Cactus juice used to make nontoxic, biodegradable plastic bags

Good News Notes: “America generates almost 38 million tons of plastic waste every year, ranking second only to China. That’s a lot of plastic, and despite decades of recycling efforts, the bulk of it winds up in landfills and waterways. To come up with a more sustainable substitute, researchers at the University of the Valley of Atemajac…

Big Island Business Turns Plastic Trash Into Sales

Good News Notes: “Governments in every county across the state are cutting back on plastic. On Hawaii Island, the county is no longer recycling plastic, and that’s where one woman has turned a problem into a business. Upcycle Hawaii owner Mattie Mae Larson talks about how she got into the business of repurposing material that…

Thailand Starts 2020 With Plastic Bag Ban Across Major Supermarkets

 Good News Notes: “Thailand began 2020 with a ban on single-use plastic bags at major stores, continuing a campaign launched by the government and retailers towards a complete ban in 2021 to reduce plastic waste in the sea. Public awareness of the risk to animals and the environment from such waste was raised last year…

Zero Waste in Architecture: Rethink, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

 Good News Notes: “Rethink is about changing how you think about things. Break paradigms, include new materials and solutions, and reconsider precedent.” “The idea of ​​Reducing can also be highly complex. It can mean decreasing the amount of concrete in a structure by consciously resizing it, or designing for lightweight systems that use less raw materials…

Los Angeles is testing ‘plastic asphalt’

Good News Notes: “A street in downtown L.A. will soon be repaved, but the road won’t be quite the standard asphalt road we’re used to. Instead, it will be covered with a material made, in part, from recycled plastic bottles.” “The plastic is a key in a new process for street paving: For the first…

‘Recycling Grannies’ get new use from discarded plastic bags

Good News Notes: Plastic bags are not biodegradable and will likely sit in a landfill for 1000 years. “Plarn” is yarn made from these plastic bags that can be used to crochet a number of different crafts. These wonderful ladies began using their crochet skills to create coasters, sleeping mats, purses and more from this…

Tiny Everyday Changes to Help the Environment | Reader’s Digest

Good News Notes: Master the art of packing light Unplug your coffee machine Prevent junk mail from piling up Fine-tune your driving skills Breathe life into your backyard   View the whole story here: https://www.rd.com/advice/tiny-everyday-changes-help-environment/