Good News Notes: “Recycling is something many of us take for granted, assuming what we throw in the bin ends up getting recycled properly. But current curbside systems aren’t particularly effective, especially if the material isn’t clean or a plastic isn’t actually recyclable, so much of what goes into your blue bin can end up in landfill. Enter…
Tag: pet
Therapy dogs help students relax and relieve stress
Good News Notes: “At Tannenbaum Quad, Esha Pathi, a first-year student at the Wharton School, said spending even a little time with a therapy dog helps relieve stress. “The last few weeks have been very stressful with a lot of assignments, and the weather is perfect today,” she said. “The opportunity to pet dogs is a…
Study suggests bacteria in cow’s stomach can break down plastic
Good News Notes: “Bacteria found in one of the compartments of a cow’s stomach can break down plastic, research suggests. Since the 1950s, more than 8bn tonnes of plastic have been produced – equivalent in weight to 1 billion elephants – driven predominantly by packaging, single-use containers, wrapping and bottles. As a result, plastic pollution is all-pervasive, in the…
Woman Looking For New Pet to Adopt Finds Dog She Lost Years Ago at Shelter
Good News Notes: “Aisha Nieves of Allentown, Pennsylvania began browsing the adoption webpage of the Lehigh County Humane Society’s (LCHS) website on June 18 with the hopes of finding a new pet for her two sons. That’s when she saw Kuvo, the tan pitbull-rottweiler mix that she lost over two years ago. “I thought, ‘Wait,…
SC Johnson Partners with Brewers and Bucks to Upcycle Arena Cups
Good News Notes: “Racine, WI–based SC Johnson, the household products company, is taking sustainability in a new direction — upcycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) cups from professional sports events into bottles for Scrubbing Bubbles cleaner. The company has partnered with Milwaukee’s baseball and basketball teams, the Brewers and the Bucks, to implement the program. In partnership with…
Plastic pollution: Chinese scientists identify polythene-eating bacteria
Good News Notes: “Chinese scientists say they have identified a blend of marine bacteria that appears capable of breaking down polythene, one of the most ubiquitous plastics on the planet and source of much of the pollution in the world’s oceans. While the plastic-eating qualities of bacteria are already well known to the scientific community,…
Chicken yoga becomes the newest animal therapy trend
Good News Notes: “Meows, barks and bleats have been common at yoga sessions in recent years, as animal therapy became a trend to soothe participants as they work out. Recently, a downtown business added clucks into the mix with the launch of chicken yoga. Yes, chickens. But not your average Rhode Island reds. These were…
Major Innovation Brings A New Level Of Sustainability To PET Bottle Recycling
Good News Notes: “Around the world, there is now general agreement that the only possible development model capable of delivering a ‘zero waste’ future to the world is the Circular Economy. Today, however, there are only a few cases of closed-circuit systems that can take a material that has reached the end of its originally-intended…
Upcycling Plastic Waste For Supercapacitors
Good News Notes: “What if you could solve two of Earth’s biggest problems in one stroke? UC Riverside engineers have developed a way to recycle plastic waste, such as soda or water bottles, into a nanomaterial useful for energy storage. Mihri and Cengiz Ozkan and their students have been working for years on creating improved energy storage materials…
Before Minnesota animal shelter temporarily halts adoptions, hundreds of pets find new homes
Good News Notes: “As Minnesota residents hunker down for another week of social distancing, some of them will be sharing their home with a new cat or dog — pet adoptions that may benefit other animals in the weeks to come. On Sunday, the Twin Cities’ Animal Humane Society began a temporary closure to the public…