• Sustainability

Ford and HP Team Up to Recycle 3D Printing Waste into Auto Parts

• 3D printer
• auto parts
• Ford
• Hewlett-Packard
• recycle
• waste

Ford has teamed up with Hewlett-Packard (HP) to turn spent 3D-printed powder and parts into stronger, lighter, and more cost-effective vehicle parts. The recycled, injection-molded parts will first be used on Ford’s Super Duty F-250 trucks and have better chemical and moisture resistance than conventional versions. 

Why This Matters: 3D printing makes use of plastic and metal powders that, when disposed of in landfills, can contaminate groundwater and end up in the air, harming human health.

• Sustainability

Burger King Debuts Reusable Packaging Program

• Burger King
• fast food
• Loop
• packaging
• plastic
• recycling
• waste

Burger King recently announced a new renewable packaging partnership with Loop, a “circular packaging” service that aims to create a “closed-loop” system of washable and reusable packaging in the food industry.

Why This Matters: The United States has one of the worst recycling rates of any developed nation, recycling only 50% of the packaging used.

• Sustainability

What I’ve Learned From Baking Bread

• baking
• bread
• consumption
• farmers
• sourdough
• waste
• wheat
• yeast

By Scott Nuzum For many of us, the last six months have had dramatic impacts on the way we think about time. Before Covid-19, many of us felt as though we never had enough time. But in the months since the pandemic struck many of us now face the opposite challenge—namely, how to fill those […]

• Sustainability

The Added Pollution Potential of PPE Waste

• coronavirus
• COVID-19
• Ocean Plastic
• ocean pollution
• PPE
• waste

by Julia Fine, ODP Contributing Writer While the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on human health, the waste produced by our response to it is posing immense risks to the health of our environment as well,  Talib Visram reported for Fast and Company. According to Visram, the “flood of PPE could cause immediate […]

• Sustainability

Heroes of the Week: The People Left Cleaning Up

• sanitation
• trash
• waste

Throughout the coronavirus crisis, there have been countless heroes who have emerged to take care of the sick, protect the healthy, and ensure that our society functions as best as it can in extraordinary times. But some of our lesser-acknowledged heroes are the people who are cleaning up our waste and sanitizing our hospitals and […]

• Sustainability

NYC Nowhere Near Zero-Waste, Despite Mayor’s Pledge

• New York
• NYC
• trash
• waste
• zero waste

Nearly 5 years ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged New York City would send zero waste to landfills by 2030, in part by scaling up an aggressive composting program to turn food scraps into nutrient-rich soil. It’s now 2020 and the city is nowhere near meeting the mayor’s stated goals.