Archive for the ‘Green Gardening’ Category
Trash cans go solar and save $$$.
August 27th, 2009
Philadelphia officials estimate that the replacement of 700 wire trash baskets with 500 BigBelly solar-powered trash compactors will save taxpayers in the City of Brotherly Love nearly $1 million.
Funded by a $2.2 million state recycling grant, the city has installed the compactors along four downtown collection routes. The trash cans are expected to reduce collections on these routes from 17 times per week to five times per week.
NBC Philadelphia reports only eight city workers will be needed to clean out the trash from the compactors, which is down from 33 workers using the old trash cans. Each compactor holds about 200 gallons of trash compared to 55 gallons for traditional trash cans.
USA Today said the compactors have been tried in 40 states and 20 countries. Richard Kennedy, vice president of marketing at BigBelly Solar, told the paper that no other city or organization has tried as comprehensive an approach as Philadelphia.
The BigBelly compacting trash receptacle is completely self-powered using solar power for 100 percent of its energy needs, using less than 5 watt-hours per day. The company said the unit takes up as much space as the footprint of an ordinary receptacle, but its capacity is five times greater. It claims the compactors’ increased capacity reduces collection trips and can cut fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent. BigBelly reduces trash to 20 percent of its normal size, but doesn’t compact the trash into a brick and doesn’t inhibit sorting or recycling. The compactors range in price from $3,000-$4,000 and have a life expectancy of eight years.
See the trash receptacles at www.BigBellySolar.com.
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Iris plants may help clean waste water.
August 27th, 2009
Using floating vegetation to remove nutrients from fishery wastewater is being tested by Agricultural Research Service scientists, ScienceDaily reported.
The researchers’ long-term goal is to develop a system to treat the wastewater, return it to ponds for reuse, and use the nutrients to produce biomass or plant material.
Twelve different plant species … some home garden plants … are currently being tested: St. Augustine grass, Tifton 85 bermudagrass, common bermudagrass, cannas, iris, bamboo, bulrush, cattail, bordergrass, napiergrass, reeds and maidencane. Iris is the best performer so far.
Read the entire article at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090131124137.htm
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