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Seattle Recycling Laws Ban Phone Books (Plus 10 Unnecessary Paper Products We’d Like to Outlaw)


Last month, the city of Seattle approved an ordinance that makes unsolicited phone book delivery illegal. The new recycling law is aimed at reducing waste, and also requires phone book publishers to pay for the cost of recycling unwanted phone books. If only all cities were so progressive: We can hardly figure out whether our office building actually allows us to recycle, let alone get the city to outlaw unwanted mail. … More »

Post from: BlissTree

Seattle Recycling Laws Ban Phone Books (Plus 10 Unnecessary Paper Products We’d Like to Outlaw)

Plastic Bag Fees Cut Consumption In China By Half


Researchers at the University of Gothenburg found that Chinese shoppers (the number one users of plastic bags in the world) cut their consumption of disposable bags in half thanks to the ordinance against free plastic bags that was implemented in June 2008. Economists surveyed over 3,000 Chinese consumers before and after the ordinance began, and found that before the ordinance, subjects reported using an average of 21 new plastic bags per week and said they rarely re-used any of their bags; post-ordinance, they reported using 49% less, re-using almost half of their bags. … More »

Post from: BlissTree

Plastic Bag Fees Cut Consumption In China By Half

Buy Nothing Day 2010: This Black Friday, Will You Buy or Boycott?


We’ve never seen the appeal of getting up at dawn on the day after Thanksgiving to compete against hoards of shoppers to get the best deals. (Have they even heard of eBay?) But now that the green movement is in full swing, we can blame our Black Friday boycotts on anti-consumerism rather than our own lazy, antisocial habits. So, instead of celebrating sales, we’ll be participating in Buy Nothing Day next Friday. … More »

Post from: BlissTree

Buy Nothing Day 2010: This Black Friday, Will You Buy or Boycott?

How much waste is your fault?


Americans create and toss out an alarming amount of waste each year. According to the Clean Air Council…

Each day we fill up around 63,000 garbage trucks which means in a year we toss so much trash that if we piled it all up in garbage trucks it would form a line of trucks that will [...]

Post from: Blisstree

How much waste is your fault?