With 300,000 cars in its fleet, Hertz deals with more than 170,000 worn out tires every year. The good thing is the company believes in recycling and has committed to zero waste from tires, according to company spokesman, Rich Broome.
Hertz has an agreement with Liberty Tire Recycling – no Hertz tire will end up in a landfill. Recycled products created from rental car tires include landfill bedding, road foundations, and playground mulch.
Levi Strauss is going to launch their new collection called WasteLess jeans, that are made from PET water bottles, green soda bottles, brown beer bottles, and black food trays. These are ground into flakes and then turned in a polyester fabric, which is blended with the denim fabric used for Levi’s jeans.
In 2011, Americans consumed more than 9.1 billion gallons of bottled water. Levi’s capitalized on the demand for their jeans to make a product that is environment friendly and caters to a consumer set that cares deeply for the environment.
Rapidly changing technological advancements make even last year computer purchases seem archaic. With the holidays just round the corner, most wishlists include a new gadget of some kind.
When these new gadgets make way into homes, older ones are stashed in garages or end up in landfills, where they sit and release hazardous gases.
Smartphone and cell phone buyback programs have been cumbersome for consumers who’ve often found it difficult to recycle phones due to high shipping costs or having to physically drop in their phones at a kiosk.
MaxBack.com is aiming to change this recycling process to make it easier and perhaps a bit more fun. Using QR Code technology, the company will assess the value of a smartphone by analyzing phone specifications and other parameters. Users can then send in their phones to MaxBack by printing a prepaid USPS shipping label.
Complex components that make a vacuum cleaner can be difficult to recycle, which is why most local recycling programs may not offer the option of vacuum recycling. Go Vacuum, a brick and mortar vacuum cleaner store in Washington D.C., has partnered with Forever Green Recycle Inc. in Virginia to help consumers recycle their vacuum cleaners.
Although some parts such as brushes and brush strips are not recyclable, the company claims to have the resources available to recycle 99% vacuum parts.
GlaxoSmithKline PLC launched a first of its kind recycling program in New Jersey to recycle empty respiratory inhalers used by patients. The program was simultaneously launched in 31 cities in the country.
With this unique program, patients can drop off used inhalers at participating pharmacies in their area. When the boxes reach their full capacity, they’ll be shipped to a GlaxoSmithKline recycling partner.
Coca-Cola has made a $1 million commitment to Ekocycle, an initiative launched by the company in partnership with music producer and artist, will.i.am. With Ekocycle, young consumers will soon get a chance to purchase branded recycled products, empowering them to make a small contribution to the environment.
The first Ekocycle product, a sleek pair of headphones designed by Dr. Dre, will be available for purchase in fall 2012, followed by other Ekocycle products in 2013. The Coca-Cola Company will be advertising the Ekocycle brand during the US telecast of the London Olympics.
A Louisville, Colorado company, Altius Space Machines, was awarded a contract in July, 2012 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to participate in the Phoenix program. The program will help reduce space debris created by obsolete spacecraft around the Earth’s atmosphere.
Altius Space Machines will work in partnership with ROCCOR LLC, an engineering firm, and computer science professor Nikolaus Correll of the Colorado University.
The company is developing a “sticky boom” technology that uses electrostatic adhesion to grab onto orbital and other surfaces.
Battery manufacturers Panasonic, Energizer, Duracell, and Rayovac launched a nonprofit organization, the Corporation for Battery Recycling (CBR), in July, 2012. The CBR is committed to developing new cost effective and environmentally friendly ways to improve battery recycling in the United States.
GE announced participation in EPA’s WasteWise and SmartWay programs in May, 2012. The WasteWise program aims to reduce waste, while the SmartWay program is a step to reduce transport related emissions.
Prior to GE’s participation in these voluntary programs, it had partnered with the Energy Star and Responsible Appliance Disposal programs.
