18
votes
Accepted
What to do with old, unused incandescent light bulbs
TLDR; don't use them for lighting.
Given that you could keep your incandescent bulbs for when your current energy-efficient (I will assume CCFL) bulbs need replacing, your choice boils down to: buy a ...
- 1,032
13
votes
Accepted
Is it better to put something potentially unrecyclable in the recycling bin or to put something recyclable in the waste bin?
It may depend on your local rules, but here it's certainly better to put a recyclable thing in the bin than a non-recyclable thing in the recycling. That is, if your council doesn't have any sorting ...
- 773
11
votes
Accepted
Alternatives to garbage plastic bags
Ironically, the better you are at reducing your waste, the less likely you are to succeed at replacing plastic bags for the irreducible portion. My mother throws out actual garbage twice a year - one ...
- 1,877
11
votes
Accepted
What is the most sustainable way of making coffee?
I live off-grid, so I did a lot of study on this topic. All used coffee grounds make good fertilizer.
Drip machines seem to use a lot of energy, and they seem to use it for a lot of time. They also ...
- 676
11
votes
Accepted
Is using a menstrual cup better for the environment than using pads or tampons?
Yes, using a menstrual cup (such as DivaCup) is much better for the environment.
I located a thesis paper written by a student at Dalhousie University for her BSc in Environmental Science and Gender ...
- 2,799
11
votes
Accepted
Is it more environmentally friendly to use laptops or desktop PCs?
"To compare purely the electricity usage ... Desktops are clearly worse for the environment in this respect." — That certainly used to be the case, and still often is, but only because people buy/...
- 2,784
10
votes
What to do with old, unused incandescent light bulbs
I disagree with the answers that say not to use it. It may in fact be an excellent idea to use it if:
you live somewhere that requires your home to be heated in the winter
you currently heat with ...
- 1,877
10
votes
What to do with old, unused incandescent light bulbs
I use them in garden/indoor. Something like this...
(source : google search)
- 229
9
votes
How to properly dispose of bubble wrap envelopes?
1. Try to reuse
Reuse is always better than recycling or disposal because 1) it saves energy that is used in the recycling process and 2) it saves energy and materials for manufacturing and ...
- 14.4k
9
votes
Accepted
Scrapping a mouse - what should I focus on?
Almost all of those components are reusable in a DIY electronics project.
Save these things for reuse, but make sure you have a good organization system thought out or you will never be able to find ...
- 862
9
votes
Accepted
Are used "blister packs" recyclable?
Yes, blister packs are recyclable (for example with machines like this one) but chances are there's no recycling company in your area that will accept and recycle it unless you are able to separate ...
- 14.4k
9
votes
Accepted
Can solid dog waste be safely added to a backyard composting heap?
You've hinted at the main concerns with putting poop in a compost pile.
Will putting dog poop in the compost pile spread disease? This could happen either in the act of moving the dog poop, while ...
- 1,604
8
votes
Accepted
How can we dispose or recycle hair clippings from barber shops?
There is a market for human hair:
Hair can be sold to people who create wigs or hair extensions. There is even an online calculator to determine the value of your hair.
Apparently hair is a good ...
- 14.4k
8
votes
How do plastic bags and other waste end up in the ocean?
There are many ways how plastic waste ends up in the sea. A non-complete list would include the following: Micro-plastics from our washing processes, they are in almost everything like shampoo, ...
- 929
8
votes
Accepted
Does transporting plastic offset the benefits of recycling it?
tl;dr: No, shipping plastic waste to China for recycling does not offset the benefits, as it reduces the net energy savings by 3% or less.
Polyethylene, The most common plastic
According to ...
- 11.7k
8
votes
How do I get rid of numerous small pieces of charcoal?
You are talking about black gold that has a value of AU$40 per 25 litre bag in my area. I would suggest either selling it or putting it back into the soil.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar ...
- 2,784
8
votes
Accepted
How do I dispose trash without using plastic bags?
Don't throw out water!
Firstoff, you really need to not throw out liquids. Liquids should go down the sink, (unless they are non-water non-biological). Water based liquids are very heavy and add a ...
8
votes
Can I recycle greasy metal in the US?
Scrap metals are not cleaned, they are melted. For steel; Zn, Sn, Pb, and others vaporize or oxidize. The most problematic is Zn as the oxide in the slag can deteriorate the refractory. Aluminum is ...
- 540
7
votes
What to do with old, unused incandescent light bulbs
Please consider donating incandescent bulbs to a support group for diseases that can sensitize some people to light. One disease with fairly widespread support group chapters is Lupus.
Lupus has ...
- 79
7
votes
Accepted
cost of energy for old crt vs new flatscreen
One of the key considerations here is how much time the appliance will spend turned on. If an old CRT TV is hardly used, then the environmental footprint of continuing to use it is very low, even if ...
- 8,735
7
votes
What is the most sustainable way of making coffee?
Your grinder may be less efficient than a commercial unit, and shipping beans rather than ground coffee may affect the bulk for shipping. If you use extra (hot) water in washing a permanent filter you ...
- 2,087
7
votes
Can I compost vegetable oil?
Yes -- with caveats.
It will decompose. Even motor oil will decompose. (Don't use this as a way of disposing the used stuff. It has lots of ungood things besides oil by the time it's used.)
...
- 7,127
7
votes
Accepted
How can ceramics be recycled?
Recycling ceramics is possible, but it looks like it is still rare. This is an example of a business crushing bathroom porcelain into fine clay to then melt it again in a kiln and produce tiles. The ...
- 3,262
7
votes
How to encourage people to sort waste properly
Although quite old and aimed at more general recycling, a study by Porter et al. (1995) found that:
prompts by group leaders reliably increased recycling, with verbal prompts more effective than ...
- 101
7
votes
Accepted
Which materials dumped into landfills are the largest sources of methane?
The source of methane -- degradable organic carbon
A 2006 report by the IPCC, Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Volume 5 -- Waste, includes six different categories of landfilled ...
- 11.7k
6
votes
What to do with old, unused incandescent light bulbs
What to do with existing stock of incandescent bulbs – use them up or just put an LED in any socket where a lamp burns out?
As efficient LED bulbs are widely available the question comes up what is ...
- 69
6
votes
What to do with old, unused incandescent light bulbs
Osram did a good comparative life cycle assessment on bulbs, including incandescent, CFLs, and LEDs. The total life cycle impacts of CFLs and LEDs are both significantly lesser in all categories than ...
- 379
6
votes
Accepted
Is there any harm in not sorting biowaste?
It depends a bit how your waste processing facility handles the 'mixed waste' stream. In the best case scenario they sort out everything and your biodegradable waste ends up where it belongs after all;...
- 14.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Recycling soda stream canisters in Australia?
SodaStream gas cylinders don't have anything in them except carbon dioxide. One way or the other that's going into the atmosphere — it's not getting reclaimed.
Just bleed the CO₂ out of the top of ...
- 2,784
6
votes
Accepted
How do plastic bags and other waste end up in the ocean?
Carelessness, wind and rain.
Humans are careless, so leave all manner of plastic outside in their yards. A gust of wind catches the plastic and blows it onto a nearby road. It rains, and the ...
- 2,784
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible