NewsBits

Hug it Forward, a nonprofit organization in Guatemala, has developed a novel way to build new schools on shoestring budget by using discarded plastic bottles as construction material, reports Good. Using technology developed by another Guatemalan nonprofit organization, Pura Vida, the plastic bottles are stuff with trash, put in supportive chicken wire and coated in layers of concrete to create wall, allowing schools to be built for less than $10,000.

ShurSave grocery stores in northeast Pennsylvania are now collecting used gift cards in recycling bins near their checkout areas. Consumers will have the opportunity to donate any balance to charity, and the cards will be recycled.

Nine colleges throughout the U.S. have adopted bans on bottled water, reports USA Today, including two recent additions in Minnesota.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is often pointed to a consequence of rampant wastefulness. But Method, a maker of eco-oriented household and personal care products, and plastic recycler Envision Plastics are hoping to do something about it by producing a 100-percent post-consumer polyethylene bottle, 25 percent of which is plastic collected from the infamous garbage patch.

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