From now on, think twice before throwing away your juice pack. If you recycle it instead, it could help in a child’s education. Several city schools and retail shops are joining a unique initiative where tetra paks are recycled to make benches, diaries, notebooks and tissues. These are donated to civic schools to help in the education of poor children.

Some entrepreneurs across the country are building businesses based on the belief that garbage -- once destined to rot in a landfill -- can be repurposed into profitable products.

Americans produced about 250 million tons of trash in 2010, recycling and composting about 34 percent of that total, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Now, thanks in part to a sour economy and growing environmental awareness, a few businesses are looking for ways to turn more of the trash destined for landfills into viable products.

New bottles from cola cos to be 30% biomass-based. The next time you take a swig from a Coca-Cola bottle, it may well be ‘green’ — not in colour or content, but in composition. Coke will soon launch new bottles that are 30% biomass-based, said Asim Parekh, vice-president (technical), Coca-Cola India. Instead of petroleum, Coke will use ethanol, a derivative of molasses, to make part of the PET bottle. Molasses is a byproduct generated in large amounts by sugar mills. Industry sources said archrival Pepsi has similar plans for India, but the company remained tight-lipped.

They'll no longer be wrapping their dolls and their toys in rainforest destruction... This is a huge win ­­ Rold Skar spokesman, Greenpeace
US toy giant Mattel, maker of the world-famous Barbie doll, has decided to use more environmentally friendly materials in its packaging. The decision comes after months of facing criticism from Greenpeace.

The California-based company said on Wednesday that it hopes to source 70 per cent of its paper packaging from recycled material or sustainable fiber by the end of the year. The goal would be to rise to 85 per cent by the end of 2015.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) will soon take action against wholesalers and retailers stocking and selling plastic bags less than 40 microns thick, said Member Secretary K.Karthikeyan.

Industry told to make plastic products eco-friendly

Union Minister of State for Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs K.V. Thomas has said that directions have been issued for updating the Indian standards of plastic products to make them compliant with the norms of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) so as to ensure that these do not cause any damage to human health.

PANJIM: In a bid to improve segregation of dry waste, Corporation of the city of Panaji has introduced further segregation of dry waste at source itself through the ‘four bin system’.

It’s a nationwide project to reduce felling of trees to manufacture paper and Jamshedpur cradles are proving themselves second to none in this effort.
About 50 city schools are taking part in the Grand Banyan Project, an initiative of the British Council to recycle wastepaper in collaboration with an NGO, I Love My Mother Earth Foundation that started on August 16.

New Delhi: Plastic salvaged from electronic waste is posing serious health and environmental hazards. Environmentalists have pointed out that toxic plastic is being recycled and toys and other household items made out of it, which is hazardous not only for those involved in the recycling work but also for the end users.

As many as 115 plastic carry bag manufacturing units in various parts of the state were found violating norms during a surprise check by the officials of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) today.