative) Carbon Footprint

If I hear the word "green" one more time I'm switching everything back to plastic. All of this green talk seems insincere to me because it seems to all be happening at once. I wish business would of been leading the green movement over the years and integrated that part of the story into their communications rather than rushing to shout it louder than their competitor.

At any rate, here are 6 simple solutions to reducing your "creative carbon footprint".

- The average American office worker throws out about 150 pounds of paper per year. This one is obvious. Just recycle everything, print on both sides and do as much as you can electronically.

- Get rid of multiple water bottles and invest in a water filtration system.

- Do not leave taps dripping. One drop wasted per second wastes 10,000 litres per year.

- Turn computers off before going home instead of letting them just go to "sleep".

- Choose suppliers who take back packaging for reuse.

- Take a mug to Starbucks or Caribou instead of using a new paper cup (and a plastic lid) everytime you get coffee.