Feeling Thick-Wasted?

If you're living green, you're probably making an effort to recycle whatever you can: cans, glass bottles, plastic, paper and so on. But there's a lot more going on in the world of recycling than just figuring out which bin to put your plastic bottles and junk mail in.

Consider some of these recent headlines in the world of recycling and waste reduction:

Disposables vs. Cloth? It's a Wash. A recent study by the British government found that cloth diapers don't have much less of an impact on the environment than do disposables. Turns out, according to the four-year study, that the environmental cost of cloth diapers, in terms of energy used and greenhouse gas emissions produced to wash and dry, are just as bad as for disposables that end up in landfills. Different, yes, but equally damaging.

Pulp Non-Fiction. A report by Forest Trends points to the good and bad of China's fast-expanding economy: on the one hand, the country uses waste paper from other nations to produce about 60 percent of its paper and paperboard products. On the other hand, because China's need for pulp is so great, it's also turning to developing countries like Indonesia, where unsustainable forestry practices run rampant. The report urges buyers of paper to set up supply management systems that monitor for use of illegal or unsustainably harvested woods.

Want Less, Waste Less. If you're really serious about reducing the amount of waste you produce, recycling alone isn't the answer, according to a report from Britain's Economic and Social Research Council. Even with recycling, the volume of household waste in the U.K. continues to increase every year. If the current rate of 3 percent per year continues, the report warned, emissions of methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) could double by 2020 and the British economy could take a severe hit as a result. The study's authors recommended that authorities establish waste targets and fees that would encourage households to both recycle and avoid waste in the first place. They also called for stricter regulations for construction waste and better systems for turning food waste into compost.

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Energy? Researchers at Cardiff University are looking into ways to retrieve precious metals - platinum in particular - deposited onto roadways by vehicle exhaust, and to use those materials to create energy-producing fuel cells. One source that appears promising: the waste collected by public road-sweeping machines.

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