Recycling and Waste News

November 1, 2016

Flexible Solar Panel Goes Where Silicon Can't

Air Pollution, Noise and High Blood Pressure

Nano-Spike Catalysts Convert CO2 Into Ethanol

Great Pacific Garbage Patch Worse Than Expected

Latest Headlines

updated 7:56pm EDT

Microplastics in Agricultural Soils: A Reason to Worry?

Oct. 28, 2016 — Microplastics are increasingly seen as an environmental problem of global proportions. While the focus to date has been on microplastics in the ocean and their effects on ... read more

New Method to Help Solve the Problem of Nuclear Waste

Oct. 27, 2016 — In the last decades, nanomaterials have gained broad scientific and technological interest due to their unusual properties compared to micrometre-sized materials. At this scale, matter shows ... read more

'Farming' Bacteria to Boost Growth in the Oceans

Oct. 24, 2016 — Marine symbiotic bacteria may help to "fertilize" animal growth in the oceans. A microbiologist and colleagues have discovered that chemosynthetic bacteria in marine animals ... read more

Urbanization: The Historical Cause of Low Oxygen Conditions in European Lakes

Oct. 24, 2016 — A new study shows that hypoxia in European lakes started in 1850, becoming more widespread after 1900, long before the use of chemical fertilizers ... read more

Lightweight Rotor Blades Made from Plastic Foams for Offshore Wind Turbines

Oct. 21, 2016 — Offshore wind turbines are becoming ever larger, and the transportation, installation, disassembly and disposal of their gigantic rotor blades are presenting operators with ... read more

Underground Science: Lab Digs Deep for Clean Energy Solutions

Oct. 19, 2016 — About a mile beneath Earth’s surface in an old gold mine, scientists have built an observatory to study how rocks fracture. The knowledge they gain could ultimately help ... read more

Reducing Ammonia Pollution from Cattle

Oct. 19, 2016 — Improved barn design, cleaning processes, and manure treatment could reduce ammonia emissions from commercial dairy cattle barns by 17 to 50%, according to a new study. The ... read more

Technique Could Lower Cost of Making Bioplastics, Biofuel

Oct. 19, 2016 — The potential for at least partly replacing oil with cellulose as a renewable source of energy and materials has just improved, report ... read more

Biomass Heating Could Get a 'Green' Boost With the Help of Fungi

Oct. 19, 2016 — In colder weather, people have long been warming up around campfires and woodstoves. Lately, this idea of burning wood or other biomass for heat has surged in popularity as an alternative to using ... read more

Fracking Wastewater Is Mostly Brines, Not Human-Made Fracking Fluids

Oct. 17, 2016 — Human-made chemical-laden fracking fluids make up less than 8 percent of wastewater being produced by fracked wells; more than 92% of it is naturally occurring brines, which carry their own risks but ... read more

Specially Trained Dogs Sniff out Fecal Pollution

3-D Printing Entire Homes Can Really Help People In Poverty

Radioactive Water Leaking from Florida Sinkhole

Our Oceans Are Littered With Trash — Here's How We Could Fix It

Indian Roadside Refuse Fires Produce Toxic Rainbow

Oct. 25, 2016 — The first toxicity measurements of roadside garbage fires in India highlight the unhealthy nature of a common practice, report ... read more

Study Reveals Corals' Influence on Reef Microbes

Oct. 12, 2016 — As they grow, corals are bathed in a sea of marine microbes, such as bacteria, algae, and viruses. While these extremely abundant and tiny microorganisms influence coral communities in a variety of ... read more

Optimizing Sludge Treatment

Oct. 10, 2016 — Wine harvesting season is a challenge for wastewater treatment plants. When the grapes are being processed, the effluent load rises steeply – by a factor of 17 in the Palatinate town of Edenkoben. ... read more

New Technology Helps Pinpoint Sources of Water Contamination

Oct. 4, 2016 — When the local water management agency closes your favorite beach due to unhealthy water quality, how reliable are the tests they base their decisions on? As it turns out, those tests, as well as the ... read more

Washing Clothes Releases Thousands of Microplastic Particles Into Environment

Oct. 3, 2016 — More than 700,000 microscopic fibres could be released into waste water during each use of a domestic washing machine, with many of them likely to pass through sewage treatment and into the ... read more

Catalyst for Green Biodiesel Production from Unrefined Feedstock

Oct. 3, 2016 — A durable catalyst for green biodiesel production from low grade feedstock through one-step catalysis has been developed, report ... read more

Research Finds Way to Make Fracking Safer

Sep. 22, 2016 — Injecting wastewater deep underground as a byproduct of oil and gas extraction techniques that include fracking causes human-made earthquakes, new research has found. The study, which also showed ... read more

Not All Bioplastics Are Created Equal

Sep. 21, 2016 — Conventional plastics are seen as environmentally unfriendly because they're made from fossil fuels. As plastic production grows -- it's expected to double over the next 20 years -- ... read more

Coffee-Infused Foam Removes Lead from Contaminated Water

Sep. 21, 2016 — Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the U.S., which makes for a perky population -- but it also creates a lot of used grounds. Scientists now report an innovative way to reduce this waste and ... read more

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Sep. 7, 2016 — Want to help mitigate global climate change? Grow some veggies. According to a new study, turning lawn into a vegetable garden can reduce greenhouse gas ... read more

Tapping the Unused Potential of Photosynthesis

Sep. 7, 2016 — Scientists have reengineered the fundamental process of photosynthesis to power useful chemical reactions that could be used to produce biofuels, pharmaceuticals and fine ... read more

How Much Do Perfumes Pollute? Pioneering Study in the Canals of Venice

Sep. 5, 2016 — Researchers have been investigating the canals to look for traces of these molecules which are referred to as 'perfumes ' in the ingredients of products that we use ... read more

Low-Cost Solar Device Converts Sunlight to Steam in Dusty Environment

Sep. 6, 2016 — A novel, low-cost solar thermal energy conversion system has been developed that can easily generate steam from sunlight. The solar conversion system can help make technologies that rely on steam, ... read more

Drugs in the Water? Don't Blame the Students

Sep. 1, 2016 — A new study contradicts the common assumption that down-the-drain disposal is an important source of pharmaceutical pollution in ... read more

People Enhanced the Environment, Not Degraded It, Over Past 13,000 Years

Aug. 30, 2016 — Human occupation is usually associated with deteriorated landscapes, but new research shows that 13,000 years of repeated occupation by British Columbia's coastal First Nations has had the ... read more

Blending Wastewater May Help California Cope With Drought

Aug. 26, 2016 — Researchers have developed an economic model that demonstrates how flexible wastewater treatment processes which blend varying levels of treated effluent can create a water supply that benefits crops ... read more

Ecological Consequences of Amphetamine Pollution in Urban Streams

Aug. 25, 2016 — Pharmaceutical and illicit drugs are present in streams in Baltimore, Maryland. At some sites, amphetamine concentrations are high enough to alter the base of the aquatic food web. So reports a new ... read more

Going Green Is for Girls, but Branding Can Make Men Eco-Friendly

Aug. 25, 2016 — Studies show that men are not as environmentally friendly as women. But could men be persuaded to go green? New research indicates the answer is yes — and it’s all about ... read more

Nanofur for Oil Spill Cleanup

Aug. 23, 2016 — Some water ferns can absorb large volumes of oil within a short time, because their leaves are strongly water-repellent and, at the same time, highly oil-absorbing. Researchers have found that the ... read more

Urban Water Pumping Raises Arsenic Risk in Southeast Asia

Aug. 22, 2016 — Large-scale groundwater pumping is opening doors for dangerously high levels of arsenic to enter some of Southeast Asia's aquifers, with water now seeping in through riverbeds with arsenic ... read more

Tuesday, October 25, 2016