Our Green Streets Blog

On the positive side, V-16 engines at the DADS landfill run on captured methane to generate enough electricity for 3,000 homes and reduce greenhouse gases. Photo: grmeyers

This Sunday’s Denver Post runs a thought-provoking column by Susan Greene that is worth reading. The subject: trash management in Denver compared to other cities.

Greene writes, “I’m talking trash — heaps of bags, lawn trimmings and boxes in cans and Dumpsters across town. Most of us city folk toss garbage with no fees and no clue where it’s headed.”

I recommend reading her column. Many of us in Denver believe we are leading the way in cultivating a greener lifestyles, including practices such as wasting less and recycling more. Not quite true, it appears.

“Denver lost funding for its pilot compost program, which managed to slash household trash 38 percent, and will end that project this spring. Progress is stalling in a town that recycles 22 percent less than the U.S. average.”

The comparison showing Denver recycles 22 percent less than the US average hit me the hardest. I hoped we were leading the pack and we aren’t even close concerning the measures of recycling and wasting less. All of us need to start regarding sustainability issues more seriously.

Meet Planet Blue! source: SavePlanetBlue.com

An interactive online game site, SavePlanetBlue.com has been launched. After one year of development, children around the world are invited to come register and become Planet Blue Savers. Registration is free.

According to the launch announcement, children today are more aware of  environmental issues than at any other time before. Site visitors will encounter an animated 3-D website that provides customizing options. Read more of this >>

Sustainable packaging winners announced. Source: Converting Magazine

This press release came at the end of May care of Converting Magazine. We usually tend to shy away from releases, however, what was covered here — sustainable packaging — was important enough we chose to offer the information and the video of the awards ceremonies by Dupont.

Have a look at some great works that combine imagination and social responsibility in the packaging field:

29 May 09 Wilmington, DE — “A diverse group of businesses in multiple market segments are turning to sustainable packaging solutions to improve the environmental profile of their product offerings, according to DuPont as the company today announced the winners of the 21st DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation at the industry’s first online interactive exchange on sustainable packaging (left). Winners include well-known brands such as Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Conagra for food, pharmaceutical, personal-care and other packaging segments. For more information on the winners and their sustainable packaging innovations, click here. Read more of this >>

View of Denver City & County Building from State Capitol. Pictures courtesy of www.aviewoncities.com

The City & County of Denver has partnered with Best Buy and Guaranteed Recycling Xperts (GRX) offering Denver residents an easy way to recycle their electronic items such as old televisions, monitors and computer components. Read more of this >>

For those who missed it, this last Saturday, March 28th, from 8:30 – 9:30 PM local time was Earth Hour.  For those who may be unfamiliar with Earth Hour, it was first marked in 2007, when The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) and The Sydney Morning Herald sponsored a campaign to get 2.2 million citizens of Sydney to turn off non-essential lights and appliances for one hour to raise awareness of the need to address climate change. Read more of this >>

Architect and Builder Doug Eichelberger has an interesting way to use trash as a building material.  He has constructed several of the building at his Larkspur, Colorado ranch out of baled glossy paper and baled plastic bottles.  The buildings, finished in stucco, blend in well with the surrounding environment, disguising the truly green nature of these buildings.  Eichelberger sees buildings like those at his Lucky Ranch as a possible solution in developing countries around the world where trash is plentiful, and traditional building materials and methods prohibitively expensive. Read more of this >>

Here are a few more photos from Doug Eichelberger’s Lucky Ranch.  These were all shot inside his barn.  The barn features a foundation of bailed recycled plastic bottles, and the walls are baled glossy magazines covered in stucco.

Read more of this >>

A few images from a recent trip to Doug Eichelberger’s Lucky Ranch, near Larkspur, Colorado.  This was a fantastic trip, with a number of really exciting green building techniques being discussed.  More to follow!

Read more of this >>

Doug Eichelberger built his barn at Lucky Ranch using baled scrap plastic and scrap paper - source: Doug Eichelberger

There is plenty enough in the way of complaints about the trash we create and how wasteful we happen to be. But not much in the way of solutions.

So meet architect, Doug Eichelberger, a person who built a a good part of his Lucky Ranch barn out of trash. He used scrap plastic for the foundation blocks, then erected walls of baled trash paper. The wall materials were inexpensive and provided excellent insulating quality. Read more of this >>