The whiz-bang idea of a plasma-powered rocket is undercut somewhat when said rocket is relegated to collecting space garbage, but that is one of the many menial tasks Costa Rican-born physicist Franklin Chang Diaz envisions for his invention. The variable specific impulse magnetoplasmic rocket (VASIMR) is propelled by superheated exhaust gas and can move a craft much faster than current rocket technology at roughly half the cost. Chang Diaz, a former NASA astronaut now serving as president and CEO of the Ad Astra Rocket Company, says VASIMR may one day ferry astronauts to Mars and beyond. But for the time being, the craft could take on humbler jobs, such as keeping space stations aloft, ferrying payloads into orbit and, yes, collecting dead satellites and other potentially dangerous trash orbiting the planet.

“Our goal is to be able to have a garbage truck that will be picking up all of these objects at various orbits, obviously for a price,” Chang Diaz told GlobalPost. The trash could be dumped in an “orbital graveyard,” he added, “or we could actually launch them to the sun and drive them to the sun, which is kind of the ultimate, cosmic dump.”

Which sounds like a great metaphor until you realize that no one really worries about their local landfill going supernova.

Source: GlobalPost

So you redecorated the entire house, from the Asian-inspired living room to the country French kitchen. But something’s still not right. Why, it’s the garbage can liner, of course! You barely ever see it, but just knowing that that sad white plastic bag with the yellow ties fails to conform to your overall aesthetic just gnaws at you.

Fret not! Obsessives can now swath their trash in style thanks to Elaine Murray of Park City, Utah, inventor of decorated garbage liners sold under the name Sweet Baguettes. The liners currently come in three designs: a contemporary blue and brown pattern and two patterns suitable for a child’s trash can, cars and trucks and fairy princesses. More designs are planned as the product receives wider distribution. The four-gallon bags come in packs of 15, tastefully wrapped in baguette paper.

Therapy costs extra.

Source: The Park Record

We are days, nay, hours away from the annual American bacchanalia that is Thanksgiving. A day later, hordes of rampaging consumers will storm the nation’s retail outlets in a valiant attempt to stave off another year of depressing sales numbers.

Just in time, Greenopolis provides tips for an Earth- (if not turkey) friendly Thanksgiving and a green Black Friday.

The Atlanta-based Coca-Cola company has unveiled a new container technology it calls PlantBottle — a fully recyclable PET plastic bottle containing up to 30 percent organic material. Specifically, the organic material being used in the initial run of bottles is a byproduct of sugar cane processing, though it seems other organic material could also be used. Coke is pitching the new containers as beneficial to the environment (its production requires a smaller carbon footprint) and a means of reducing petroleum dependency.

According to a Coke press release, the amount of organic material that can be used in the production of new bottles must be adjusted depending on how much recycled PET is also being used. “For example,” it says, “Denmark uses recycled content in its PlantBottle packaging. The combined plant-based and recycled content makes up 65 percent of the material, with 50 percent coming from recycled material and 15 percent from plant-based material.”

The ability to recycle PlantBottle alongside regular old PET certainly would seem to give it an advantage over Polylactic acid (PLA) and other environmentally friendly plastic alternatives. But it may take time to fully grasp any potential downsides of the technology.

Thoughts?

You bought that big, beautiful pumpkin before Halloween with hopes that it would make it through Thanksgiving — double-duty decorating, if you will. But after an early frost, it’s looking alarmingly deflated and you’re left with the dilemma of how best to dispose of the thing. Of course, as industry types, we know composting is the best option. The Daily Green provides some simple tips for effectively composting a pumpkin. Baseball bats are involved.

There was no shortage of trash talk exchanged between New York and Philadelphia during the recently concluded 2009 World Series (congratulations, Yankees … AGAIN). But that’s not the only trash traveling between the two cities.

This week, the New York Times featured a well-written story about New York’s mutually beneficial waste exporting relationship, in which it pays other municipalities — including the Pennsylvania communities of Morrisville, Tullytown and Falls Township — to accept its refuse. Rather than resent the constant stream of trash from New Yorkers, residents of these Phillies-loving towns reap rich financial benefits. They even exhibit pride in their modern landfills, a far cry from New York’s maligned Fresh Kills landfill, the closing of which necessitated this arrangement in the first place.

Interesting read.

Workers at a waste facility in New Bern, N.C., no doubt snapped to attention when they came across not one but two unexploded landmines. Police and a bomb squad were called in to have a look. The devices turned out to be S-mines, incendiary devices that date to World War II, colorfully referred to in military circles as “Bouncing Bettys.” Neither device had a fuse, rendering them relatively harmless. One mine had already been crushed by a landfill compactor (to no ill effect, obviously). The origin of the devices was unknown, but city and landfill officials suspect the ordinance was destined for disposal elsewhere and simply was misdelivered.

So much for the new Pentagon recycling initiative.

Source: New Bern Sun Journal

It is a common sight to see prisoners on work detail picking up trash along the side of the road. With any luck, they won’t run into the latest group to take on roadside cleanup: the Minnesota Carry Permit Holders.

In October, about a dozen gun enthusiasts deployed along a two-mile stretch of highway in Mendota Heights, Minn., for the group’s inaugural trash cleanup. All members displayed loaded (and legally registered) firearms. The MCPH had the blessing of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and said they wanted to do a good deed. The relative usefulness of a loaded gun in picking up litter is subject to debate, but it is safe to assume that passing motorists took the courtesy of using an interior lane.

Source: Associated Press

We all remember the pictures of massive pieces of steelwork being removed from the site of the World Trade Center following the 9/11 attacks. Greenopolis highlights the fate of 24 tons of that material, recycled for use in the USS New York, the Navy’s newest amphibious assault ship. Rarely have I heard the process of recycling (admittedly, on a grand scale) described in such deeply felt terms.

“It was a spiritual moment for everybody there,” Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said. He remembered that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the “hair on my neck stood up. It had a big meaning to it for all of us. They knocked us down. They can’t keep us down. We’re going to be back,” said Chavers.

Retail chain Target and drugstore giant CVS announced this week that both would be taking action to promote the use of reusable shopping bags in their stores. According to USA Today, Target will refund shoppers five cents for each reusable bag used to pack the customer’s purchases, while CVS will give customers a $1 cash bonus on their CVS cards every four times they buy something but don’t request plastic bags.

The moves are further evidence of a genuine movement among retailers to get customers to adopt reusable shopping bags. While green trendsetters like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have long rewarded customers for bag conscientiousness, even Wal-Mart now features an iconic blue reusable bag in its television ads (though does not reward its customers for using it).

Do you think it’s possible to completely wean Americans off plastic (and occasionally paper) shopping bags?