An experiment to test if worms eat plastic
Insect larvae can eat plastic. Time to advance science and start some experiments at home. Which larvae work? What kinds of plastics?
plastic bags
These worms eat plastic
Insect larvae are eating plastic. The secret is in their saliva. Try your own real experiments at home with plastics you find.
How long does it take your garbage to decompose?
Every Easter in my life has included the après holiday hunt for the lone lost egg. After dying and decorating, hiding and hunting, one egg always gets left behind. It takes a week before its rotten stink leads reveals its hiding place - stuck behind a cushion, tucked in a shoe, growing mold in a flowerpot.
You Don’t Need That Plastic Bag – A New Campaign in Jordan
‘Balash Kees’ is a new campaign launched by UNESCO Amman to help reduce the use of plastic bags in Jordan Walk around Jordan and you’ll realise pretty quickly that the country has a huge plastic bag and litter problem. Cheap black plastic bags are literally everywhere and they are a real eyesore. No more so […]
Inspired by Oman Caves: Take Green Prophet’s Plastic Bag Challenge!
Are you up for a bit of quiet activism? Take our plastic bag challenge This is a call to arms, and to hands: my challenge to you when you shop this week, this month or this year. Tell the clerk you’ll pass on that bag, instead tuck your purchases into your pockets or purse. Bring your own sack and […]
IKEA’s Blue and Yellow Also Has a Green Face
IKEA Israel’s Blue-Yellow buildings also have a green policy IKEA’s blue and yellow store motifs have become familiar to households all over the world, including the Middle East with stores in Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. IKEA’s Israel stores have been serving the public since 2001, and have introduced environmental policies into both […]
Chic Reusable Cotton Bags Make Eco-Friendly Shopping Cool
These designed cotton bags are way cooler than plastic. Plastic bags are undoubtedly bad for the environment, but sometimes it’s hard to get motivated to carry reusable bags with you for those spur-of-the-moment trips to the store. Serious and devoted DIYers and plastic bag avoiders may make their own reusable cloth shopping bags out of […]
Make Your (Book) Mark With Plastic Bags
Get one up on Rumpelstiltskin by turning plastic shopping sacks into uber-artsy bookmarks. I really hate giving cash gifts. Gift cards aren’t much higher on the “Hey, I burned lots of calories thinking of you” scale. Even when the card’s end use fits the user, it’s still not very satisfying for me (wow, so it is always about […]
Lamps Made With 50% Sawdust, Some Plastic Bags, and Some Ingenuity
Made from sawdust and plastic bags alone, these adhesive-free lamps take leftover materials and make them shine again. Plastic bags are an (unfortunately) abundant material that have been used in many ways by designers, but sawdust – though abundant as well – has not been used as frequently by sustainable Middle Eastern designers. One other […]
Rothko-esque Plastic Bags Go From Rubbish to Relevant
Colorful plastic bags are both the canvas and the paints in Aviva Sawicki’s artworks. Plastic bags are a ubiquitous and un-eco-friendly material that many sustainable and upcycling designers have tried to reuse. One designer has turned plastic bags into shoes, another has made plastic bag wallets, and plastic bags can even be used as crocheting […]
PET Bottles Upcycled Into Art Using Glass Blowing Techniques
PET bottles hark back to their glass bottle predecessors using traditional glass blowing techniques. Plastic bottles have pretty nasty reputations for being bad for human health and the environment. Very few people are arguing that plastic bottles (and especially bottled water) are a good thing in the long run. Some companies, such as Israeli fashion […]
Where Stuff Comes From And Where It Goes
At the end of her tour, Tafline gushes about her latest presentations at Al Ittihad school for boys in Abu Dhabi. My whirlwind tour through Dubai has come to an end. The Masdar City images posted from my first visit were viewed by 30,000 people around the world, I saw sharks carelessly dumped in the […]
The Green Sheikh Knows How To Treat A Lady
Dr. Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi, known as the Green Sheikh, at the Mina Al Salam hotel in Dubai. It isn’t often that I eat dates, drink coffee, and wax green with a Sheikh from Ajman. But yesterday I did. Known around the world as the Green Sheikh, Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi […]
The UAE’s Plastic Bag Story Isn’t Eco-Happy Yet
The plastic bag story isn’t over yet, but it’s definitely on the right track. United Arab Emirates’ residents are awash with excitement over the Ministry of Environment and Water’s moves to ban conventional plastic bags by 2013. And so they should be. Plastic bags are the bane of natural existence. They leach toxic materials into […]
It’s The Beginning Of The End For Plastic Bags In Abu Dhabi
This story makes our hearts sing! Taking the threat of plastic bags seriously, Abu Dhabi is preparing for the 2013 total ban with a plastic-free weekend. Residents of the United Arab Emirates use 11.6 billion plastic bags every year. That’s 11.6 billion camel-killing, toxin-oozing, non-biodegradable bags that choke our water ways and blight beautiful places. […]