News Roundup!

Recently, CHOICES reported on bricks made from recycled paper in Spain. While that developed out of an inventive materials manipulation, sometimes innovation comes from taking a look at the materials already abundant at hand. That’s exactly what Vaca Diez did in Bolivia. In a country where sturdy reliable housing is hard to come by and 40 percent of the population are below the poverty line, Diez used the materials around her, mainly plastic bottles, dirt and sand, to create a home. So far, Diez has built ten homes for rural, indigenous migrants and diverted all those plastic bottles from Bolivian landfills.

Back in the U.S., New York City Mayor Bloomberg has introduced a bill in his final State of the City address to ban foam food packaging. It’s a step towards the city’s goal of increasing the diversion rate to 30 percent by 2017. But, this doesn’t come without consequences. Global Green outlines them in the full article.

The conversation around consumer electronics recycling is continuing to grow an audience. The electronic recycling industry is expected to increase as goods that use recycled material stay in demand. For these reasons, industry research firm IBISWorld has added a report on the Electronic Goods Recycling industry to its growing collection of industry reports.

Finally, GreenBiz put together 10 tips for better energy management.

Our favorite:

“Involve and Reward Employees:  Employees at GM who suggest an improvement to an existing process can receive a portion of the implemented savings (up to $20,000).”