Recycling Challenge: Eyeglasses

FACT: More than 4 million pairs of eyeglasses are thrown away each year in North America.
According to the World Health Organization, 1 billion people who need glasses lack access to them. In developing countries, and here in the U.S., inaccessibility means that these people are losing educational opportunities because they can’t see clearly to read,

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Recycling Challenge: Cell Phone Chargers

FACT: Globally, 51,000 to 82,000 tons of cell phone charger waste is generated per year.
PROBLEM: One hundred million cell phones become obsolete each year and, in most cases, so do their chargers. The European Commission has recently solved this problem for residents of the European Union by persuading 10 major cell phone manufacturers to sign

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Dispatch: Paper Heart

How can two people and two cats make so much garbage? My husband used to ask this question almost every time he took out the trash. I had pondered it myself ever since we started living together. There was only so much we could blame on the cats. Among the many things Glenn and I

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Blast Off: New Age Blasting Media uses recycled glass in a creative way

Did you know that most blast cleaning in the United States—used on public spaces like bridges, buildings and sidewalks—is done with industrial coal waste? Yup, industrial coal waste (or coal slag): the very same substance causing an environmental and public health disaster after a spill in Tennessee, and the same black muck that Lesley Stahl

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1 min read
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Trick My Truck: The city’s Mural Arts Program brings a colorful flourish to recycling

One of the most striking things about the Philadelphia Recycling Rewards Program launch was the trucks. Wrapped in vibrant, colorful patterns, the hulking behemoths were belle of the ball. That’s all thanks to a partnership between the Streets Commission, under the guidance of Clarena Tolson, and Philadelphia’s Mural Arts program.

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