(via earthday)
UCF Unifying Theme
Our Planet. Our Education. Our Future.
http://www.ut.ucf.edu/
Everyone is familiar with the vending machine that spits out a can of coke or a bag of Skittles.
However, if you like cold, hard cash better than the cold, hard candy, here is another dispenser you might be interested in - the Reverse Vending Machine, which rewards users coins in exchange for their empty plastic bottles.
Too wicked, that’s a reward system people can get behind!
If you’ve ever tried cutting into a plastic bottle, you know that it sometimes isn’t an easy thing to do.
That said, check out these vessels/vases. Amazing, really.
Would you have guessed that they’re made from plastic bottles?
(via Decoracaodegarrafas)
American artist Bart Vargas’s ”Bottleballs,” salvaged plastic bottles glued onto cardboard globes.
Did you know?
In 2010, the United States generated almost 14 million tons of plastics as containers and packaging, almost 11 million tons as durable goods, such as appliances, and almost 7 million tons as nondurable goods, for example plates and cups.
Only 8 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2010 was recovered for recycling.
[Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More info in this EPA fact sheet here.]
3-D printing is really cool and fascinating, but one can’t help but wonder sometimes about the downside of simply cranking out a bunch of new and not terribly useful plastic junk. Thus, this caught my eye:
As the potential output scenarios of 3D printing grow, our thoughts turn to input; while 3D printing replaces the need to use traditional, more costly resources like wood, the use of plastics isn’t the most eco-friendly. To help make the process more sustainable, Vermont Technical College student Tyler McNaney created The Filabot, a desktop machine that recycles common plastics into 3D printing filament.
More: Desktop Machine Recycles Plastic Into 3D Printing ‘Ink’ - PSFK
University Stops Sales of Bottled Water
The Univ. of Vermont will become one of the first institutions nationwide to end the sale of bottled water on campus and mandate that one-third of drinks offered in vending machines be healthy options. The decision marks the advent of a long-awaited systematic sustainable beverage policy after years of lobbying by students and the greater campus community.
The announcement comes five months prior to the end of a ten-year contract with Coca-Cola of Northern New England that allowed the company to provide 100 percent of beverages in vending machines and 80 percent of bottled beverages served in retail, residential dining and catering, totaling more than 1.1 million bottles per year.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/01/university-stops-sales-bottled-waterYes! Vermont, you rock.
What do you guys think about this? Sound like something that could ever come to UCF, in the ‘sunshine state’?
An art installation by Jean Shin made with recycled pill bottles to make chandelier style objects.
To create this work, thousands of empty prescription pill bottles were collected from nursing homes, pharmacies and individuals’ medicine cabinets. Like stalactites and stalagmites, the constructions hang down from above and grow upwards from the floor below. Chemical Balance speaks to our culture’s over-consumption of prescription drugs and our bodies’ dependency on these medications.via: pulmonaire
(via unconsumption)
Portal of Awareness
An arch made from coffee cups in Mexico City is an installation that will eventually be fully covered in greenery.
At the 2012 Bangkok Design Festival, which opened this week, sculpture made from thousands of used plastic bags helps make a public statement about waste.
Basurama, a group of architects from Spain, coordinated the plastic project.
See additional photos via the Bangkok Design Festival here, and Basurama here.
TRASH TRASH infographic about T R A S H
