trash

It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your trash is? A new project from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hopes to find out.

A team of MIT researchers announced on Wednesday a project called Trash Track, designed to monitor trash from start to finish. The team will electronically tag different pieces of waste to trace their voyage through the disposal systems of New York City and Seattle.

By examining the patterns and costs of waste disposal, MIT hopes to educate people about the impact of garbage on the environment and make them aware of what they throw out.… Read more

Paper Toss is an extremely simple but still fairly addictive game that simulates the time-honored office pastime of tossing crumpled pieces of paper into a trash can. In the game's interface, you hold your iPhone or iPod Touch vertically as you flick a wad of paper toward the target can, attempting to account for a blowing fan when you calculate your trajectory. The fan changes sides and speed for each shot, and Paper Toss features three levels of difficulty, with the trash can at varying distances.

Where this game really shines, though, is in its production values: the crisp … Read more

Municipal trash giant Waste Management on Thursday created a joint venture that will turn waste into energy using technology that it says is cleaner than incinerators.

S4 Energy Solutions is a joint venture which will use plasma gasification technology from InEnTec of Bend, Ore., to build distributed energy systems. Waste Management financed the creation of the venture, marking the first time that the trash collector has invested in gasification technology, said Senior Vice President Joseph Vaillancourt.

The new company plans to build distributed energy systems that use separated industrial waste as a "feedstock." For example, the company plans … Read more

Nothing bugs me more on garbage day than digging my hands into the sides of my trash can, searching in vain for the bag that was so clearly at the top when I first began to fill it. I have a tall trash can, and the corner store sells bags that are perpetually too short, so the first time I throw a heavy ball of waste into the can, I can say "bye-bye" to the bag until it's time to dig it out for disposal.

This is something I've come to accept as a necessary evil … Read more

The idea of recycling appeals to most of us, but it's not always easy to get from the idea to the reality. Set yourself up for success by making it as easy as possible to recycle things. The Twin Bin from Brabantia is a brilliant or matte stainless steel trash can that's split into two compartments: a 23-liter everyday bin, and a 10-liter area for compostable waste.

Keep your organic matter ready for easy composting without having to keep a second trash can in the kitchen with a single can that looks good enough to be on display. … Read more

Rather than stay in the ground, trash from the Three Rivers Landfill in Ponotoc, Miss., will be turned into ethanol.

Montreal-based Enerkem on Thursday announced plans to produce 20 million gallons a year of ethanol from waste at the Mississippi landfill in a project valued at $250 million.

The "feedstock" for the ethanol will be municipal solid waste, as well as wood residues from forest and agricultural activities, according to Enerkem.

The company's process can sort household trash, diverting material that can be recycled and processing the rest into ethanol, a liquid fuel blended with gasoline.

The … Read more

BOSTON--To many communities, trash-to-energy means burning garbage. But a handful of companies say they are close to bringing cleaner technology to market for making electricity or ethanol from waste.

At a panel discussion on waste-to-energy at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen East conference here on Tuesday, representatives from four companies detailed their plans to use gasification to convert waste products to usable energy. Some products are ready to be deployed more widely while others are still in the pilot testing phase.

The promise of using municipal solid trash or other waste products for useful energy is tantalizing: it's a renewable resource … Read more

When a school or office building thinks about distributed energy, it usually means solar panels propped up on a roof.

A small company called IST Energy has another vision: it's developed a shipping container-size contraption that turns your building's trash into electricity and heat. The company is expected to unveil the unit, called the Green Energy Machine (GEM), on Monday.

The idea behind the GEM is to offset a building's energy use while dramatically cutting trash disposal fees. The cost of trash removal can vary greatly, but a university or office park with a number of buildings … Read more

How far would you go to demonstrate your concern for the environment? One California man is so concerned about how much garbage we generate that he's decided to live with it...literally.

"Here's the basement. Um, obviously, all the bottles -- don't hit the top one 'cause it dominoes down, it gets a little ugly," Dave Chameides tells CBS Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman.

Since January, Chameides has saved all of his trash in his basement.

"Pretty much every time someone hears that I'm saving all my garbage in the basement for … Read more