A herd of cows in Maine is letting its hooves do the walking through the yellow pages in a unique new use for old phone books. More than five tons of discarded directories are shredded up every week and used as cow bedding on Ronald Webb’s dairy farm. The phone books are delivered free of [...]

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From dead chickens to old potatoes to crab scraps — if a smelly material is causing problems, Will Brinton has a recipe to make it go away. Brinton, president and founder of Woods End Research Laboratory in Mount Vernon, Maine, is developing new methods to compost animal and vegetable garbage that decomposes too slowly and [...]

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The telephone always has had the potential to be a powerful environmental tool. Like many things, it’s up to the user to realize all of the possible benefits. Just one phone call can save plenty of time, energy and pollution when the alternative is jumping in the car. And with little effort, the telephone can [...]

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Turning the fruits of a recycling program into tangible results has proven hugely successful for the Chicago Park District and the city’s residents. Chicago’s 563 parks are now being covered in garbage. But it is in the form benches, playground barriers and other items composed completely of plastic donated by residents in the city’s Plastic [...]

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Wetlands are to nature what kidneys are to the human body. By using these natural kidneys as filters, a South Carolina county is processing wastewater in an energy efficient manner while leaving the wetlands unharmed. In Horry County — South Carolina’s fastest growing county with Myrtle Beach as its hub — a sewage disposal system [...]

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It’s no secret — America’s disposable society has created a landfill crisis. Landfills around the country are approaching capacity, and new sites are difficult to approve. Portland, Ore., however, is on the right track with an innovative solution. The city has created the nation’s largest composting facility for municipal solid waste. In April 1991, a [...]

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A potato that produces natural plastic may soon be a reality. But unlike the original plastic potato, Mr. Potato Head, this new plant will have profound impacts on the nature of plastic and its ability to exist in harmony with the environment. Scientists now are perfecting a system of growing organic plastics rather than manufacturing [...]

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