disposable dilemma

two nature boys on a journey to find ways to change our throw-away culture.

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NYC's first bike operated, zero emission, compost pick up.

Hi all our tumblr fans!

Amer and I just launched our first phase of our pilot here in NYC!

Click the link and sign up if you’re interested in compost pickup!

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What if there was no need for separate trash compartments ‘Plastic-Glass-Waste.’ What if disposables were made out of compostable materials? The easiest way to create for change is to embed the solution in the design. In this case as a single stream waste bin.  Sweetgreen in Williamsburg serves their food in fully compostable, starch-based plastics, sending nothing to landfill.  How sick would it be if all restaurants served their food on compostable stuff? 

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I’ve been to Dubai at different periods of my life. This time around was the first I’ve seen recycling stations so prominently placed in popular walking areas. 

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Recycled Beauty • Callaway Photo

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To put the scope of plastics produced annually in perspective, Farahnik points out that “PET plastic is used to make about 100 billion pounds of products per year.” He explains, “70 billion pounds of that goes into clothing, fiber, carpets, t-shirts, toys. Thirty billion pounds goes into packaging. About 1.8 billion pounds of it gets recycled.” What isn’t recycled ends up in our landfills, he says. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, that’s about 13 percent of the 245 million tons of trash every year.

Why Does So Much Recyclable Plastic End Up as Trash? – Good.is

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Final presentation of this half of the year coming soon...a lot in store for next semester.

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Well if that's not the most exciting thing I've ever been served a doughnut on i don't know what is.

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An eventful day running a plate station outside of 2 pizza places in downtown Manhattan. We had 65 people borrow plates from us and choose to not make trash when they sat down to eat. That’s 65 less plates in the landfill and countless people who saw people bring their own and think about their impact. Thank you to everyone who participated.

Also big thank you to $1 Pizza - $2 Beer on Mcdougal for letting us post up all day…specifically the awesome owner Jaime.

We also hung out in front of 2 Bros for a little while on St. Marks but we made them nervous about food code. Next steps are getting proper permission so we can show proof that it’s safe.

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Dropped in to the Zero Waste panel on the upper west side with speakers from Sims Recycling, the Dept of Sanitation, the Nature Conservancy, GreeNYC, as well as Bureau Presidents and Leaders. It was a great roundup of all the things zero waste going on in the city. More interestingly there wasn't much talk about reduction. So we know we're working in a new undiscovered terrain. Had some great chats afterwards and won these funny hats.

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Workshopped our Problem today and came up with around 20 different ideas to tackle this problem. These are a couple that came out of our combinations.

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Mass consumption is not a you, me or them issue. It’s an us issue.

Ellen Callaway

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Check out this short video from Callaway Photo...here’s a little about the project:

“Callaway Photo’s intention of beautifying garbage through photos is to bring awareness to the importance of recycling. The mission is to exhibit recycling as an advertising agency might beautify a commodity for the marketplace. The essential objective is to get our earth to zero waste.”

You can check out the cool little publication they made which is beautifully shot and full of innovative ideas for extended producer responsibility:

http://callawayphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Callaway_RecycledBeauty.pdf

Visit their website for more information about the project: http://callawayphoto.com/recycle/

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Grabbing the dankest vegan sandwich we've had in Chelsea on a bamboo plate - the Seitan BBQ Southwest Sandwich from Terri.

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Written by the one and only Lauren Singer of Trash is For Tossers.

“Cup Club is a program from Cuppow for any coffee, tea, or juice shop that aims to improve their commitment to sustainability. It is a customer loyalty program where every 10th drink that goes into a reusable cup is free. When someone goes into a coffee shop with their own jar, a mark is made on a board at the shop. The 10th customer that has a reusable cup is the one that gets the freebie. So the more people that participate by bringing their own cups, the more free drank there is!”

Click on the link to read more from Lauren at Trash is For Tossers.

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Here are some options to try and solve global warming by doing something.

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Transform Don‘t Trash

Transform Don’t Trash NYC is a campaign to transform the commercial waste industry in NYC to create good jobs and clean and safe communities for all New Yorkers.

Right now, NYC businesses rely on hundreds of private waste companies with thousands of trucks to pick up their waste and recycling.

This industry is a “Wild West” with low recycling rates, poor conditions for workers, unfair siting of waste transfer stations, and lack of oversight. Mayor de Blasio and City Council need to act now to bring this industry into the 21st century.

By increasing recycling, creating better jobs, and more fairly dealing with waste in the five boroughs, New York City can become more environmentally and economically sustainable.

The Problem:

Sixty-one percent of NYC small businesses do not have a written contract with their waste hauler. 

Ninety percent of NYC small businesses pay a flat rate for waste collection, a rate disconnected from the amount of waste they generate.

Ninety-five percent of small businesses receive no discount for separating recyclables.

Few businesses separate recyclables for collection by their hauler, even as 75 percent of businesses want the city to require more recycling.

Disposable Dilemma wants to work on reducing the amount of waste these restaurants create while these changes are happening to alleviate the costs to restaurants and give them the power to take action.

Visit their website to learn more: http://transformdonttrashnyc.org/

We highly recommend reading the condensed small business report: http://transformdonttrashnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/TDT-Small-Business-Report-FINAL20151021-compressed.pdf

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With regard to your dilemma (One plastic bag at the supermarket or drive home and back and then home to get a reusable bag?): Try finding a cardboard box in the supermarket, they will get thrown away in any case, so you are not producing any extra trash!

Thanks for the advice! Hadn’t thought of that.