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India trashes 100 million tires a year. She turns them into playgrounds.

Kamala Thiagarajan

March 29, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Bengaluru

Anthill Creations has built 275 "playscapes" across India, mostly using discarded vehicle tires as the affordable raw materials. In many parts of the country, children lack outdoor play spaces and toys to enliven their play. By "upcycling" some of the 100 million discarded tires the country generates annually and painting them bright colors, the 5-year-old project has benefits ranging from the environment to children's safety and happiness.

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Minneapolis restaurants offer takeout food without a side of guilt for using wasteful containers

Richard Chin

March 29, 2021 |

Minneapolis Star Tribune |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

A clean tech startup called Forever Ware created reusable, stainless steel containers for restaurants to use instead of single-use takeout containers. So far, four restaurants in Minneapolis are participating in the program, where customers pay a deposit for the container and can return it to any restaurant in the network. Within two months, the containers were used about 1,400 times, which probably cut back on some plastic waste ending up in landfills.

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How to reuse a demolished building

Charlotte Horn

March 23, 2021 |

BBC |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: Switzerland, Winterthur

A warehouse in Switzerland is being transformed into new creative workspaces. The catch: It’s being constructed out of reused building materials. About 70 percent of it is being made from old materials like wood floorboards, steel beams, and windows. A network of treasure hunters are on the lookout for used materials that can be used in constructing these buildings. The workspace is nearly complete and it already has tenants for all of the spaces. They were also able to cut the building’s carbon emissions in half.

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Mississauga company reduces electronic waste & offers computers to those who can't afford them

Nida Zafar

March 18, 2021 |

The Pointer |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Canada, Mississauga, Ontario

Older electronics are being refurbished and redistributed to those in need by Renewed Computer Technology. The federally funded, Canadian nonprofit collected 13,500 computers and laptops last year for schools, libraries, and charities. RCT also provides steeply discounted electronics for economically disadvantaged families in addition to affordable high-speed internet access.

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New city program tackles big trash problem in Philly: clothing and electronics waste

Jessica Blatt Press

February 25, 2021 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A residential recycling program in Philadelphia is picking up electronics and clothing from homes for a fee. Retrievr has already prevented 100,000 pounds of waste from ending up in landfills. The program was implemented through the city’s Pitch & Pilot program which put out call for “solutions to reduce waste and increase waste diversion” in a bid to achieve Philadelphia’s goal of Zero Waste by 2035.

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How NYC Is Stopping Textile Waste With Low-Tech Donation Bins

Hannah Chinn

February 24, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

RefashionNYC provides bins for commercial and residential buildings with more than 10 units, though the Department of Sanitation, to recycle clothes and textiles. When full, the contents are sorted by Housing Works, who either sells donations in their thrift shops, sends them to other nonprofit second-hand stores, or exports them to overseas markets. Clothing that is too damaged to be donated is sold to companies that reprocess them as rags or seat padding. 1,300 bins have been installed and over 12,200 tons of clothing and textiles have been diverted from landfills.

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Towards a greener construction with fly ash bricks

Vaishnavi Rathore

February 19, 2021 |

Climate Tracker |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: India

Fly ash bricks help reduce construction waste by utilizing the powdery by-product of burning coal. They are a green replacement for red clay bricks, which contribute to 5-15% of India’s emissions. They also utilize waste from coal-based thermal plants, which often gets disposed of by being dumped in water bodies and on roadsides. In comparison to red clay bricks, fly ash bricks are less expensive and the production process doesn’t emit smoke or use the more fertile top soil. Their use has been mandated by some regions and about 150 small fly ash enterprises have emerged.

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The Creative Repurposing of Plywood From Boarded-up Stores

Linda Poon

February 17, 2021 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Paul, Minnesota

In the months after businesses covered their storefronts with plywood as cities erupted in social-justice protests, environmental and other community groups in many cities organized recycling campaigns to reuse the plywood rather than see it end up in landfills. Twin Cities Plywood Rescue in Minnesota, the heart of the protests, collected 642 sheets of plywood and donated it to nonprofits for use in building construction. Other cities' collections have ended up as voter registration booths, outdoor-dining furniture, and animal enclosures.

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The country rejecting throwaway culture

Peter Yeung

January 28, 2021 |

BBC |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: France, Paris

Paris hosts a dozen "repair cafes," which are free, monthly events where residents can fix household objects and electronics with the help and advice of volunteers. The events usually have about 25 attendees who seek to limit the vast amounts of household waste, particularly E-waste, by repairing broken electronics and appliances. France's National Assembly also introduced an index of "repairability" ratings for appliances such as washing machines, lawnmowers, televisions and smartphones, in hopes of increasing the percentage of electronics that are repaired rather than discarded.

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Children as Catalysts for Change

Danylo Herasymov

December 16, 2020 |

Рубрика (Rubryka) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Ukraine, Mykolayiv

Ukraine ranked No.9 on the list of countries with the highest amount of trash per capita. In Mykolayiv, the city partnered with a nonprofit to sort waste at public schools. “A total of 20,000 students took part last year, collecting, sorting, and recycling 119 tons of waste.” The program has proven successful, students compete for a top prize. Children are “our agents of change.” Other towns want to adopt the program in their own schools.

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