03 April 2013

5 Amazing Ways To Recycle You've Never Heard Of




Recycling is more than just a modern buzzword. The practice has the potential to better almost everything we touch in the world. From industry to the environment, the beneficial impacts can be seen ubiquitously. Good practices start at home, however. Most people are familiar with the routine ways to recycle used goods. However, there are a few ways that are impressive and undeservingly under-spoken. Here are five amazing ways you can recycle beyond what you already know.

Dirty Diapers to Diesel

Sometimes nature can produce incredible beauty. Take a child for example. Few things are as beautiful as an infant. But nature can also produce some disgusting items too. Like what comes out of the infant.
Fortunately, there are recycling projects that have actually found a way to manage this. A Canadian company is using dirty diapers filled with fecal matter to fuel. The process is surprisingly clean and promises to generate a surprising amount of power.

Houses from Shipping Containers

Smaller household items aren't the only things that are at risk at filling landfills once they've reached their time. Ironically enough, the shipping container that (more than likely) helped deliver it is also a landfill filler. These large, clunky items are finding new life, however, as houses.
Some recycling projects are utilizing these outdated containers and converting them into moderately sized residences. Shockingly enough, some estimates put the process as a cheaper alternative to traditional house building.

Food waste Composting

Food waste Composting is allowing your organic trash to work for you. Virtually everything we eat is biodegradable. Meaning that, if given enough time, the environment will process it on its own. Compost can work as an amazing fertilizer. Systems like the Bokashi Composting System will work out great for many, and it only takes 1-2 weeks before your fertilizer is ready for use. It's affordable and a great way to get new life out of old food.

Upcycled Dresses and Buildings:

"Upcycling" is a curious process in which items aren't recycled into items with equal or less functionality. For instance, in traditional recycling, a plastic jug will come back as another jug, as a water bottle, or something similar. Upcycling ups the ante. Projects include creating intricate dresses out of coffee filters and making entire buildings from beer bottles. If done right, they have the same functionality of the items they emulate.

Windshields to Whiskey Glasses

Every year, hundreds of thousands of windshields are cracked, replaced, or destroyed. Normally, the spare glass is tossed into the trash and left to be forgotten. Now, a Mexican company is taking these pieces of glass and creating whiskey glasses, goblets, and other glassware. The coolest part is the glass is entirely non-toxic yet still retains some of the tinting from the original window. 

39 comments:

  1. I found this really interesting, I had not heard of the windsheild one or the dirty diaper one, and that one is great as there is an awful lot of those around lol

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  2. Diapers into fuel? That's amazing! It is very interesting to see how creative we can get with recycling and upcycling. I hope it inspires people to keep making their lives more green.

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  3. Wow, diapers to fuel. What a great concept. There are so many dirty diapers. Just curious, who's going to collect them? Can't believe you can make homes from shipping containers. Would be interested in finding out how they make it strong enough to hold up. All of these are interesting. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. I have to say the diapers into fuel surprised me and I really like the windshield to whiskey glasses recycling. It is fun to find out about new ways to recycle or upcycle.

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  5. Well, you're right. Some of it hits my "ick" button. I'm sure if I thought about everyday products, even the food I eat I'd be a basket case!

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  6. Going Green and recycling are definately buzzwords, and thanks for including interesting examples of UPcycle too! Funny to imagine entire buildings being made from beer bottles? P.S. For whimsical fun the Tooth Fairy recycles baby teeth by grinding them into fine *fairy dust* LOL
    ladybugcda (at) hotmail(dot) com

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  7. I wish I knew about diapers to fuel years ago! What a great idea, Thank you for sharing all of this :)

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  8. I'm a huge fan of upcycling and I'm always looking for more ways to go green! Thanks for such great info!

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  9. I love to compost! It cuts down on all the garbage drastically and it's so good for my garden! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  10. i live in michigan.. and we have to return bottles and plastic because we pay on these when we purchase beer or soda.. i think this wonderful..

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  11. wow i never knew these! great info!

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  12. These are good tips and appreciate your post!

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  13. i seen the shipping house and then my gf use them for storage in her farm

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  14. Love upcycled art - great re-use place near my home has a small gallery of art for sale. RE-use turning trash to treasure :)

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  15. Cool! Or, gross? lol. I'm a wicked 'upcycler' and 'composter. Every little bit helps. Informative post!

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  16. Great to learn something new! Very interesting... Thanks!

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  17. Diapers into fuel, wow, who would have thought. A lot of these idea are awesome

    sibabe64 at ptd dot net

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  18. I,m amazed at all the new ways everyday items are being recycled into useful items,Thanks for the great information

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  19. This is amazing! I really had no clue especially about the dirty diapers.

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  20. Lots of very interesting ways of recycling. Some I have heard of but the first one I never would have ever thought about that one. The more creative you are the more ideas and ways you can find to reuse things that we throw away. Just think of all the things we could keep out of landfills if we all would do these things. Before I throw anything out I try to think of a way to use them. Tissue boxes the decorative ones I cut the tops off and use them for putting crayons in or make up on my dresser or what ever . there are useful and pretty too.

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  21. a starbucks where i live used a shipping container to build the store.it's pretty cool!it was the first time i had seen them used as buildings and now i am seeing it everywhere. and why not? it's a great idea!

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  22. This are very good tips - some I had never seen before. My town has a good recycling program.

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  23. I told my family about these weird facts and we were all so impressed still. Who would've thought about the dirty diapers and the windshields.

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  24. I love the idea of making goblets out of windshield glass. That sounds very cool!

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  25. Really neat ideas! I really like the dirty diaper one! lol.

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  26. Wow, what cool ways to recycle! I've heard of homes being made out of shipping containers, I saw a show about it on HGTV or Discovery Channel or something. So interesting! Dirty diapers into fuel! Amazing!!

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  27. Diapers to fuel is an amazing concept. Imagine the output if this can be implemented worldwide!

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  28. wow i never knew about this great tips

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  29. As a real estate agent I was interested in use of building homes out of shipping containers. Initially I thought this would mean small homes in low income areas. I just recently watched a tv program where they were being built as 3 story very nice contemporary homes. My view changed completely and I now realize it is a very viable attractive and sturdy home.

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  30. these tips are really good especially the dirty diapers metyhod

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  31. I love how windshield glass is being recycled...Thanks for the information.

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  32. I love the this post and the other one, of things you never thought to recycle. Things that can help or worl that we never thought of Thank You!

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  33. How Interesting! Very nice tips, thank you!

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  34. This is great information since we're in the process of moving, getting ready for new baby, and purging a lot of stuff. It's good to know what we can recycle during this process.

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  35. Recycling organics is not new to my city - we are required to put compostable organic material in a separate bin, even in apartment buildings and condos!

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  36. I would hate to be wearing an upcycled dress that was made out of coffee filters if it was raining out. I'm not big into fashion, but coffee filter dresses just don't seem like they would have a long lifespan.

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  37. I have never heard of most of these. The wine goblets from the windshields sound so pretty!

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  38. this is all great information,, i wish though you had links that people can look into this more.. i think the idea is to cut back and recycle what we have, .. if we don't start caring today about our planet there is only going to be trash left for our childrens children...

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  39. There are also countries 'harvesting' the plastic waste getting into our ecosystem and using it for fuel. Plastic is the scourge of mankind I swear. I detest the stuff and try not to use it.

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