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Drive Past the Body Shop: Sun Will Repair Scratches

New self-healing coating will save you money, time

(Newser) - The sun will soon be able to help repair the scratches on everything from iPods to cars. Researchers have developed a polyurethane coating that heals itself when exposed to UV radiation, Wired reports. The coating, which should be available in a few months, could save consumers money and reduce waste...

Sewage Soaks Baghdad Slum
 Sewage Soaks Baghdad Slum 

Sewage Soaks Baghdad Slum

Infrastructure remains sub-standard in much of Iraq

(Newser) - Residents of the Sadr City slum of Baghdad have come to accept raw sewage, bubbling to the surface from broken pipes, as a part of daily life, Bloomberg reports. And Sadr City is hardly an oddity—despite 6 years and billions of American dollars, much of Iraq still lacks reliable...

Amazon Leads Charge Against Clamshell Packaging

(Newser) - Stories of angry and even injured customers have inspired companies to ditch sealed clamshell packaging for easy-to-open alternatives, the New York Times reports. Amazon leads the pack, working with suppliers to ship products in plain cardboard boxes ahead of the holidays. Even some offline companies, which rely on clamshells to...

Seattle Slaps 20¢ Fee on All Grocery Bags

Paper or plastic, shoppers must pay up

(Newser) - Seattle has staked out its spot atop the greener-than-thou pecking order by approving a 20-cent-per-bag fee that applies to both paper and plastic, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The move is expected to cut disposable-bag use in half. "The best way to reduce waste is not to create it, and...

As World's Belly Rumbles, Gluttonous US Tosses Food

27% of available food ends up in the trash

(Newser) - Americans throw out roughly a quarter of all food available for consumption, even as grocery prices skyrocket and global riots break out over food shortages, the New York Times reports. That works out to about a pound of food every day for every American—from grocery stories tossing spoiled produce...

Plasma May Zap City's Garbage Crisis

New tech could burn off Vancouver's garbage and make electricity

(Newser) - Vancouver may have a fix for its garbage overflow crisis: Burn the trash into a gas that makes electricity. A Canadian company called Plasco Energy Group has proposed a plant that zaps waste into ionized gas, or plasma; about a fifth of it would run the plant and the rest...

Soiled Green: Cloth Diapers Make Comeback

Eco-conscious uprising puts disposables on the defensive

(Newser) - Cloth diapers are getting a serious makeover, as old-fashioned safety pins and rubber liners give way to velcro and water-resistant merino wool covers. New cloth diaper brands, such as Fuzzi Bunz and Happy Heinys, can thank an increasingly eco-conscious population for their success, reports Time, with some companies reporting 50%...

Oh Poop! Hikers Have to Pack it Out on Whitney

Outhouses dismantled, climbers supplied with sanitary kits

(Newser) - If you you brought it with you—even internally—you've got to pack it back down. That's the new policy on Mt. Whitney where officials have to deal with excrement left by thousands who take to the heights every year.  Air lifting bags of human waste from high-altitude outhouses...

Turkey Waste Fuels Power Plant, Debate

Droppings look like green fuel, but activists call foul

(Newser) - A $200 million power plant in rural Minnesota burns turkey droppings, calling the plentiful waste from nearby farms an alternative fuel source. But critics disagree: They argue it's nearly as big a polluter as standard power plants, and puts out relatively little juice for its government-subsidized costs. "As a...

Largest Oil Spill in US Seeps Under Brooklyn

Exxon owns up to a century of leaks and dumping over 55 acres

(Newser) - Underneath the ground of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is a dark blob of gasoline, solvents, and associated poisons that composes the biggest oil spill in US history.  It's accumulated from a century's worth of smaller leaks and waste dumping, reports New York magazine, and ExxonMobil has quietly accepted the blame, but...

Restaurants Ban Bottled Water
Restaurants Ban Bottled Water

Restaurants Ban Bottled Water

(Newser) - Fresh-food pioneer Chez Panisse has joined a growing number of San Francisco–area restaurants in striking bottled water from the menu. The decision to serve local tap water only—flat or carbonated in-house—comes from an effort to cut down on the packaging waste and energy used shipping bottles.

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