A while back I wrote about eco-burials, and it appears that the conversation has been building. Most recently I’ve seen posts from artists coming up with new ideas like the Tree Capsule, the Bios Urn and the Mushroom Burial Suit (below) Many of these concepts have been developed in areas that still prohibit the natural burial of any body. By …
Where Does Bio-Plastic Go, Compost or Recycle Bin?
Corn plastic, otherwise known as polylactic acid (PLA), is rapidly replacing traditional petroleum based plastics for food containers, utensils, disposable cups and more, but how do you dispose of it? It is common to find a recycle symbol printed or molded into the container, and many also promote that the item is compostable or biodegradable. So what is the most …
All Natural Organic Mattresses
There has been a bit of an explosion of natural and organic mattress retailers, many of them have been in business for years in Europe and are just now popping up state-side. Conventional mattresses these days are made with an array of materials and chemicals, especially the popular memory foam mattresses. Unfortunately many of the mattress producers are also required …
Composting with Local Cafe Coffee Grounds
If you have a composting pile or bin for your home garden, then you should head down to your local cafe and pick up these compost boosters. Coffee shops throw away tons of used coffee grounds each year, grounds which are better suited for your garden. Many cafes offer these grounds to their customers if you just ask. Some Starbucks …
7 Most Popular Eco Friendly Articles for 2010
With another year behind us, I like to look back and see what people are reading, and in particular, the most popular articles on this site. Here they are as voted by your traffic, the Top 7 Chic Ecologist articles for the year 2010: #1 – Pacific Plastic Island A plastic island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean more …
Environmentally Friendly Golf Goods
Make your game environmentally friendly with biodegradable and recycled golf balls and tees.
Green Bag Revolution Around the World
Around the world, the concept of the reusable bag is catching on with gusto. The reasoning may differ from country to country, but the effects seem to be the same: less waste and more money towards environmental causes. Many people claim that paper is more environmentally friendly than plastic, but the truth is far from that. Paper bags consume over …
Biodegradable Plastic Garbage Bags
Does such a thing even exist? Personally, I just use a trashcan without a liner and just rinse it out when it gets funky rather than add more trash to the landfill, but this doesn’t work for everybody. There are those times where you really do need a garbage bag, and not all trash bags are created equal. Jig-A-Loo recently …
Sun Chips Compostable Bag
I just happened to see an amazing thing last night on television, a (seemingly) plastic snack-chip bag biodegrade in a time lapse in 12 weeks. Impossible! Or is it? NatureWorks has developed a compostable bag for PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Division, the makers of SunChips. As with many claims of length of time to biodegrade, it is usually very dependent on the …
Shoes that Biodegrade, even in a Landfill?
I was shocked, just as you might be after my last article on how long things take to biodegrade. It seems to be biodegrade month here on The Chic Ecologist, so I am very happy to be reporting on a company that has developed a way to allow their product to biodegrade in a non-compost environment – particularly a landfill. …