recycling

Home dome: garbage to housing

Home dome: garbage to housing

Max explaining one of the component blocks of his dome (via) PBS’ Design Squad has found a winner of their Trash To Treasure Challenge with Max Wallack and his Home Dome: Twelve-year-old Max Wallack of Massachusetts won the Design Squad’s Trash to Treasure Competition, a contest that inspired kids to repurpose trash into practical inventions. […]

Upcycling wood pallets

Upcycling wood pallets

I have a love of free materials for many reasons, not least of which is that I feel fine having dozens of non-working prototypes when I’m building with garbage. It doesn’t get much “freer” than wooden pallets. Here are a few pallet projects I’ve found: Mikey and Wendy’s pallet chair, made in an afternoon and […]

Finding good trash

Finding good trash

Thanks to Star Simpson (famous for exposing Boston Airport’s absurdity) for this tip on a new wiki covering an important topic: where to find good trash. Trashwiki is still very new and sparsely populated, but it’s a start. Please comment with any other links you have to trash- (aka treasure-) locating resources. You too will […]

Garbage as a resource

Garbage as a resource

(Image via ABC) Tom Szaky sells people worm feces in thrown-away bottles. At Treehugger, he writes: Garbage is America’s #1 export and possibly the biggest raw material source we have. … Waste is also a new idea – probably no more than 100 years old. It is an idea that came about with the birth […]

Glass bottle shelving

Glass bottle shelving

Here are some Instructables for variations on building shelves with glass bottles as the verticals: Bottle shelving with tension provided by a hook and bolt tightened between the shelves. A kitchen shelving unit version of their design. Check out Zero Waste’s other projects here.

Help save the ACCRC

Help save the ACCRC

James Burgett of ACCRC’s skull of junked electronics (photo via Dale Dougherty) The Alameda County Computer Resource Center could really use your help, as Dale writes on boingboing: ACCRC is in desperate straits. The Bay Area electronics recycler is going through tough times with an emergency re-org and a lack of funds to pay taxes […]

Taking back televisions

Taking back televisions

While most major computer manufacturers have recycling programs in place, television makers aren’t doing quite as well: With only three months to go until the digital TV conversion, the Electronics TakeBack Coalition (ETBC) today released its new TV Recycling Report Card, grading the major TV manufacturers on their efforts to establish national programs to take […]