Consider Packaging for Savings at Landfill and Check Out Register

One dollar of every ten-dollar purchase goes to the cost of packaging, and package waste accounts for more than half the trash in the U.S. These days, clever packaging can influence a purchasing decision and can be an important component in building brand recognition.

The purpose of packaging is to prevent damage and provide important information to the consumer about ingredients, usage, manufacturer and country of origin. Unfortunately, the ongoing quest to find new ways to safeguard food and transport products has become a slippery slope on the road to overload.

Smart shoppers know that packaging can add as much as 45 percent to the cost of a product. Shrink-wrapped, pre-cut produce on a plastic tray is twice as costly. Choosing popular prepackaged salad mixes can take a bite out of your food budget while adding to the avalanche of unnecessary package waste clogging our landfills. …read more of 5 Smart Strategies to Save Money, Reduce Waste here

Polystyrene is the practically indestructible material used in packing peanuts, foam cups, egg cartons and produce trays.

Like all traditional plastics, polystyrene is made from petroleum and is a non-sustainable source of major pollution. It is ubiquitous, difficult to recycle, does not biodegrade and resists photosynthesis¹.  In a stunning development, a new study has shown that polystyrene not only dissolves in biodiesel fuel, it increases the power output in the process.

Scientists found that polystyrene packing peanuts dissolved in biodiesel can actually boost the power output of the fuel and get rid of garbage at the same time. …read more of Biodiesel Dissolves Polystyrene! here

Electronic waste (ewaste) constitutes 2 to 5 percent of the solid waste stream in the U.S. and government researchers estimate that three-quarters of all computers ever sold in this country are still awaiting disposal. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States generates more e-waste than any other nation in the world.

On a recent edition of 60 Minutes, Allen Hershkowitz, senior scientist and authority on waste management at the Natural Resources Defense Council, declared that ewaste is the fastest-growing component of the municipal waste stream worldwide. “We throw out about 130,000 computers every day in the United States” (1).

Many consumers are unaware of the level of toxic materials used to make the products they rely on for word processing, data management, Internet access and electronic games. Mountains of discarded electronics often …read more of E-waste here