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Posts Tagged ‘waste reduction’

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Obama Global Love Fest by Martin Musatov

Interview with Lawrence Lessig by Wendy Cohen

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Nicole Hughes:

Top 10 Ways to Green Your Move

Climate Change Activist Superglues Himself to UK Prime Minister

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Andy Kondrat:

Can Junk Mail Be Green?

Google Maps Adds Walking Directions

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Jon Popham:

Recycling Building Materials Greens Up Home Improvement

CA Hotel Owner’s Anti Same-Sex Marriage Donation Brings Boycott Calls

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Gina Telaroli:

Naming a Generation

Ebert and Roeper Exit: Time to Give a Lady the Thumbs UP

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Fact: OVER ONE HALF of the solid waste produced in the United States comes from construction and demolition debris. What’s worse is that much of these materials are perfectly usable and as good, or in many cases better, than new materials available on the market today.

Ever drive by a beautiful old Victorian home and wonder how they used to make such fantastic buildings? Those same materials, complete with great style elements of past generations of construction can be a part of your own home by using green architectural salvage services like Community Forklift in the Washington D.C. area. Along with The Loading Dock, a non-profit building materials reuse center in nearby Baltimore, MD, Community Forklift is bringing green alternatives to the enormous waste and consumption rampant in the home building and improvement sectors by offering affordable, re-used materials to the public.

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JetBlue Airways has stopped handing out free disposable headphones on its flights. The airline is encouraging customers to bring their own headphones in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint by cutting back on waste. But never fear, having just flown JetBlue yesterday - the last day for free headphones - I can assure you that the better legroom, the free DirecTV and XM Satellite Radio, and the higher quality free snacks and drinks are still in full effect.

JetBlue Airlines is trying to reduce their carbon footprint onboard their planes through a combination of cutting back on waste through eliminating headphones and in flight magazines.

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Ecoist is turning trash into fashion. The Miami based eco-design firm is riding a fast rising star in the burgeoning world of eco-friendly fashion with their elegant handbags made entirely of recycled materials. Purses made from candy wrappers, rice bags, movie billboards, and pull tabs from aluminum cans (seen left) not only look fantastic but also saves tons of garbage from making its way into overfilled landfills while providing a fashionable and readily available alternative to the large amount of energy needed to produce new materials for the merchandise.

Ecoist has also just partnered with Coca-Cola, Aveda and Luna Bar to create handbags made from misprinted or discontinues packaging materials. Says company co-founder, Jonathan Marcoschamer:

“We tap into that source of waste because it is reliable and unfortunately it’s abundant,”

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It’s time to emancipate Easter eggs from the evils of excess packaging! British chocolate manufacturer Cadbury is eliminating some of its trademark purple packaging just in time for Easter with its launch of box-free, foil wrapped “Eco-eggs.”

The switch will enable Cadbury to “use 75% less plastic and 65% less cardboard than previously used in standard eggs,” according to Recycling & Waste Management News, which adds that Cadbury “has also committed to cutting packaging on its existing boxed eggs” and hopes to save a total of 1,130 tons of packaging this Easter. As Cadbury Easter senior manager Jo Grice told RWM:

“Expanding our range of more eco-friendly seasonal products is part of our overall Purple Goes Green environmental strategy where we have pledged to reduce our carbon footprint by 50% through a number of measures, including packaging.”

Cadbury’s famous milk chocolate eggs may be hollow, but this victory’s not; it’s another example of a corporation making good on its commitment to cut waste. Kudos to Cadbury. Now, if only they’d come out with a dark, fair trade chocolate egg. I can dream, can’t I?

Learn more about Cadbury’s Purple Goes Green initiative here.

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