Kathy's Green List

Belgrave Trust Announces Limited Edition Products That Combine Design and Carbon Neutral Living

Belgrave Trust – a membership based carbon offset service which is known for its market-based approach to climate change solutions – has announced a limited edition collection of office essentials that pair carbon neutrality with sustainable design.

This new product line includes items ranging from a hand crafted, energy efficient desk lamp to a simple sticker that cleverly rebrands a laptop.

All offerings offset a portion of an office’s carbon footprint through Belgrave Trust’s actively managed and diversified portfolio of emissions-reducing projects, and each is designed and built by area artisans, often from repurposed, locally sourced materials."

The line’s genesis was in a simple idea: to match environmentally responsible methods with an artist’s eye for design -- aiming to inspire a wider conversation about sustainable living, as a gallery show might evoke a discussion that goes beyond the canvas.

Cape Cod Wildlife Festival Scheduled for September 25

The first annual Cape Cod Wildlife Festival will be held on Saturday, September 25, from 10am until 3pm, at Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary overlooking Barnstable Harbor. (Rain date: Sunday)

This free event is sponsored by the Cape Cod Wildlife Collaborative, a group of non-profit wildlife and conservation organizations dedicated to protecting, researching, rehabilitating and educating about wildlife around the Cape. Each organization will bring educational activities and information to share about its work. Children can try life as a herring in a maze or climb into Delilah, a life sized inflatable Right Whale.

The Cape Cod Wildlife Festival will feature Marla Isaac with her amazing Reptile and Raptor show, focusing on the unique adaptations of these native species to survive the Cape's habitat and climate.

House Panel Tackles Chemical Safety Legislation

A House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee today held the first hearing on legislation to overhaul the 34-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

The new legislation, The Toxic Chemicals Safety Act (HR-5820 Waxman/Rush) received strong support not only from environmental and public health advocates, but from a Pennsylvania manufacturer of construction products. The hearing comes after months of intensive work by the Committee with representatives of businesses, public health advocates, scientists, and community leaders.

Coca-Cola and Emeco Create New Chair Made from 111 Recycled Plastic Bottles

 The Coca-Cola Company and furniture manufacturer Emeco have partnered to create a new chair made from at least 111 recycled plastic bottles. 

Modeled after the original aluminium Navy Chair (#1006) ,which Emeco designed in 1944 for the U.S. Navy, the new chair is named the  “111 Navy Chair.”

Each 111 Navy Chair contains a mix of 60 percent rPET plastic (recycled polyethylene terephthalate plastic) and a special combination of other materials including pigment and glass fiber for strength.  Coca-Cola estimates that more than three million PET plastic bottles will be repurposed annually for the production of 111 Navy Chairs.

Healthcare Symposium Will Feature Reprocessing as a Key Strategy for Greening the OR

Ascent, a leader in delivering healthcare resource sustainability, is sponsoring the “Symposium for Greening the OR,” on April 27 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The event will gather a select group of thought leaders from throughout the healthcare industry to discuss strategies for waste reduction and cost savings in operating rooms across the country.

The symposium comes at a time when medical device reprocessing and re-manufacturing is gaining significant attention as a way for hospitals to reduce waste and cut costs, and so it's not surprising that the reprocessing of single use medical devices will be at the top of the agenda.

Reuse Marketplace is First Multi-State Materials Exchange Network in the US

 

The Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. (NERC) has launched the Reuse Marketplace, the nation’s first multi-state Materials Exchange network.

Spanning seven states, the Reuse Marketplace enables businesses, government agencies and nonprofits that have unwanted materials to connect with markets beyond their local areas. As a result, these organizations cut their waste removal costs, reduce the quantity of items they send to landfills, and lower carbon emissions.

NERC serves as the administrator of the Reuse Marketplace and has partnered with these eight Materials Exchanges across seven states:

Massachusetts Maritime Academy Hosts 16th Annual Marine Environmental Symposium

Massachusetts Maritime Academy will host its 16th Annual Marine Environmental Symposium for high school students and teachers April 23-24, 2010.

Billed as the largest marine and environmental symposium for high school students and teachers nationwide, the event will feature a number of distinguished guests, including:

PepsiCo Announces New Global Water Goals

PepsiCo announced two ambitious global water goals last week. The company wants to:

* provide access to safe water to three million people in developing countries by 2015 and

* continuously strive for positive water balance in company operations in water-distressed areas.

This new set of commitments builds on progress made by PepsiCo to promote greater water-use efficiency across its operations and to source water in ways that respect communities and ecosystems. In 2007, for instance, PepsiCo set a global goal to reduce water consumption by 20 percent per unit of production by 2015. To date, the company has achieved a more than 15 percent improvement in water use efficiency as compared to the company's 2006 baseline.

"We work hard to improve our water-use efficiency, preserve water resources and provide public access to clean water through alliances with nonprofit groups such as the Earth Institute and Water.org," says Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo's chairman and chief executive officer. "We are committed to minimizing the impact our business has on the environment, and we will continue to collaborate with our industry peers, governments, NGOs and communities to ensure we are doing more, collectively."

Reusing Medical Devices Saved Hospitals Millions of Dollars in 2009

Ascent, the market leader in the remanufacturing of medical devices in the U.S., announced today that in 2009, its hospital partners realized hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings through the use of medical device remanufacturing programs.

On a per-hospital basis, some hospitals saved more than $600,000 per year. Plus, Ascent’s programs also helped customers reduce their environmental footprint by diverting an estimated 5.3 million pounds of total waste from landfills.

Green Pizza Box Converts to Plates and Storage Container

 Have you seen the Green Box?

At first, it seems like an ordinary pizza box...but, look a little closer, and you'll see that it's so much more.

The Green Box is the brainchild of ECO Inc., a Manhattan-based manufacturer of sustainable packaging. It's a pizza box made from 100% recycled material that breaks down into serving plates and a storage container.

After all, everyone loves pizza.

But, don’t you just hate having to store leftovers in those big, awkward boxes? Even when all of the pizza is finished, you still have to throw all that clunky cardboard away.

Shouldn’t there be a more eco-friendly alternative to packaging one of the world’s favorite foods?

Now there is.

On its website, ECO Inc. lists several benefits of the Green Box. For instance, the Green Box: