waste

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>

Ants Have Toilets, Too
 Ants Have Toilets, Too 

Ants Have Toilets, Too

Humans by no means invented waste management

(Newser) - Humans aren't the only species to have waste management down. Naked mole rats, honeybees, and spider mites have all developed various means of disposing of waste, with piles of poo typically forming outside their living quarters. Now researchers in Germany are reporting in the journal PLOS ONE that black...

US Blew Millions Shipping Military Trucks: Report

GAO report suggests it would have been cheaper to just blow them up

(Newser) - It would've been more financially prudent to blow up now-useless US military vehicles used in Afghanistan instead of what the Pentagon actually did: ship them back home. A GAO report released yesterday and cited in USA Today says that from October 2012 to October 2013, the Army and Marines...

Pope Thinks You're Stealing, Basically

'Throwing away food is stealing from... those who are poor and hungry'

(Newser) - If you've ever thrown out good food, Pope Francis says you're a thief. "Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry," he said during an audience at the Vatican this week, in which he blamed a "culture...

Mars Couple's Radiation Shield: Their Own Feces

It'll line the walls, alongside food, water

(Newser) - When you're on a budget-conscious mission to Mars, you can't waste anything—including your own, well, waste. The lucky couple tapped for Inspiration Mars' private voyage to the red planet will be tasked with lining the walls of their vessel with their own poop to shield themselves from...

Nearly Half of Planet&#39;s Food Ends Up in the Trash
Nearly Half of Planet's Food Ends Up in the Trash
new report

Nearly Half of Planet's Food Ends Up in the Trash

As much as 2.2 billion tons

(Newser) - If you're bummed by today's gloomy news , this won't do much to raise your spirits. A new report out today outlines the "staggering" amount of food wasted around the globe each year: as much as 50% of what's produced. The UK's Institution of Mechanical...

Mass. Town: No More Small Water Bottles

Concord officially bans sales

(Newser) - If you're a regular buyer of small water bottles, Concord, Mass., isn't the place for you. At least not since Jan. 1, when the town officially banned sales of water bottles a liter or less in size, the Huffington Post reports. Breaking the law results first in a...

40% of US Food Goes to Waste

Average family of 4 tosses $2,300 worth per year, says NRDC study

(Newser) - The LA Times takes note of a study on American food from the Natural Resources Defense Council with some eye-popping facts and figures on waste:
  • About 40% of food in the US supply chain goes uneaten
  • A family of four tosses $2,275 worth of food each year, which translates
...

It's Not Just Waste: Fraud Rampant at GSA

It clawed back $376M last year

(Newser) - The General Services Administration's Vegas shindig was just the tip of the iceberg. The GSA is so loaded with cash that it's a magnet for fraud and abuse, the Los Angeles Times reports. From October 2010 to September 2011 alone, the agency prosecuted 64 cases in which people...

Families Waste Up to $2K Per Year on Uneaten Food

People tend to overestimate what they need, researchers say

(Newser) - If you want to save money, a good way to start is by not buying food you won't eat. It sounds like a no-brainer, but in the US, the average family of four spends between $500 to $2,000 per year on food that gets thrown away, the Wall ...

'Tens of Billions' Wasted on War Contractors: Report

'Criminal behavior and blatant corruption' a bad combo with 'ill-conceived projects'

(Newser) - The US has misspent “tens of billions of dollars” on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan—at minimum—according to a new report from a bipartisan commission set up to scrutinize the issue. The report bemoaned problems like “ill-conceived projects,” “poor planning and oversight by the US...

Indian Tribe Doesn't Want US Trash on Sacred Land

It's fighting a plan to ship Hawaii garbage to Washington state

(Newser) - Hawaii's landfill space is in such short supply, the state decided to transport thousands of tons of trash 2,600 miles to Washington. Making the journey even more bizarre: The waste would travel over the Yakama Indians' sacred hunting grounds to get to its destination, and the tribe is none...

Bottled Water Sales Head Down the Drain

Environmentalists claim credit; industry blames economy

(Newser) - Bottled water sales are sinking, and environmentalists point triumphantly to their hard-fought campaign against the wasteful industry. Consumption is expected to drop 2% this year, following a 3.2% drop last year, MSNBC reports. But industry executives say it’s just a natural result of the economic downturn, noting that...

Euro Farmers Protest Falling Prices With Huge Milk Dump

800,000 gallons in Belgian field after recession takes big toll

(Newser) - European farmers today dumped 800,000 gallons of milk in a Belgian field, AFP reports, in a protest against a dramatic dive in prices. The group behind the scene says three French farmers committed suicide in the past week over prices, which have fallen by as much as half as...

Recession Harbinger: Less Trash

(Newser) - The current recession was fairly clear to a certain segment of the population as far back as late 2007, the Washington Post reports—landfill operators. Since then, dumps and garbage collectors have seen a steep drop-off in trash—in some cases up to 30%—along with their own jobs. It's...

Drive Past the Body Shop: Sun Will Repair Scratches

New self-healing coating will save you money, time

(Newser) - The sun will soon be able to help repair the scratches on everything from iPods to cars. Researchers have developed a polyurethane coating that heals itself when exposed to UV radiation, Wired reports. The coating, which should be available in a few months, could save consumers money and reduce waste...

Sewage Soaks Baghdad Slum
 Sewage Soaks Baghdad Slum 

Sewage Soaks Baghdad Slum

Infrastructure remains sub-standard in much of Iraq

(Newser) - Residents of the Sadr City slum of Baghdad have come to accept raw sewage, bubbling to the surface from broken pipes, as a part of daily life, Bloomberg reports. And Sadr City is hardly an oddity—despite 6 years and billions of American dollars, much of Iraq still lacks reliable...

Amazon Leads Charge Against Clamshell Packaging

(Newser) - Stories of angry and even injured customers have inspired companies to ditch sealed clamshell packaging for easy-to-open alternatives, the New York Times reports. Amazon leads the pack, working with suppliers to ship products in plain cardboard boxes ahead of the holidays. Even some offline companies, which rely on clamshells to...

Seattle Slaps 20¢ Fee on All Grocery Bags

Paper or plastic, shoppers must pay up

(Newser) - Seattle has staked out its spot atop the greener-than-thou pecking order by approving a 20-cent-per-bag fee that applies to both paper and plastic, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The move is expected to cut disposable-bag use in half. "The best way to reduce waste is not to create it, and...

As World's Belly Rumbles, Gluttonous US Tosses Food

27% of available food ends up in the trash

(Newser) - Americans throw out roughly a quarter of all food available for consumption, even as grocery prices skyrocket and global riots break out over food shortages, the New York Times reports. That works out to about a pound of food every day for every American—from grocery stories tossing spoiled produce...

Plasma May Zap City's Garbage Crisis

New tech could burn off Vancouver's garbage and make electricity

(Newser) - Vancouver may have a fix for its garbage overflow crisis: Burn the trash into a gas that makes electricity. A Canadian company called Plasco Energy Group has proposed a plant that zaps waste into ionized gas, or plasma; about a fifth of it would run the plant and the rest...

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser