A new study by Greenpeace reports that the majority of plastics sorted into the recycling bin are not recycled in the United States. Instead they are incinerated or sent to landfills. Greenpeace argues that these plastics cannot be legitimately labeled as recyclable and should have...
Waste Management, Inc., announced it will no longer export plastic waste to poor countries outside the United States. Casella Waste Systems and several smaller companies have made similar announcements. In the wake of China’s 2017 ban on the import of mixed paper and mixed plastic, Waste...
China is the world’s largest importer of recycled materials. In March 2018, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection enforced a new standard for the quality of recycled materials that China will purchase, which reduces contamination from 3 percent to 0.5 percent. As a result, the...
Who can use good news? This month The Ocean Cleanup launched a 2,000-foot boom designed to gather plastic debris and clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. According to The New York Times, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch floats between California and Hawaii and is comprised of...
Happy August! Dr. Sarah-Jeanne Royer published a new study, which finds that “the most commonly used plastics produce two greenhouse gases, methane and ethylene, when exposed to ambient solar radiation.” In other words, as plastic waste decomposes, exposure to the sun causes the plastic to emit...
A new year can open the door to a new you. Part of that new you often involves a fresh, new wardrobe. But what can you do with the clothes you never wear? The ones taking up space. Glad you asked. PURGE Decluttering goes a long way...
What’s a Halloween season without carving pumpkins? Tiny saws and crooked cuts. Slimy seeds and gloppy guts. Guaranteed to be the most pleasing way to upcycle the daily newspaper. But what do we do with our carved pumpkins after Halloween? Let them rot on the...
On July 19th, Science Advances published a study entitled “Plastics: Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made.” Authored by Roland Geyer, Jenna R. Jambeck and Kara Lavender Law, the study combines global data on the life cycles of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and...
The Paris Agreement. You’ve heard it mentioned in casual conversation and political debates. But what is it exactly? What does it entail? With so much going on in our lives, our towns, and our country, it’s small wonder that many of us don’t know. We’re here...
Happy Earth Day! As we said in our Earth Day post last year, Mother Earth is at the heart of who we are and what we do at Remyndr. And over the course of this past year, the issue of climate change has increasingly come to...