Ancient Romans recycled their pee. They peed in pots and emptied them in a barrel which they left on the street when filled. A public service would pick it up to turn the pee into ammonia which they used as bleach, mouthwash and more.
Here Are 6 Ways to Get Rid of Extra Hangers Without Throwing Them Away
You likely end up with a surplus of extra hangers on a regular basis. But those hangers don’t have to end up in the trash. Depending on what type of hanger it is, you can find a way to recycle it, Lifehacker reports.
Hangers come in three basic types: wire, plastic and wood. Wire hangers usually can’t go into the recycling bin (unless you live in New York City, where they’re included in the recycling program). Plastic and wood hangers, too, generally shouldn’t go into the recycling.
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However, you can research your city’s curbside recycling program to see whether they do accept any of these types of hangers. If not, you can ask your dry cleaner if they take used hangers. You can also look for an organization that might need them, such as a shelter. If the hangers are from a clothing store, some of them also take their own hangers back for reuse, such as Target (and next time you go shopping, refuse the hangers so you don’t have to deal with this issue).
You may also be able to recycle wire hangers by taking them in bulk to a metal scrap recycling plant.
Photo Credit: iStock
Of course, you can always reuse these hangers at home by simply adding them to your own closet — if you have any room.
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This Non-Profit Recycles the Soap from Hotels You Leave Behind When You Check out
Every time you check out of a hotel, you leave behind a mostly-unused bar of soap. It may even be untouched, if you’re the type of person who has strong soap preferences. So what happens to it?
The answer is pretty disappointing: hotels generally just throw the soap away for sanitary reasons. And all that soap adds up; about one million bars of soap are thrown out every day in the U.S., between travelers and hotels.
One traveler was unhappy to discover this wasteful practice, so he decided to do something about it. Shawn Seipler, a former tech employee who used to travel five months out of the year, thought that he could make better use of all those slivers of soap, so he started Clean The World. The Orlando-based company collects unwanted hotel soap, sanitizes it, melts it down, and redistributes it around the world.
Just last year, Clean The World made over 7 million bars of recycled soap, which were then donated to people in need. Thousands of children die from diseases that are preventable with basic hygiene — or, as Clean The World puts it, “Soap saves lives.” The organization also recycles shampoo, conditioner and body wash for homeless shelters around the world.
Clean The World partners with hotels for the modest price of 50 cents per room per month. There are operating centers in Orlando, Las Vegas, Montreal, India and Hong Kong.
: @clean_the_world_asia“There’s a whole world of hotels out there we can get to start donating,” Shawn told Thrillist. “Right now we’ve got 20 percent of all hotels in the US. That’s a lot of room to grow, and a lot of soap to make.”
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In the Last Two Years, Scientists Have Discovered over 50 Species of Plastic-Eating Fungi
This is great news!
If you feel a pang of guilt every time you throw a piece of plastic away and start spiraling into anxiety about the impending climate apocalypse — here is some news that may brighten your day.
Plastic is infamous for its ability to pollute the environment for years and years without degrading. But because the planet is magical, there are certain organisms that can degrade plastic. Dozens and dozens of them, apparently.
In 2011, students at Yale discovered a plastic-eating fungus in Ecuador called Pestalotiopsis microspora. This fungus can digest polyurethane, even in an air-free environment (like the bottom of a landfill).
Photo Credit: iStock
This breakthrough was already good news, but as researchers continued to turn their attention to the subject, it became clear that Pestalotiopsis microspora is not unique among fungi in its ability to degrade plastic.
Researchers at Utrecht University were able to achieve a similar result with Oyster mushrooms and Split gill mushrooms in the lab; this process even resulted in an edible end product. In 2017, scientist Sehroon Khan and his team found another biodegrading fungus in a landfill in Pakistan called Asperillus tubigensis, which is capable of breaking down polyester polyurethane (packing foam).
Sehroon and his team went on to find over 50 other species of plastic-eating fungus since 2017.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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Scientists still have a long way to go before this research is applicable on a large scale as a means of plastic recycling.
Still, this is proof that anything is possible here on Planet Earth. You never know where new solutions are going to come from.
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5 Extremely Creative Ways to Recycle
People everywhere are taking heed of what climate scientists have to say about the dire state of our planet. We have a long way to go as far as reducing waste, but one day – and one idea – at a time, right? To that end, below are 5 interesting, out-of-the-box ways people are trying to save the planet.
#1. Turning trash into treasure.
In Eskilstuna, Sweden, they’re taking the phrase “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” to the max in a shopping center that sells only upcycled, recycled, or sustainable merchandise. Patrons can drop off objects they no longer want and mall customers can shop for everything from furniture to clothes and sporting equipments.
#2. It’s gone to the hogs.
Image Credit: Farragutful
The Mall of America is the largest shopping center in the States and it’s also perhaps the greenest. They’ve got LED garage lighting, water-efficient toilets, air-purifying plants and trees, and they also recycle more than 2400 tons of food waste by donating it to local hog farms.
It also recycles about 60% of its total waste – 32,000 tons!
#3. Dirty diapers can still be useful.
Canadian company Knowaste was founded in 1989 and recycles diapers and other absorbent hygiene products by stripping them of their plastic and fiber and turning them into composite construction materials, pet litter, and industrial tubing.
It’s a dirty job, saving the Earth!
#4. Old crayon, new crayon.
Crayons are cheap, which makes them easy enough to toss when they’re down to nubs (or your adorable toddler goes through their “break everything” phase). They aren’t biodegradable, though, so a North California nonprofit called The Crayon Initiative melts them down and turns them back into new crayons.
They then donate them to children’s hospitals.
#5. It’s getting hairy.
If you’ve been throwing out your (or your pets) clumps of hair, you’re doing it wrong – Matter of Trust, a San Francisco based charity, collects hair and fur and uses it to make oil-absorbing mats and other tools used by Hazmat teams to clean up oil spills.
We can only do it together!
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The Medals for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Will Made Entirely from Recycled Metal
Are you a fan of the Olympics? The long wait is almost over, because the Olympic games are coming back in 2020! The games, which will be held in Japan, are made even more special by a new sustainability initiative, thanks to which every single medal at the Tokyo Olympics will be made from recycled metal.
Photo Credit: iStockPhoto
The plan has been in place since 2017, when organizers in Japan began collecting electronic waste for the project. People donated old smartphones, laptops, and other items. Businesses and industry organizations also contributed.
Now, Olympic organizers say they expect to reach their targets in March. As of November, they’d collected 47,488 tons of discarded electronic devices.
Photo Credit: Pexels
“It is estimated that the remaining amounts of metal required to manufacture all Olympic and Paralympic medals can be extracted from the devices already donated,” the organizers said in a statement.
In total, they’ll collect 30.3 kilograms of gold, 4100 kilograms of silver, and 2700 kilograms of bronze.
It’s a major move towards sustainability for the Olympics. In 2016, only 30% of the silver and bronze in medals came from recycled materials.
Later this year, Tokyo 2020 will release the official designs for the medals.
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