Portlanders who have endured the stench of rotting food and the pinch of every other week trash pickups may take heart from this bit of news: The food scraps collected from curbside bins are coming back to the city as compost for community gardens. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Composting

Walk into Gary and Michelle Hogue's downtown Portland micro-loft, and you're immediately standing in the kitchen, living room and bedroom. It's like a studio apartment, only smaller. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Tiny homes

Oregon recyclers have stopped accepting certain kinds of plastic because China has stopped buying them. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Recycling

An Earth Day event at several Oregon colleges Monday will feature low-carbon foods like cheese-less pizza and edamame burgers. Each food item has a little lesson in climate change cooked into it. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Low-carbon food, Bon Appetit, University of Portland

New Seasons Market has officially qualified as a "zero waste" company by recycling 92 percent of the waste that comes through its grocery stores. How do they do it, and what's in that last 8 percent that winds up in a landfill? I went on a tour of the Hawthorne New Seasons store with a team of experts to find out. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Zero waste

Portland State University and Wells Fargo are challenging university faculty and students to invent greener products, processes and services. Continue reading →

Filed under: Sustainability, Environment, Green technology

What makes a green CPA different from any other accountant on April 15? Does he find extra tax breaks for people who live green? Does he push people to donate their refunds to environmental nonprofits or invest them in renewable energy? Continue reading →

Filed under: Sustainability, Environment, TriLibrium, Triple bottom line, B Corp

A bill in the California Legislature would require fast food chains to use all compostable or recyclable packaging – and to make sure a good portion of that packaging is actually diverted from landfills and storm drains. Would you vote for it? Continue reading →

Filed under: Sustainability, Environment, Recycling, Composting, Garbage

The school lunch menu in the Bend-LaPine School District looks more like fine dining under a new program that delivers local seafood to Central Oregon cafeterias. Menu items include Oregon shrimp salad loaded with tomato, cucumber, cauliflower, a hard-boiled egg, and a lemon wedge, and baked ginger-soy Dover sole served over coconut rice and topped with fresh pineapple salsa. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Foodie Friday, Farm to school

As Portland-based Bettery tries to woo more people into using rechargeable batteries, what is happening to the alkaline batteries dropped off for recycling? In the Northwest, there’s a fair chance they’re getting melted down and turned into rebar. Continue reading →

Filed under: Environment, Sustainability, Recycling