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An option for death brings a mindset for life

Will Matuska

October 27, 2022 |

Boulder Weekly |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Natural organic reduction, also called human composting, is growing in popularity across the U.S. as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional burial practices and cremation. During the process bodies are placed in vessels with organic materials like wood chips to be broken down by bacteria. Once the process is over, families are free to do what they want with the composted remains.

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Disaster debris is pushing Puerto Rico's landfills to the brink

Camille Padilla Dalmau María E. Ocasio Torres

October 21, 2022 |

Grist |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States Minor Outlying Islands, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico’s landfills are filling up quickly, but a nonprofit composting program in Vieques called Isla Nena Composta collects, processes, and composts organic materials from hurricane debris to help ease pressure on the landfills.

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How a Community in Vieques is Responding to the Landfill Crisis in Puerto Rico

Camille Padilla Dalmau María E. Ocasio Torres

October 21, 2022 |

9 Millones |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Puerto Rico, Vieques

The island of Vieques’ community composting program, Isla Nena Composta, collects vegetative debris after hurricanes, processes it, and composts it to reduce the strain on local landfills.

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A street lit by rotten onions? An Indian market embraces biogas.

Kavitha Yarlagadda

October 13, 2022 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Hyderabad

At a vegetable market in Hyderabad, India, food waste is collected and converted into biogas to provide gas and electricity for buildings and streetlights. The process keeps the waste from emitting methane in a landfill and reduces reliance on fossil fuels and coal.

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Gardeners transform food waste into fuel, aiding the climate

Larin Brink

May 14, 2022 |

Royal Examiner |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

HomeBiogas systems use anaerobic digestion to convert compostable food waste into cooking gas and reduce methane emissions.

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California Mandated Composting. How Will It Work In LA And What Are We All Expected To Do?

Erin Stone

April 06, 2022 |

LAist |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

In California, open-air composting facilities like Recology take food scraps and yard trimmings from the public to be composted into usable soil. The process produces less methane than sending the waste to the landfill.

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The Eco-Friendlier Future of the Disposable Spork

Michaela Haas

February 11, 2022 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Germany, Schwedt

A clean-tech startup in Germany is producing sustainable food packaging out of agricultural waste as an alternative solution to single-use plastic. Bio-Lutions claims its products are compostable and uses less water than other products, but the material used won’t work for some food items like hot beverages. The company already has investors such as Delivery Hero that will use its products when the factory is producing compostable packaging.

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The urine revolution: how recycling pee could help to save the world

Chelsea Wald

February 09, 2022 |

Nature |

Photojournalism |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Sweden, Gotland

Companies and research initiatives around the world are developing and testing new toilets that can collect human urine and turn it into fertilizer. These urine diversion toilets have been implemented in places like South Africa with mixed results. However, researchers in Sweden are using portable toilets to gather the urine, dry it into fertilizer pellets that are then used to grow barley for beer. This work could show how to implement these kinds of toilets on a large scale.

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Planting trees can create plastic waste. One teenager is changing that.

Kanchan Srivastava

April 05, 2021 |

Footprint |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Chintalkunta, Telangana

A teenager in India came up with a solution to combat the plastic waste crisis that usually comes with planting trees. Srija created a biodegradable pot made out of groundnut shells that decomposes in the soil after 20 days. She’s working with an organization to scale her product, which costs just 27 cents to make.

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The mechanical stomach powering homes by digesting old food scraps

Gian De Poloni

March 27, 2021 |

ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: Australia, Cockburn

The electricity powering 3,000 Perth homes might have started out as moldy bread and rotting lettuce. The city of Cockburn collects food waste from supermarkets and restaurants to be fed into a mechanical "stomach" that converts the waste to energy. Methane is trapped and used to power electric generators. The remainder of the "digested" food is turned into compost and liquid fertilizer. The operation has recycled 43 tons so far, removing 81,000 kilograms of gases that otherwise would escape landfills and warm the atmosphere.

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