The Endless Cycle Of Glass

Glass bottles and jars can be recycled endlessly. That means that unlike some other recycled products, a recycled bottle can be recycled into another glass bottle. And another, and so on forever.

Bars and restaurants are obvious places where a lot of glass waste accumulates, the places I walk past early every morning are usually having a (very noisy) recycling collection with hundreds of bottles collected. More bottles would be able to be collected by one truck if the glass was already broken into pieces, but how to do this safely?

Australian based BottleCycler provide individual bottle recycling machines.

OK, they don’t recycle as such, they crush the glass so more can be stored in less space for collection. A great idea, as they not only reduce space in the bar or restuarant, but also in the recycling pick-up truck, increasing the number of journeys it has to make before returning to empty.

Do you know of anywhere besides Australia similar schemes are available?

[Via Springwise]

Heroes Episode Guide - Chapter 10: Six Months Ago

Probably one of the best episodes yet. It had a lot of answers while still driving the story on. We now know who Sylar is and what’s driving him to kill, although the fact he’s been captured means I can’t help thinking that they’ve got the main bad guy a bit too early. Maybe he’ll absorb some of the Haitian’s powers or Eden’s, but I think he has to go into their brains to do that.

So if he’s been captures, what’s next? Well the big bang’s still going to happen and Ted’s on the loose so the focus will be back on that.

I enjoyed this episodes so much, seeing what happened before we met the characters - why Nathan doesn’t like his ability, what happened to Jessica, how Claire realised she was different and how Eden came to work with Mr Bennet. We don’t know much about the Haitian guy yet and I think he may prove to be the most powerful hero yet.

Apart from Hiro of course. His storyline continues to be the most intriguing and emotional. His ’saving’ of Charlie was heartbreaking as in a way he did save her, but not in the style he wanted to. It did raise a few questions though. If he really can’t go back and change things how come he could go and see Peter and shape what he did from then on? Now he’s back in the present will the staff at the dinner remember him? I suppose he explains the waitresses response when Ando asked if she knew Hiro - “He disappeared from here weeks ago”. I did like it when he phoned himself too.

Although I was worried the story wouldn’t progress from last weeks as it was set in the past, I found it almost better. It filled it gaps and made the show even richer than it was before. When I started watching the show I found it a bit like Lost, raising questions at every turn, but I find it more rewarding than Lost - it answers questions and develops characters much further. I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t love this show.

Song of the Day - Clocks by Rhythms Del Mundo

Clocks by Rhythms Del Mundo, from their brilliant album “Cuba” (available here). From Buena Vista Social Club’s Ibrahim Ferrer & omara Portuondo, it sounds like just Coldplay to begin with, but….

Go buy it!

Song of the Day - Meet Virginia by Train

Great song from their first album ‘Train’ back in 1998. If you ever get a chance to see these guys play live, do! One of those bands that actually manages to sound even better live than their recorded music.

Train is a Grammy Award-winning alternative rock band formed in San Francisco, California. To date, three of their albums have peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and have sold a total of over four million albums in the US. Three of their songs have been top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 including their biggest hit “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)”. Train has found success on modern adult contemporary radio stations, where they have had eight songs in the top 20 of the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart.

Plant A Tree From Your Computer

Tree-Nation is a project that aims to buy trees in Africa to prevent desertification. Based in Barcelona, they are hoping to plant 8 million trees in Niger in the shape of a giant heart (for some reason, though it would look cool from space). At the time of writing they have planted 708 trees, which people have bought. There are 4 types to buy, from €10 to €75

It might be best if they explain it for themselves:

“Desertification is potentially the most threatening ecosystem change impacting livelihoods of the poor” (UNCCD). It is about land degradation caused by CLIMATE CHANGE and human-induced factors. By planting a tree you will make a difference by helping to create a giant heart in Niger, the poorest country in the world, and one of the most affected by desertification. see project.”

Where can you buy a tree?

Tree-Nation isn’t the only site that allows you to buy trees, Trees for the Future are much cheaper at around 10 cents for locations around the world, or for $1 in America with American Forests.

What are the benefits of planting trees?

• Fighting poverty
• Stops Desertification
• Produce Fruits, Medicines, Alimentation, …
• The root system draws water to the surface
• Regenerate the soil
• Increases land’s productivity
• Improve Agricultural practices
• Off-sets CO2 levels
• Counteract Climate Changes

Read comments too!

Source: TechCrunch

The World’s Most Eco-Friendly Electronics Company

Chinese company Lenovo has come first in a Greenpeace ranking of the world’s most eco-friendly electronics firms, with Apple coming last out of the 14 firms studied.

The report is produced quarterly by Greenpeace and is available to download here. Looking mainly at aspects such as toxic chemical poliocy and reduction of their use, the study had some surprising results. Lenovo, who bought out IBM’s consumer division a few years ago, will recycle any of their goods if returned to them, whilst Apple have yet to commit to stopping the use of some toxic substances.

Sources: BBC and Greenpeace

Paper Art - Not As Easy As You Think

Some very impressive results from just one sheet of A4 paper.

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