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The Electronics TakeBack Coalition has released a new report card grading electronics manufacturers that produce TVs, computers, gaming consoles and printers on their sustainability efforts around recycling. Somewhat similar to Greenpeace's rankings, the report card shows where manufacturers are succeeding at walking the talk about minimizing the environmental impact of their products -- but more often it shows where they're failing miserably.

The companies on Electronic TakeBack Coalition's list were even graded on a curve, but unfortunately, all the printer companies (save HP) received giant F's. 

Electronic TakeBack Coalition etbc recycling printers hp

Yesterday's news, traditionally incorporated into chip wrapping, has become a staple of the world-wide paper industry.

But a trend towards reading online has meant fewer pages are being printed and therefore discarded.
 
Seventh Generation, a marketer of green consumer products, is among companies struggling to source supplies.

Martin Wolf, a director at the business, said: "The decline of print newspapers and magazines is a source of concern for journalists, but it also has an impact on the worldwide paper market.

"After coming to depend on readers to dutifully recycle their old periodicals, paper manufacturers are now finding that supplies of high-quality paper for recycling are becoming scarce."

paper paper supply recycling newspaper newspaper sales

A Taiwan company has built a three-storey exhibition hall using 1.5 million plastic bottles instead of bricks to raise interest in recycling, creating what the builder described as a world-first.

taiwan plastic bottles greennumbers recycle recycling

In a paper published in the American Chemical Society journal, Macromolecules, scientists from IBM and Stanford University detail discoveries that could lead to the development of new types of biodegradable, biocompatible plastics. The result of a multi-year research effort, the breakthrough also could lead to a new recycling process that has the potential to significantly increase the ability to recycle and reuse common PET and plant-based plastics in the future. Today’s announcement may have sustainability implications across a wide range of industries including biodegradable plastics, plastics recycling, healthcare and microelectronics.

ibm biodegradable biocompatible plastic recycling reuse pet

Which airlines are taking steps to reduce the vast amount of waste generated each year by the industry? Delta, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and Southwest are doing the best job, according to the new report “What Goes Up Must Go Down: The Sorry State of Recycling in the Airline Industry” from Green America's consumer watchdog Web site ResponsibleShopper.org (http://www.ResponsibleShopper.org). The report also shows that United and US Airways are doing the worst job when it comes to recycling."

airlines recycling recycle waste airline industry

New EU rules have come into force that require some stores selling batteries to provide in-store recycling bins.

in-store recycling batteries recycling eu

Karin Landsberg, 42, a self-described “eco-geek” in Seattle, was so curious that she invited researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology into her home last month to fish 12 items out of her garbage and recycling bins — a can of beans, a compact fluorescent light bulb — and tag them with small electronic tracking devices.

rubbish trash recycling tracking greenmonktv

In the race to put 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015, another challenge awaits on the other side of the finish line: recycling all of those batteries.

plug in hybrid electric vehicle battery lithium ion recycling recycle greenmonktv

Philips has announced a change in its recycling policy, taking responsibility for the cost of recycling its own products. Earlier this week Philips confirmed that these costs should no longer be paid directly by its coustomers through an additional fixed fee but instead come closer to being part of the overall product price.

philips recycling ewaste

HP is working with international development groups to improve computer recycling practices in four of its fastest-growing African markets.

hp recycling africa

Vancouver, Canada-based Ostara Nutrient Recovery Systems is the latest in a series of companies to make its business converting waste into useful products — in this case by removing nutrients, like phosophorus, from wastewater and recycling them into fertilizer. The water treatment firm has just raised $10.5 million in private equity financing from VantagePoint Venture Partners and Foursome Investments Limited.

recovery recycling water water treatment

The U.S. is doing little to protect against the potential dangers of obsolete televisions, computers and other devices sent abroad for reuse or disposal, congressional investigators reported Wednesday.

People in the U.S. threw away 330 million electronic devices in 2006, and as many as 66 million were exported, according to estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Concerns have mounted that not all recycling is conducted responsibly, particularly in developing countries, and that some U.S. recyclers and exporters may be at fault," the Government Accountability Office said in a report requested by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

recycling reuse disposal

In Britain alone, experts say landfill sites could offer an estimated 200 million tons of old plastic - worth up to £60 billion, or $111 billion, at current prices - to be recovered and recycled, or converted to liquid fuel.

landfill recycling polyethylene global landfill mining

The UK government has put councils at the vanguard of the summer's hottest pop-psychology trend, funding Barnet LBC to pilot experiments in 'nudging' people to change their behaviour.

nudge nudging sustainable behaviour recycling

RepRap - is this the ultimate recycling mchine?

reprap recycling