Science & Technology

If there's one thing we've learned over the last few weeks, it's that burning large quantities of staple foods to produce a relatively small amount of fuel is a thoroughly misguided practice -- with grave implications for the world's most vulnerable populations. And though the barbs directed at biofuels from all sides have been merited, we must not forget one of the other main culprits in this global food crisis: bioplastics.

Science & Technology

This is some serious Cradle to Cradle design; a chewing gum bin that collects used gums to then turn this raw material into more bins. British designer Anna Bullus (we previously featured her disposable sugar mug) has invented this new material she calls Gumnetic, made from used chewing gums and bio resin. The first object created from Gumnetic is the Bubble Gum Bin. This sweet little object is upcycling bubble gum and turning it into a valuable raw material, potentially saving, in the UK alone, three and a half billion pieces of gum a year from going into landfill or worst, being stuck on the pavement. Nine out of ten city paving stones in Britain have had gum stuck to them, the removal of which takes expensive jet sprays or chemical treatments (Via I&DeA). Let’s hope these attractive bins will collect the gums in the future and give them a second life.

Science & Technology

Brazilian home accessories brand Coza, specialized in 'cool' plastic designs, has launched its first 100% biodegradable plastic product. The baskets from the picture belong to the Coza Organic line and are produced with bioplastic: a commodity from potato starch which, according to the brand, decomposes completely after 18 weeks in contact with land.

The baskets come in three colors (green, blue and white) and three sizes, with or without cover. They can be found online at the Loja Coza (retail only in Brazil, contact them for bulk requests) and in several stores around the country, including the Museum of Modern Art's design store at Rio de Janeiro (Novo Desenho). Price online starts at 15 Reais (about 8 US dollars). Read more about the company in the extended.

Via Coza Magazine

Science & Technology

In spite of San Francisco's enlightening example, and Australia and China and other nations' plans for all-out bans on plastic bags, the world still uses a million of the suckers each minute. In Sweden 70% of surveyed consumers support a ban on plastic carrier bags, but the country's Environmental Protection Agency says no way. What's going on?

Part of the issue lies in Sweden's highly developed system of incinerating plants - keeping plastic in the waste stream ups the energy content of the stream. So while youth-oriented PUB department store recently introduced biodegradable shopping bags and major grocery stores ICA and Konsum will also do trials, a very vocal group of researchers at Chalmers has come out strongly against bio-bags and in favor of green polypropylene instead. Find out why below the fold.

Science & Technology

In what could be a move to get back in Greenpeace's good graces, Nokia has unveiled its 3110 Evolve, a new phone that Nokia has "evolved" into a greener machine. With "bio-covers" (plastic?) made from more than 50% renewable material, smaller packaging made of 60% recycled content and including Nokia's most energy efficient charger yet, using 94% less energy than the Energy Star requirements.

Add that to Nokia's energy-saving alerts, and it appears that the company is making some incremental, baby-step changes (no, not that kind of baby step) to getting greener. With the average life span of a cell phone around 18 months (which adds up to 130 million added to the waste stream each year), it can be difficult to think of the portable talkies as "green." But since nobody is going back to the pre-cell-phone Stone Age anytime soon, let's keep those green baby steps coming.::Nokia via ::Hippyshopper and ::Gizmodo

Science & Technology

Target has introduced a new version of their bioplastic gifts cards. The cards are made with a corn-based material called Mirel from Metabolix. This bioplastic is said to biodegrade more readily than rival materials and, unlike others, it can break down in a backyard compost bin. The Sustainable Is Good blog has a nice photo of the cards degrading after being in a compost for 40 days. The gift cards are currently only available at 129 Target stores nationwide.

Science & Technology

Nacre, or Mother of pearl is the iridescent lining you see on the inside of an oyster, mussel, or abalone shell. It is also the same material that creates pearls. The play of light we find so appealing is a result of the little beasties engineering the shell down to the molecular level.

To create a shell that is tough and lightweight (sometimes 3000 times tougher than its component parts), the abalone layers an organic material and a non-organic material into a nano-structure design resembling brick and mortar.

We have seen before how the abalone inspired super tough materials. Now engineering professor Nicholas Kotov and his team from the University of Michigan have created a process similar to our bivalve friends that allows the creation of materials one nano-layer at a time, with impressive results.

Science & Technology

While drinking organic wines is one of TreeHugger's favorite ways to enjoy the fruits of the earth without harming the planet, wine an its derivatives are good for so much more. Here are some of our picks that go beyond simply drinking the sweet fermented grape.

	1) Wine-making, meet renewable energy production: a team of undergraduate engineering students from Oregon State University has developed an environmentally-friendly biodegradable polymer derived from biodiesel and wine-making byproducts that could replace polystyrene foam meat trays in supermarkets and be used in the manufacture of fire logs, furniture and other consumer goods.
	2) An organic winery in Western Australia recently became the recipient of a $20,555 AUD grant from that state’s Sustainable Energy Development Office, so they can build some walls from old bottles, put water in them to insulate the building, and start up a thermal imaging monitoring program for a cellar-door outlet to see how well it can keep bottles of white cool and bottles of red at a comfy room temperature.
	3) Los Angeles-based designer Cliff Spencer was intrigued by a Napa Valley winery's offer of used oak that had been soaked in wine, so he picked some up to try it out as a furniture building material. Turns out that the wine-soaked wood had a beautiful natural stain; pinot noir makes for the darkest stain while the pinot grigio leaves the lightest. The pieces resulting from the noir-stained wood has a deep walnut tones without any of the walnut finish. Clothing and pesticide made from wine, after the jump...