Recyclable

What do you do if you want to draw attention to the threats faced by the world’s oceans, in particular the huge amount of plastic waste that ends up in them? Easy, you sail across the Pacific Ocean, visiting and documenting environmental hot spots along the way. That, at least, is what the crew of the Plastiki are in the process of doing. The group of six adventurers set out from San Francisco on March 20th, with Sydney, Australia as their final destination. Three and a half months into the 11,000 nautical mile journey, they’re currently about 4,000 miles from the finish line. What makes their odyssey particularly remarkable is their sailboat, the Plastiki – a craft made almost entirely from recycled and/or recyclable plastic that gets the majority of its flotation from approximately 12,500 two-liter plastic bottles. Read More

There are many pens on the market today that claim to be biodegradable, or ecologically sound – but are they really? DBA in New York wanted to produce a responsible alternative to the vast numbers of wasteful and toxic pens we use and dispose of unethically every day, and claims to have designed not only a pen that looks good and writes well, but is also the world's only 98% biodegradable pen. Read More

Shoeboxes account for millions of tonnes of waste and sadly, looking at my shoe racks, I've probably made a substantial contribution to that. PUMA on the other hand is on a mission to reduce its carbon, energy, water and waste "paw print", and has decided to do away with the shoebox altogether. It has launched its Clever Little Bag, a single folded sheet of cardboard in a resuable, recyclable PET bag, designed to protect shoes from the time they leave the factory until the customer gets them home. Read More

Realizing that little ones grow up so fast designers are increasingly creating innovative baby products that are designed to last. The Soleil 1,2,3 baby bed from Castor & Chouca, is a case in point. Made from eco-friendly, recyclable materials - it starts off as a baby bassinet, it then transforms into a child’s bed and finally, a child’s desk. This is one clever and functional piece of furniture that can be used long after your child has grown out of diapers. Read More

Trexa has revealed details of a lithium-powered, all-wheel vehicle development platform that will enable engineers and developers to create custom "vehicle apps", doing for builders of electric vehicles what the iPhone did for application developers. Modular and scalable, the standard Trexa platform will feature an aluminum, carbon steel tubing and thermoplastic shell containing open source and user programmable electronics and advanced battery technology. Read More

When it comes to buying baby gear, new parents can be forgiven for becoming a little befuddled with all the equipment needs of a new baby. One item that is on most parents’ list is a feeding chair and it seems the choices and styles are endless. Here’s an interesting new travel-ready solution that might attract parents who lean towards green – Belkiz’s Feedaway – a strong, portable and lightweight feeding chair made from 100% recyclable Visy cardboard. Read More

If the benefit to our environment isn’t enough to get some people to recycle, Georgia Tech’s Valerie Thomas has come up with the concept of offering a cash incentive enabled by “Smart Trash”. The concept involves a scanner integrated into a trash receptacle that automatically records what is being disposed of using Universal Product Codes (UPC) or radio frequency identification (RFID) tags attached to the trash. This would not only allow recyclers to better sort the waste but could also provide a cash back channel to consumers recycling goods of value. Read More

Nokia's recently announced ‘X-series’, which currently consists of the X3 and X6, looks to build on the success of the XpressMusic series with some funky new styling and a healthy set of features. Read More

Undoubtedly a pretty environment-friendly way to travel, donning a pair of skates still leaves you with a bit of an eco-headache. With all that plastic and metal wrapped around your ankles, the skates themselves are a bit of an environmental let down - until now. Inline skate innovators at K2 skates have recently added another industry first to the company's catalogue of cutting edge developments. Not only are the boots and laces made from recycled plastic bottles but the wheel frame is made from one of the most sustainable materials on the planet, bamboo. Read More