Once Upon a Farm, the beloved kid nutrition brand that makes organic, cold-pressed baby food, smoothies and applesauce, has expanded their partnership with international recycling company TerraCycle® to offer consumers a free, easy way to recycle packaging from their entire product line.

The recycling drive, primarily at local schools but also at some community gathering points, will run through early November. Its goal is to encourage people to think critically about how much waste is produced during holidays.   JUNO BEACH — Through early November, Loggerhead Marinelife Center is offering an alternative to throwing away your Halloween candy wrappers.   The Juno Beach sea turtle rehab, research and conservation center is coordinating a wrapper recycling drive called Unwrap the Waves across 34 schools from Martin County to Miami-Dade and other drop-off points in Palm Beach County.   For the fourth year, Loggerhead staffers will collect the wrappers and send them to New Jersey-based recycling company TerraCycle, which will refashion them into school supplies and other goods.   The goal is to get people thinking critically about how much waste they create, particularly ahead of the year-end holiday season, said Lindsay French, Loggerhead’s STEM education coordinator.   “We’re trying to encourage people to reduce the waste they’re producing or buy things that have some more sustainable packaging,” French said.   Different wrappers are fine to be recycled at the drop-off points, French said. Everything from Hershey bars to Smarties, just make sure the candy is no longer inside and that it is a true candy wrapper — not packaging for snack bags, for instance, she said.   The project is particularly centered on schools, French said.   Recycling bags have already been dropped off to schools and will be collected Nov. 11, about the time the community drop-off points will stop accepting wrappers, French said.   French described it as a successful project that’s growing. Last year, Loggerhead collected more than 19,000 candy wrappers. They expect more this fall.   “By having kids collect these wrappers, they get a firsthand account of how much waste is produced in a single holiday,” French said.   Community drop-off points in Palm Beach County include: FPL’s Manatee Lagoon, Florida Atlantic University’s Pine Jog Environmental Education Center and Boca Raton’s Office of Sustainability at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.   There also will be wrappers collected at Lion Country Safari’s Spooky Safari Halloween and Hobe Sound Nature Center’s Creepy Creature Feature, both on Saturday; Palm Beach Zoo’s Boo at the Zoo from Friday to Sunday; and at Sugar Sand Park’s Shriek Week from Thursday to Saturday.   Loggerhead Marinelife Center has published a list of participating schools on its website.  

A growing number of people have become conscious about their impact on the environment, and have begun to do things like phasing out their use of plastic bags, containers, and water bottles. But who would have thought to look at contact lenses as a contributor to pollution? Contact lenses might seem small in size, but it turns out their impact on the environment can really add up.  

Contact lens usage

  The contact lens industry is growing, with over 125 million wearers reported worldwide as of 2007. While there are several types of lenses available (dailies, monthlies, etc.), none are currently biodegradable.     However, it’s not just the lenses themselves that are thrown away. Plastic packaging and top foil, as well as plastic containers holding cleaning solution, also contribute to the waste. In 2011, a research group estimated that each pair of 100-milligram daily contact lenses came with almost four grams of plastic packaging, which were then both thrown away every day. Plastic that makes it to landfills takes up to 500 years to decompose, contributing to a surge in plastic leaching into our soil and water.  

Microplastics and the environmental and human impact of contact lenses

  With many people flushing their contacts down the drain, researchers at Arizona State University looked at what happens to the lenses in wastewater plants. They found that microbes in the facility altered the surface of the contact lenses which, in turn, caused the lenses to break down and form microplastics. Microplastics are just that – very small (less than five millimetres) pieces of plastic, that can pose a variety of problems.   For instance, marine animals can mistake microplastics for food. However, the material cannot be digested, which makes it dangerous not only for the animals themselves, but also for other animals along the food supply chain, including humans.   Microplastic particles can accumulate in the organs and tissues of animals and humans, causing immune responses (foreign body reactions and inflammations) called granulomas. A 2019 report from the World Health Organization, titled Microplastics in Drinking Water, said “if plastic emissions into the environment continue at current rates, there may be widespread risks associated with microplastics to aquatic ecosystems within a century, with potentially concurrent increases in human exposure.” They then demonstrate how living beings might be impacted by the absorption of microplastics. Researchers observed a 2% increase in bisphenol A (BPA) in mussels, a plastic that we are now accustomed to avoiding for its harmful health effects.   What’s more, microplastics can absorb toxins like pesticides and herbicides, concentrating these chemicals and moving them up the food chain as well.      

Can you recycle contact lenses?

  Although recycling programs for contact lenses and their packaging do exist (such as the ONE by ONE Recycling Program and TerraCycle), emphasis should first be on reducing waste, so that there is less need to divert so much plastic away from our water and soil.   Researchers are looking into contact lenses made of biodegradable materials such as soy, but there have been no concrete developments. What’s more, materials like soy could pose a problem for those with severe allergies.  

Contact lenses alternatives

  Glasses and contact lenses have plenty of practical drawbacks, but even if the hassles don’t bother you, the impact on the environment (as well as animal and human health) is certainly worth thinking about.  

With a wide range of procedures available, laser vision correction is a wise choice for both you and the planet. Book your free, no-obligation consultation today to learn more.

O Instituto Akatu para o Consumo Consciente fez uma conta, a partir dos dados coletados pela Abrelpe – Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Limpeza Pública e Resíduos Especiais (Abrelpe): como cada brasileiro produz mais de 1 quilo de lixo/resíduos por dia, ao se considerar uma família de quatro pessoas, que mantenha essa produção diária ao longo da vida de todos os membros da família, somente essa família ocuparia quatro apartamentos de 50 m2 lotados até o teto somente com os seus resíduos. Segundo essa mesma lógica, cinco famílias precisariam de um prédio de dez andares somente para “guardar” os seus resíduos.

Você sabia que a esponja de lavar louça é um colchão de bactérias? Por incrível que pareça, é um dos itens mais sujos da cozinha e, por isso, tem uma vida útil reduzida. O ideal é que você use a mesma esponja por apenas sete dias.

Remember when plastic straws were at the forefront of everybody’s mind a couple months ago?   Massive corporate chains left them behind in exchange for paper, hemp, or steel straws. Debates raged about whether or not eliminating them was an accessibility barrier for people who can’t lift glasses or drink from rims. There was a hashtag.   That was just one of many moments in the ongoing push to recycle, reuse, and reduce plastic. If you remember the three R’s, this concept likely isn’t new to you, but anything that can only be used once should probably not be mass-produced in today’s rapidly warming climate.   Many leaders in business and innovation have dedicated their careers to that idea, and an impressive group of them will be meeting at the Vancouver Convention Centre on the last two days of October for the 2019 Zero Waste Conference. Among them is Valerie Craig, deputy to the chief scientist and vice president of operating programs for the National Geographic Society.   “What gets public attention are the really flashy, exciting sexy things – people love to hear about the latest water bottle made from seaweed or edible utensils,” she says. “Those make great stories and demonstrate the opportunity for innovation, but they’re just scratching the surface of the problem.”   Craig will be highlighting the issue of ocean plastic — and what can potentially be done to address it — as the closing keynote presenter for the first day of the conference on Oct. 30. Ocean plastic/Shutterstock   The following day includes presentations from plastic upcycling innovators Arthur Huang of MINIWIZ and Tom Szaky of TerraCycle, as well as a panel called Plastics: A Global Challenge & Opportunity for Circularity.   The idea of a “circular economy” contrasts to our current system of a “linear economy,” which is based on creating, using, and disposing of materials. In a circular economy, resources are used as much and for as long as possible. When that’s not possible anymore, they can be reused for a different purpose in the future.   This concept is integral to the upcoming Zero Waste Conference, and equally so for the Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge started by the National Geographic Society and Sky Ocean Ventures.   Far-reaching impact of climate change/Shutterstock   The challenge was created to “source ideas from around the world about how to address plastic waste” and calls for three things: development of zero-waste packaging solutions, establishment of circular economy and zero waste business models, and support of spreading awareness about the scale of the plastics pollution problem. It will be discussed at the Zero Waste Conference, although its results will not be released until later this year.   Although Craig acknowledges that “plastics have undeniably changed our lives, and in many ways for the better,” she also emphasizes that we have “created a pollution problem of an almost unimaginable scale” with its production.   “Today, plastics have been found from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and from the sea floor to the surface,” she says. “They’re everywhere.”   Educating yourself is one of the most proactive things you can do to take climate action, and learning about it gives you what you need to take action whether you’re a creator or consumer. There are more innovators in environmentally sustainable technology and business than ever before, and their plans and ideas could be part of the movement to shape our future on this planet. Zero Waste Conference/ZWC   Pretty serious stuff, but the conference itself is your guide to the people, ideas, and actions that are having the biggest impact. Interested? Register online and take the first step towards a greener future.  

2019 Zero Waste Conference

  When: October 30 to 31, 2019 Time: Wednesday, 8:30 am to 5 pm; Thursday, 8:30 am to 1:30 pm Where: Vancouver Convention Centre East – 999 Canada Place Tickets: Available online now  

The invite to join Noble Laureate Sir Fraser Stoddart for “The Art of Chemistry: An Evening Experiencing A Skincare Revolution” was almost cryptic in its simplicity. It mentioned the introduction of something called Noble Panacea, which was to include a cocktail hour and a proper seated dinner. The venue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The dress code: Black tie. And yet, the intrigue was enough to lure a who’s-who of the fashion and beauty community uptown in the rain last night. Guests including supermodel Helena Christensen, art star Chloe Wise, and lifestyle entrepreneur Julia Restoin-Roitfeld gathered over market vegetable “terrariums” while Stoddart took the podium in the Sculpture Garden in the museum’s American Wing. Only five months earlier, Cher stood on a similar stage, in the same room, belting out hits to a packed Met gala crowd while Harry Styles cheered her on. “I guess it’s obvious I am not a typical skincare brand founder,” the Scottish-born 77-year-old chemist and the Director of the Center for Chemistry of Integrated Systems at Northwestern University said with a smile. “A decade ago, my team and I were not thinking specifically of discovering technology with skincare applications,” Stoddart continued. “But inventing things with the goal of having a positive impact on people was always my intention.” The technology Stoddart was referring to is something called Organic Molecular Vessels (OMVs), a “new and remarkable material” that he designed to protect active ingredients at the molecular level as a means of preserving their potency until they are released in a controlled and precise way. Engineered out of totally natural starches, which Stoddart noted are even edible, OMVs offer an unprecedented preservation and delivery system for volatile complexion-boosting mainstays, such as retinol, alpha hydroxy acids, and peptides. “Serendipity has led to many of the greatest breakthroughs in science,” he went on of the unexpected efficacy his team was able to achieve in clinical trials, which was so impressive, Noble Panacea successfully attracted beauty veteran Celine Talabaza as CEO; New York-based dermatologist Anne Chapas, M.D. has also signed on as dermatological advisor. Officially launching in mid-November, a pre-order link went live today for two separate lines—The Absolute and The Brilliant, each of which contains four separate, refillable pods packaged with a 30-day supply of individually dosed day cream, eye cream, night cream, and serum, as well as a bag from TerraCycle to collect the waste for national recycling—the reveal raised more than a few eyebrows. “Does it actually work,” models including Elsa Hosk and Georgia Fowler murmured as dinner was served? Makeup artist Hung Vanngo seemed convinced after an early sample of The Brilliant line helped turn his skin around following a few weeks of heavy travel. In addition to its commitment to sustainability, Noble Panacea will also have a social impact initiative at launch—a must for any brand hoping to endear itself to consumers (and avoid social media backlash) in 2020. The brand has committed to a 3-year partnership with Girl Up, a non-profit dedicated to promoting the health, safety, education, and leadership of girls in developing countries and worldwide. I will have plenty of other news to share in the coming months as well, Stoddart promised. “Per aspera ad astra,” he proclaimed before descending the stage. “With hard work, to the stars.”

Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s  #UnwrapTheWaves candy wrapper recycling program is back! Partnering with 29 Palm Beach County Schools and 7 community partners, LMC will collect and recycle #Halloween and fall-inspired candy wrappers through TerraCycle‘s zero waste program. All candy wrappers will be 100% recycled and used to make school supplies and other repurposed items. Last year we recycled 19,000 candy wrappers! Do you think we can beat our record this year?! Please consider dropping off your candy wrappers at one of our locations through Nov. 11. Drop-off locations: Loggerhead Marinelife Center, Manatee Lagoon, FAU Pine Jog Environmental Education Center, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Inc., and Sandoway Discovery Center Along with 29 schools in The School District of Palm Beach County listed at: marinelife.org/2019-candy-wrapper-recycling/  

Calling all musicians who play a stringed instrument: Has it ever bothered you that your used strings go straight in the trash? Did you know an estimated 1.5 million pounds of instrument strings go to landfills every year? Well, here’s some good news! TerraCycle and D’Addario have partnered to create a free recycling program for all types of instrument strings and clippings, including nylon, steel, and orchestral strings. Once collected, the metal and nylon strings are separated by type, and the metal is melted down and smelted into new metal alloys. The nylon is recycled into industrial plastic applications. We won’t be collecting strings at Weavers Way, but you can recycle them at Vintage Instruments at Broad & Lombard streets in Philadelphia, and A & G Music Center in Drexel Hill. In addition, you can collect and recycle strings on your own by sending them to D’Addario through a program called “Player’s Circle.” Once you sign up and recycle strings through the program, you’ll earn points toward new gear. All the details about both programs are at this link: www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/daddario-playback.

Reformar peças antigas não só ajuda a preservar o meio-ambiente como também é uma forma de imprimir a própria personalidade nas roupas e acessórios