Before you throw away that empty soda bottle, wine bottle, or milk carton, think about turning it into a bird feeder.

These seven DIY projects show how to reuse common household items to make useful backyard wildlife stations. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re crafting with kids or have experience with tools. Whenever possible, choose glass instead of plastic. Experts say glass bottles last longer in the sun and are easier to clean than plastic.

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1. Soda Bottle Bird Feeder

The soda bottle bird feeder is a classic project that’s easy for anyone to make. Start by saving a 1- or 2-liter soda bottle from the recycling bin. Then, find two wooden spoons, dowels, or sturdy twigs from around your home or yard. These will serve as perches for the birds.

To make one, follow the instructions from Gardening Know How: mark two sets of holes at right angles, insert the spoons or dowels, fill the bottle with birdseed, put the cap back on, and hang it up with string or fishing line. If you’re working with young kids, adults should handle the cutting.

If you prefer not to do DIY from scratch, you can buy soda bottle bird feeder kits. Just attach the tray and wire to your own bottle.

2. Milk Carton Bird Feeder

Making a bird feeder from a milk or juice carton is just as easy as using a soda bottle. The Audubon Society even has a version that’s great for kids. Cut a large opening a few inches from the bottom on one side, add a stick underneath for a perch, make two small holes at the top for hanging, decorate it, and fill with birdseed.

Keep in mind that milk cartons don’t last as long as plastic or glass feeders. Watch for signs of wear and replace your feeder when needed. Remember to recycle the old carton.

3. Tray Bird Feeder

If you have leftover wood from a home project, you can make a simple tray feeder using Birds & Blooms’ instructions. You’ll need cedar or pine scraps, an aluminum screen for drainage, panel nails, eye screws, and some chain for hanging. You should also be comfortable using a drill and hammer.

You can also reuse old windows, picture frames, or other wooden items from around the house to make a tray feeder. One Instructables tutorial shows how someone built a feeder from the wooden backing of an old bronze award.

Tray feeders bring in many types of birds, like cardinals, chickadees, woodpeckers, and mourning doves. However, they don’t keep out squirrels.

4. Floppy Disk Bird Feeder

If you have some old floppy disks lying around, you can turn them into a retro bird feeder using an Instructables guide.

You’ll need to take apart three disks, remove the magnetic film, cut a window for the seeds, put the pieces together to form a cube, and attach a string for hanging. Use tape or a hot glue gun to hold it together, then add birdseed inside.

5. Self-Refilling Glass Bottle Bird Feeder

This gravity-fed feeder is a smart upgrade from basic designs. Remodelaholic’s wine bottle bird feeder tutorial explains how to build a simple wooden platform with a notched holder that keeps an upside-down glass bottle just above the seed tray. As birds eat, gravity refills the tray with more seed.

You need only a recycled wine bottle (or any narrow-neck glass bottle) and some wood for this project. The screw-based mount makes it easy to remove the bottle for refilling. Use a low- or no-VOC wood sealer to protect the frame.

6. Plastic Bottle Hummingbird Feeder

Want to bring hummingbirds to your yard? Try this Instructables guide for making a hummingbird feeder from recycled plastic containers. It uses a pop bottle and a deli container lid, like the ones from grocery store takeout, with milk bottle caps glued on as feeding ports.

Fill the bottle with hummingbird nectar. The International Hummingbird Society suggests mixing one part white sugar with four parts water. Don’t use food coloring, honey, or artificial sweeteners. The red parts of the feeder attract the birds, not the nectar itself.

If you want something sturdier and easier to clean, Birds & Blooms offers instructions for a glass bottle hummingbird feeder that uses copper wire and a commercial feeding tube. This version takes more effort to make but lasts much longer.

7. Glass Soda Bottle Bird Feeder 

This is a step up in craft and durability, and a good reason to save that glass Jarritos or Mexican Coke bottle. Birds & Blooms’ glass soda bottle feeder tutorial pairs a recycled glass bottle with a chicken feeder base for a sturdy feeder that holds plenty of seed and will last for years.

The most involved step is drilling a hole in the bottle’s bottom using a diamond drill bit under running water to keep the bit cool so the glass doesn’t crack. A steel rod threads through the bottle and into the chicken feeder base, locked in place with a washer and wing nut; a G-hook at the top completes the hanger. To refill, simply unscrew the base, add seed, and reattach.

This DIY project requires comfort with a drill and patience with glass, but the result looks intentional and well-made, not like a weekend craft project. For the nectar-recipe and feeder-cleaning guidance that applies to all glass bottle builds, the International Hummingbird Society’s feeding page and Birds & Blooms’ black oil sunflower seed guide are solid references depending on what you’re trying to attract.

To find out where to recycle glass bottles in your area, check the Earth911 Recycling Directory. Most curbside programs don’t accept them, but many drop-off sites do.

Tips for Bird Feeders

• Clean your feeders every one or two weeks to stop mold and bacteria from harming birds.
• Hang feeders at least five feet above the ground and away from bushes where cats might hide.
• Black oil sunflower seeds attract the most types of birds.
• For hummingbird feeders, change the nectar every two or three days. In hot weather, change it even more often.
• Plastic feeders break down faster than glass ones in sunlight. Check them regularly and replace when needed.

Related on Earth911

• How to Start a Container Garden
• How to Compost at Home
• The Dos and Don’ts of Glass Recycling

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2014, and was most recently updated in March 2026.

The post 7 DIY Recycled Bird Feeders appeared first on Earth911.

Nevada just shattered its March statewide high temperature record by 6 degrees, which is a ‘72 miles per hour in a school zone’ kind of margin. And it happened during the hottest 11-year stretch in 176 years of recorded temperature tracking.

A mid-March heat wave in the American West pushed temperatures in Laughlin, Nevada, to 106°F, far above the previous March record of 100°F. The fact that this happened in March is alarming, especially since it coincided with a near-total collapse of the region’s snowpack. This sets the stage for an early and possibly severe wildfire season. The heat also fits a troubling trend confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization last week: 2015 through 2025 have been the 11 warmest years ever recorded on Earth.

Usually, temperature records are broken by small amounts. What happened in Nevada last month was very different. Some places broke monthly high temperature records by as much as 8 degrees. Reno had seven days above 80°F in March, compared to the previous record of just two days. “It’s not just that we broke monthly records,” said Nevada State Climatologist Baker Perry, “but it’s by how much we broke the monthly records, and not just in one place.”

A Snow Drought That Wasn’t in the Forecast

The heat wave didn’t hit a typical winter landscape. Nevada was already experiencing what Perry calls an unprecedented snow drought. Even though winter precipitation was close to normal and there were big storms in mid-February, warm, moist air arrived soon after. This caused what the National Weather Service called the second-highest single-day snowmelt ever recorded in the eastern Sierra, only surpassed by flooding in 1997.

Normally, snow melts slowly through April and May, but this year it happened all at once in late February and early March. SNOTEL monitoring stations across Nevada show the impact clearly: 70% of sites in northern and central Nevada now report zero inches of snowpack. That’s not just low—it’s gone. The incidence of drought is closely correlated with rising atmospheric CO2 levels recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, which is threatened with defunding by the Trump Administration.

What worries scientists most is the combination of these events. “To have these two unprecedented, exceptional events happening at once is a combination that is particularly concerning,” Perry said.

What This Means for Fire Season

Wildfire risk isn’t only about heat. It depends on the sequence of conditions leading up to fire season, and this year’s setup is especially dangerous.

The snowmelt and early rains caused plants to grow weeks ahead of schedule. This early growth creates lots of fine fuels. As these plants dry out over the spring—now with less moisture from snowpack—they become the kindling that can fuel fast-moving fires.

Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District Division Chief August Isernhagen said the early green-up could lead to conditions we haven’t seen before as fire season approaches. He urged people to be even more careful than in recent drought years.

“The majority of our starts, and nearly all of our catastrophic fires are human caused,” Isernhagen said in a statement from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Mountain forests face another challenge. Dawn Johnson, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the NWS in Reno, explained that losing snowpack this early means heavy timber can become drought-stressed much sooner than usual, turning it into a fire hazard months earlier than normal. A cooler storm pattern expected in early April might bring some relief, but experts warn it may be too little, too late to make a real difference.

Eleven Years. No Exceptions.

The Nevada heat wave wasn’t an isolated event. It happened during the longest stretch of global heat ever recorded.

The WMO’s State of the Global Climate 2025 report, released on March 23, confirmed that every year from 2015 to 2025 is among the hottest ever recorded. Depending on the data, 2025 was either the second- or third-warmest year since records began, with temperatures about 1.43°C above pre-industrial levels. Atmospheric CO₂ reached its highest level in 2 million years, and ocean temperatures set a new record for the ninth year in a row.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres put the streak in stark terms: “When history repeats itself eleven times, it is no longer a coincidence. It is a call to act.”

The report also introduced a new measure called Earth’s energy imbalance (EEI). This tracks the difference between the energy the planet receives from the sun and the energy it sends back into space. In 2025, EEI was at its highest since records began in 1960. Surface temperatures, which get most of the attention, only show about 1% of the planet’s extra heat. Over 91% is absorbed by the oceans, which have taken in the equivalent of about 18 times the world’s total annual energy use each year for the past 20 years. EEI gives a clearer picture, showing that the planet is becoming more out of balance.

“In 2025, heatwaves, wildfires, drought, tropical cyclones, storms and flooding caused thousands of deaths, impacted millions of people and caused billions in economic losses,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. She added that the changes driven by human activities “will have harmful repercussions for hundreds — and potentially thousands — of years.”

What’s happening in the Western U.S. matches the WMO’s global findings perfectly. The report highlighted major glacier loss in 2025 along North America’s Pacific coast. These events aren’t separate—they’re both signs of the same warming trend, just showing up in different ways and times.

“We seem to be entering this new era where temperatures will be significantly higher than what they were ten years ago,” said climate scientist Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick of Australian National University. She explained that the changes of the past three years can only be explained by climate change.

What About the Cold in the East?

This is where things get both surprising and important.

If you live in the Northeast, Midwest, or Southeast, 2025 might not seem like a record-warm year. Some parts of the eastern U.S. have had cold snaps and severe winter weather that made national news. So how does that fit with 11 straight years of record global heat?

This actually makes sense in climate science. Climate change doesn’t warm every place at the same time. Instead, it disrupts atmospheric patterns like the polar vortex, which usually keeps cold air over the Arctic. As the Arctic warms much faster than the rest of the planet—about four times the global average, according to NOAA—the polar vortex weakens and shifts, letting cold air move into areas that don’t usually get it.

In other words, the same forces causing record heat in Nevada are also behind the unusual cold in the eastern U.S. These aren’t opposites—they’re both results of a destabilized climate system. Weather feels local, but our climate is shared. When the West is hot in March and the East is cold, both are signs of the same disrupted system.

What You Can Do

• If you live in the West, check current wildfire risk conditions through the National Interagency Fire Center and understand your local evacuation routes and readiness steps before fire season peaks.
• Lower the risk of starting fires. Most wildfires are caused by people, so be extra careful during high-risk times. Don’t have campfires during bans, avoid dragging chains on your vehicle or trailer, and make sure your equipment doesn’t create sparks.
• Support climate policy at both the state and federal levels. Reach out to your Congressional representatives. The WMO data shows the trend is clear. The decisions we make now will shape how severe fire seasons are in the future.
• Cut your home’s carbon footprint by using energy efficiently, choosing cleaner transportation, and making changes to your diet. One person’s actions won’t solve the global problem, but when many people make changes, it can have a real impact on emissions.
• If you live in the eastern U.S., don’t let cold winters make you ignore climate data. Pay attention to what’s happening across the country—the same atmosphere connects us all.

Related Reading on Earth911

How to Prepare Your Home for Wildfire Season

The post The West Is Burning Before Summer Even Starts, and It’s No Accident appeared first on Earth911.

Today’s inspiration and photo come from Earth911’s Mitch Ratcliffe: “The first step to sustainability is seeing that there is no boundary between you and nature.” This early morning shot of Waughop Lake in Western Washington caught ground fog between a cloudy sky and a perfect reflection in the water below. There is no difference between us and nature, except for the artificial ones we create by imagining boundaries. When we see this essential connection and reverse the artificial disconnections created over millennia, people can imagine a future where we all thrive with a regenerated ecosystem.

Post and share Earth911 posters to help people think of the planet first, every day. Click the poster to get a larger image.

The post Earth911 Inspiration: The First Step To Sustainability appeared first on Earth911.

If you stop commuting, your work-related carbon footprint could drop by more than half. However, this only happens if you make smart choices at home and recognize the growing environmental impact of the digital tools that enable remote work.

Remote and hybrid work have grown rapidly since the pandemic, and research is now reflecting this shift. A 2023 study from Cornell University and Microsoft found that full-time remote workers can lower their work-related carbon footprint by up to 54% compared to office workers. However, this reduction depends a lot on your lifestyle, where you live, and how your home is powered. There is also a new factor to consider: AI tools are now part of most remote work setups, and they bring their own environmental impact that needs attention.

What the Latest Research Actually Shows

The Cornell/Microsoft study is the most comprehensive analysis to date, and its conclusions are more nuanced than the headlines suggest. Remote workers who log four or more days at home each week achieve the biggest emissions reductions — up to 54%. Hybrid workers, depending on arrangement, reduce their footprint by 11% to 29%. But working from home just one day a week? The benefit nearly disappears, largely offset by non-commute trips and residential energy use.

The study’s most surprising finding is that information and communication technology — your laptop, your router, your video calls — has a negligible impact on total carbon footprint compared to commuting and office building energy. The big variables are how you get around on non-work days, whether your home runs on clean energy, and whether your employer reduces office space when people stop working there regularly.

Seat sharing is one overlooked lever: hybrid workers sharing desks under full building attendance can cut office-related emissions by up to 28%. Companies that maintain empty office space for remote employees are effectively double counting their environmental footprint.

A 2025 survey found that 62.3% of Americans believe remote work has had a positive impact on the environment, and 95% of people working from home report that they behave more sustainably without trying by using reusable mugs, reducing printing, and cooking at home. Those behavioral shifts are real, even if they’re harder to quantify than commute math.

The AI Variable Adds Emissions

AI tools are becoming common for remote workers, and they’re not free from an emissions standpoint.

Every AI query you send, whether for a meeting summary, a draft email, or a research lookup, draws power at a data center. A December 2025 study in the journal Patterns estimated that AI systems running in data centers could produce between 32.6 and 79.7 million tons of CO₂ in 2025 alone. Our own coverage of AI’s carbon footprint found that always-on AI agents, the kind that continuously scan inboxes, monitor projects, or run background analysis, can consume orders of magnitude more energy than occasional conversational use.

AI’s efficiency picture is mixed, but improving as chips, data centers, and prompts are refined. Google reported a 33x reduction in energy per median prompt over one year. But historically, efficiency gains in computing are overwhelmed by growth in usage — and AI-assisted remote work tools are proliferating fast. The World Economic Forum said in September 2025 that without intentional design, the hidden carbon footprint of remote digital collaboration could grow unchecked, offsetting the gains from reduced commuting.

For example, on hour-long HD video call can emit between 150 and 1,000 grams of CO₂, depending on how the data center is powered. Switching to standard definition or turning the camera off entirely for large-group updates can dramatically reduce that impact.

Location Still Drives the Math

Where your employees live influences the sustainability calculus more than almost anything else. Urban workers who can bike or take transit to a coworking space on hybrid days often outperform both full-remote and office-commuter models. Suburban and rural remote workers, especially those in single-occupancy gas-powered vehicles, can neutralize the home energy savings quickly.

Electric vehicles shift that equation, but only if the regional grid is clean. The Cornell study notes that emissions reductions from EVs depend on the extent of power grid decarbonization. A remote worker in West Virginia charging an EV from a coal-heavy grid will not see the same benefit as one in the Pacific Northwest.

There’s also an equity dimension that sustainability analyses frequently miss. A 2023 study in the journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling found that low-income workers who are least likely to hold remote-eligible jobs shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden in carbon reduction scenarios centered on telework. A green work policy that only works for knowledge workers isn’t a complete climate strategy.

The Home Office Is Where Individuals Have the Most Control

Your home energy source matters most. Workers with solar panels, heat pumps, or access to renewable energy tariffs capture substantially more of the commute-reduction benefit. Those heating with natural gas or cooling with inefficient window units can erode the benefit considerably.

Choosing ENERGY STAR-rated equipment is the baseline. Beyond that, the Cornell study found that non-commute travel is the sleeper variable because remote workers who use their schedule flexibility to run more errands by car, or who move farther from urban centers, can significantly offset what they save by not driving to an office. Bike-accessible errands and transit-friendly neighborhoods matter.

Use AI tools intentionally rather than as a default for tasks you can do quickly without them. Turn off always-on AI agents when continuous monitoring isn’t necessary. Check whether your preferred platforms disclose their energy sourcing, and push the ones that don’t.

What Employers Can Do Differently

Research findings clearly suggest that remote work’s environmental benefits are not automatic. They require active choices by organizations, not just individuals. Companies tracking carbon neutrality should include the emissions of their remote workforce in their accounting, not treat off-site employees as zero-emission by default.

Concrete organizational steps supported by research:

• Reduce or eliminate dedicated office space for fully remote employees; shifting a desk hoteling strategy to make room for people when they are in the office.
• Implement seat sharing for hybrid arrangements in existing offices.
• Incentivize public transit and active commuting for hybrid workers.
• Audit AI tool deployments to understand which agents run continuously and whether batch processing could serve the same function at a fraction of the energy cost.
• Normalize lower-bandwidth video defaults: turn off HD video for large meetings and encourage camera-optional norms for all-hands updates.
• Choose cloud and collaboration platforms that disclose renewable energy commitments, and pressure those that don’t to be transparent.

Actions To Take At Home

The most impactful individual moves, in rough order of significance:

• Power your home using clean energy. Solar panels, a green energy tariff, or a community solar subscription capture the full benefit of eliminating your commute.
• Drive less on days off. Non-commute car trips are the biggest wildcard in remote work emissions. Combine errands, bike when you can, and stay aware of the trips you’re adding back.
• Use AI tools intentionally. Every query has a cost. Treat AI the way you’d treat any other energy-using appliance — useful, but worth using mindfully.
• Lower video call resolution. Switching from HD to SD in video meetings — or turning your camera off for large presentations — can cut conferencing emissions significantly.
• Buy refurbished or Energy Star equipment. A refurbished laptop avoids new materials extraction. Energy Star monitors and peripherals reduce idle-state draw.
• Advocate for your building. If you’re in a hybrid arrangement, push your employer to implement seat sharing and right-size the office footprint.

Related Reading on Earth911

Your AI Carbon Footprint: What Every Query Really Costs

Greening the Cloud: How AI Is Reshaping Data Center Power Demands

What Is the Carbon Footprint of Video Streaming?

Editor’s Note: This article was orginally published on March 13, 2018, and was substantially updated in March 2026.

The post Is Working from Home Really More Sustainable? appeared first on Earth911.

That foam coffee cup, takeout box, or packing block likely won’t be recycled. It’s not your fault; most Americans lack access to recycling systems for these materials. The plastics industry says it’s improving, and that’s true in some ways. But there’s still a gap between industry claims and what people can actually do when taking out the trash.

Before we talk about why foam is hard to recycle, it’s helpful to know what it really is. “Polystyrene” is the material, though it is often referred to by the brand name “Styrofoam,” and it comes in different forms. EPS is the foam used in coffee cups, takeout boxes, and packing blocks. The hard kind, found in utensils and appliance parts, is GPPS or HIPS. Both are polystyrene but need different recycling methods.

The #6 symbol on the foam container only tells you what kind of plastic it is, not if it can be recycled. If you put it in the bin just because you see a number and the recycling arrows, it can actually contaminate your other recyclables, like paper, cardboard, and aluminum, and might cause the whole batch to be rejected.

The Recycling That Happens Without You

The plastics industry recently launched the Polystyrene Recycling Alliance (PSRA), which commissioned a detailed study of where polystyrene foam is actually recycled in the US. Its headline stat: about 105 million Americans — roughly one in three — have access to recycling services that handle at least one type of polystyrene.

That sounds promising. But one must read the fine print to see the whole picture.

The PSRA–RRS Polystyrene End Markets Study, published in February 2026, is the most detailed inventory of US and Canadian polystyrene recycling infrastructure to date. It identified 81 companies handling recovered EPS and XPS foam, with 119 facilities spread across 30 US states and four Canadian provinces. About 52% of those companies are manufacturing end markets, businesses that actually turn recovered foam into new products like transport packaging and insulation.

Most of this recycling happens through business-to-business systems that regular people don’t use. Big retailers, warehouses, and appliance stores create large amounts of packing foam. They have private deals with haulers who collect the foam, compress it into dense bricks called “densified foam,” and send it to manufacturers, mainly to make new packaging and insulation. Some European and Asian companies also import compressed EPS from North America for manufacturing. There are also more than 700 drop-off locations for foam across the country.

Environmental groups note that EPS drop-off access, in stark contrast to industry claims, currently reaches only about 3% of the US population.

Between 2019 and 2023, Foam Recycling Coalition-funded programs nearly doubled the amount collected, according to Waste Dive‘s reporting. The Alliance reported 168.6 million pounds of EPS foam were diverted from disposal in North America in 2022. But it’s largely invisible to consumers, and almost none of it involves your curbside bin.

For the rigid forms of polystyrene, the stuff in your fridge’s vegetable drawer or your blender housing, the recycling picture is much less encouraging. The same PSRA–RRS study found just 45 companies handling recovered GPPS and HIPS in the US and Canada, and only 13% of those actually turning it into new products. Those 45 companies operate just 50 facility sites across 22 US states and four Canadian provinces, compared to 119 facilities in 30 states for foam. Most post-consumer rigid polystyrene that does get recycled comes from medical equipment and e-waste programs, not household recycling.

For consumers navigating this landscape, Earth911’s Recycling Mystery: Expanded Polystyrene offers a practical guide to what’s currently accepted and where it’s accepted.

Why Curbside Doesn’t Want It

Foam is a recycler’s nightmare, and the reason is simple: it’s mostly air.

EPS is about 95% air by volume. A regular collection truck can fill up with foam that weighs almost nothing, so the hauler spends the same amount of money to collect much less valuable material. Also, foam breaks apart easily, and small pieces can mix with paper and cardboard in the same bin, making everything else less valuable.

A 2024 study in the journal ChemSusChem found that processing polystyrene costs about $1,456 per metric ton, more than for most other plastics. This rate works only when there are grants, subsidies, or a guaranteed supply chain in place, but none of those exist at the scale needed to handle all the foam Americans throw away.

What “Chemical Recycling” Can and Can’t Do

You may have heard that polystyrene can be “chemically recycled,” meaning it is broken down by heat into its original building blocks to make new plastic. While that’s technically possible, it’s not happening on a large scale.

The only US facility dedicated to this polystyrene process, run by a company called Regenyx in Oregon, shut down in early 2024. A National Resources Defense Council report from March 2025 found only eight chemical recycling facilities of any kind operating in the entire US. Most of what these plants produce isn’t new plastic; it’s fuel oil, which means the material isn’t really being recycled so much as burned in a different way. The  Regenyx plant generated approximately one ton of hazardous waste for every ton of usable output, a serious problem the industry doesn’t advertise.

The 79% Nobody Talks About

Here’s a number worth sitting with: only 21% of all residential recyclables in the US actually get recycled, according to The Recycling Partnership’s 2024 State of Recycling Report — one of the most comprehensive independent analyses of the US system.

What about the other 79%? Most of it is lost at home before it ever reaches a recycling facility. People might not have access to a recycling program, might not know what their local program accepts, or just don’t take part. The report, along with EPA plastics data, shows that the overall US plastic recycling rate is only about 5–6%. For foam, which most curbside programs don’t accept, this gap at the household level is even harder to close. The industry’s solution is drop-off programs, but these require people to know where to go, make a special trip, and bring clean, uncontaminated foam. That’s asking a lot.

The Recycling Partnership says the biggest problem in the US recycling system isn’t technology or end markets. It’s getting people involved, and the main way to do that is through funding for education and outreach, which most municipalities lack. The EPA’s 2024 Recycling Infrastructure Assessment estimated it would take $36–$43 billion to upgrade the US system by 2030. A Resource Recycling summary found that nearly half of US states don’t even track how many curbside programs they have. You can’t fix a system if you aren’t measuring it.

How The U.S. EPS Recycling Rate Compares

The US lags well behind other wealthy countries when it comes to foam recycling.

Market data compiled through 2023 indicate that EPS recycling rates for comparable packaging are approximately 88% in South Korea, 83% in Taiwan, and 68% in Japan. Europe averages around 40%, though that figure masks wide variations. Some countries, including Portugal and Norway, approach 90% recovery rates, largely driven by fish box collection programs, while thers sit well below the average. North America comes in at roughly 31%, and that figure is almost entirely commercial collection programs, not household recycling.

It’s worth noting that all of these figures come primarily from GESA (the Global EPS Sustainability Alliance) and affiliated national industry groups, organizations with a direct stake in presenting favorable data. Independent verification is limited.

Japan’s foam recycling program has been running since 1978, and the country’s EPS industry group reports an effective utilization rate of 94.2% in 2024. That “effective utilization” figure includes incineration with energy recovery, not just mechanical recycling. South Korea made packaging producers legally responsible for recycling costs as early as 2000, a policy approach called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The US has no federal EPR law for packaging and only seven states that have passed one so far.

Overall, the US ranked 30th in the world on the 2024 Environmental Performance Index’s waste recovery score. Germany, Japan, South Korea, and most of Western Europe all rank higher.

The Biggest Companies Are Giving Up on Foam

One of the clearest signs about foam’s future isn’t coming from regulators. It’s coming from the brands that use it.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), which tracks voluntary sustainability commitments from over 1,000 companies representing about 20% of global plastic packaging production, released its final progress report in late 2025. Since 2018, signatory companies have removed over 775,000 metric tons of the most problematic plastics, including polystyrene and PVC, from their packaging entirely.

The EMF classifies certain polystyrene formats, especially foam foodservice containers, as plastics that should be eliminated rather than recycled. In its framework for problematic plastics, it consistently identifies these materials as candidates for phase-out, not circularity. That’s the stated view of an organization whose members include Nestlé, Unilever, Coca-Cola, and L’Oréal.

Meanwhile, those same companies are falling short of their overall recycled-content targets for plastics. The share of recycled plastic in the broader global packaging market barely moved — from 3.4% to 4.2% — even as committed companies tripled their own use of recycled content. As Chemical & Engineering News reported in November 2025, plastics recycling is struggling across the industry.

Voluntary commitments move the leaders, but they don’t move the system.

States Are Banning Expanded Polystyrene

Twelve states and three US territories have chosen not to wait for the recycling system to improve. They’ve banned foam food containers completely, and Earth911 tracks these changes. Oregon, California, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Hawaii all joined the ban list as of January 1, 2025.

California’s law included a recycling test: foam producers had to show a 25% recycling rate by January 2025 to keep selling EPS foodware in the state. When CalRecycle reported to the legislature that the industry had fallen far short—the rate was about 6% when the law passed—foam containers were effectively banned.

Not every ban effort has succeeded. Montana’s legislature passed a phase-out bill in spring 2025 — only to have the governor veto it. And while a federal “Farewell to Foam Act” has been introduced in Congress, it hasn’t passed.

Globally, the bans are further along. The EU banned foam food containers in 2021. Canada followed with federal legislation in 2022. Over 97% of Australians now live somewhere with an EPS ban in place, according to Wikipedia’s phase-out tracker.

What Would Actually Fix Polystyrene Recycling

The most honest answer is that recycling alone won’t solve the foam problem. But better policy can.

The Recycling Partnership’s EPR analysis finds that states with Extended Producer Responsibility laws have recycling rates up to 3 times higher than those without them. EPR generates funds for consumer education, access, and infrastructure that cash-strapped municipalities can’t provide on their own.

The PSRA’s end markets study is candid about what’s missing for rigid polystyrene. For GPPS and HIPS to be recycled at scale, the industry needs to solve a chicken-and-egg problem. Sorting facilities won’t invest in the equipment without a guaranteed buyer for the output, and buyers won’t commit without a reliable supply. The study’s concrete suggestion is to offer subsidies per pound to sorting facilities that would need to separate polystyrene from mixed plastic streams. Without that financial nudge, the economics don’t work.

As Earth911 has reported on Oregon and Maine’s early EPR programs, the results so far are encouraging, though implementation is still in early stages. Seven states now have packaging EPR laws, including Maine, Oregon, Colorado, California, Minnesota, Maryland, and Washington, and more are considering them.

The broader lesson is that without policy structures that change the economics, including embracing EPR, mandatory recycled content standards, or bans, voluntary action produces incremental progress against a systemic problem. As Chemical & Engineering News reported, even companies with strong sustainability commitments are falling short.

What You Can Do At Home

Find a drop-off:

• Search Earth911 for EPS foam drop-off locations near you. These are separate from your curbside bin — call ahead to confirm they accept your specific type of foam.
• For foam meat trays, most facilities won’t take food-soiled containers, so they must be clean and dry.
• Retailers like The UPS Store accept clean packing peanuts for reuse.

Cut foam out of your routine:

• Bring your own insulated mug to the coffee shop instead of accepting a foam cup.
• When ordering takeout, ask for paper or compostable containers.
• When shipping things, use crumpled newspaper, shredded paper, or molded pulp instead of foam peanuts.

Push for better policy:

• Find out whether your state has a packaging EPR bill pending. If it does, contact your representative in support. The trend is moving in that direction.
• Support Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation in your state, which shifts the cost of recycling infrastructure from municipalities to the companies that make the packaging.

Related Reading on Earth911

• Recycling Mystery: Expanded Polystyrene
• EPS Foam Packaging & Products Bans Expand to Oregon, California, and Three Other States
• Extended Producer Responsibility in 2025: Progress, With More to Come
• Learning from Maine and Oregon’s EPR Programs
• The State of Plastic Bans in the United States
• Infographic: Plastic Recycling Codes

The post The State of Polystyrene Recycling In 2026 appeared first on Earth911.

Americans throw out 81.5 pounds of clothing a year; two-thirds of it ends up in landfills. That’s no accident—it’s a fast fashion design principle that many have embraced.

A December 2024 U.S. Government Accountability Office report found that textile waste grew by more than 50 percent from 2000 to 2018, while federal agencies still lack a coordinated strategy. As a result, consumers seeking sustainable options carry the burden of finding responsible brands.

Look good and reduce your footprint—you don’t have to choose. The brands below carry recognized certifications, use lower-impact materials, and often sell via Amazon. We’ve updated this list since 2021 to reflect brands still delivering and those raising the bar.

Throughout this list, you’ll see references to GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard), Fair Trade Certified, and SA8000. GOTS covers the entire supply chain from farm to finished garment, requiring organic fibers and strict environmental and social standards. Fair Trade and SA8000 focus on worker wages, safety, and conditions. These aren’t marketing claims, they require third-party audits.

This article contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, we may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. This supports our independent work but does not influence our recommendations or coverage.

1. Pact — GOTS-Certified Organic Cotton Basics and Dresses

Pact offers women a strong foundation for building a sustainable wardrobe. Each garment is crafted from GOTS-certified organic cotton in Fair Trade Certified factories, with certifications updated as recently as 2025. The brand partners with SimpliZero to measure and offset the carbon footprint of individual products, investing in reforestation and renewable energy.

Their organic cotton process uses 81% less water and 62% less energy than conventional cotton farming, a meaningful difference given that a single conventional cotton T-shirt typically requires around 2,700 liters of water to produce.

Standout Pact picks on Amazon:

• The Pact Organic Cotton Women’s Ruffled Maxi Dress is made from 100% organic cotton double gauze and is machine washable.
• Pact’s Organic Cotton Women’s Fit & Flare Halter Dress, which features 95% organic cotton and 5% elastane
• The Organic Cotton Women’s Lightweight Jacket, featuring 97% organic cotton, is a great layering piece.
• Check out Pact’s Organic Cotton Women’s Gauze Wide Leg Pantsmade from 100% organic cotton with a smocked elastic waistband

2. Girlfriend Collective — Recycled Activewear with Radical Transparency

Seattle-based Girlfriend Collective leads in sustainable activewear. Its fabrics are made from post-consumer plastic bottles, fishing nets, and fabric scraps. They are OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified and BPA-free, making them safer if they end up in a landfill. The brand uses eco-friendly dyes and provides washing bags with each purchase to help reduce microfiber pollution.

On the labor side, Girlfriend Collective holds SA8000 certification, which independently verifies safe working conditions and fair wages. They also run ReGirlfriend, a take-back and recycling program that gives you store credit for returning worn-out pieces. That circular loop — buy, wear, return, recycle — is still rare in activewear.

The brand carries sizes XXS to 6XL and has an Amazon storefront with frequently updated inventory.

Standout picks:

• Girlfriend Collective High-Rise Skort is crafted from recycled polyester sourced from certified post-consumer plastic bottles and features useful hidden pockets.
• Browse Girlfriend Collective’s full Amazon store for leggings, sports bras, and shorts.

3. Eileen Fisher — Circular Fashion and B Corp Commitment

If any brand embodies “timeless,” it’s Eileen Fisher. Since 2013, the company has championed circularity through its Renew take-back program—one of the longest-running garment recycling efforts in American fashion. Send back your worn Eileen Fisher pieces, and they’re cleaned, repaired, and resold or upcycled into new textiles.

As of 2025, 75% of Eileen Fisher’s products use lower-emissions or certified materials, including organic linen, organic cotton, regenerative wool, TENCEL lyocell, and deadstock fabric. The brand holds certifications from GOTS, GRS (Global Recycled Standard), RWS (Responsible Wool Standard), Bluesign, and FSC. It’s also a certified B Corp with published emissions targets.

Eileen Fisher acknowledges it is not currently on track to hit its science-based emissions reduction targets. That’s a candid admission that distinguishes genuine transparency from greenwashing. Their organic linen and TENCEL pieces are particularly durable and environmentally benign: linen requires no irrigation in most growing conditions and generates roughly a quarter of the carbon emissions per pound of fiber as conventional cotton.

Eileen Fisher sells direct at eileenfisher.com with free shipping on U.S. orders.

4. Reformation — Carbon-Tracked Dresses and Recycled Cashmere

Los Angeles-based Reformation publishes quarterly sustainability reports that break down water, energy, and carbon footprint per product — a level of granularity that almost no other fashion brand offers. Their key fabrics include TENCEL™ Lyocell, produced in a closed-loop system that recycles 99% of its non-toxic solvent, low-irrigation linen, and Forest Stewardship Council-certified viscose.

In late 2024, Reformation launched its first 100% recycled cashmere sweater line — a blend of 95% recycled cashmere and 5% recycled wool. The brand reports these sweaters produce 96% less carbon and require 89% less water than conventional cashmere. That’s a significant claim, and the brand backs it with third-party verification.

Reformation also partners with ThredUp and Poshmark so you can resell verified purchases directly through those platforms. It also offers a take-back program for Ref sweaters, shoes, denim, and outerwear.

Reformation sells direct at thereformation.com.

5. Amour Vert — Made in California, Plant a Tree With Every Tee

Amour Vert (“green love” in French) produces 97% of its garments in California, collaborating with mills to create signature sustainable fabrics such as beechwood modal, GOTS-certified cotton, OEKO-TEX silk, TENCEL, and cupro from cotton waste. The brand recycles nearly all byproducts at its factories.

For every T-shirt purchased, Amour Vert plants a tree in North America through its partnership with American Forests, and has planted more than 220,000 trees to date. Products are made in small batches to limit overproduction, and the brand offers an upcycled clothing collection that transforms discarded materials into new pieces.

Key pieces for the Spring and Summer of 2026 include:

• Victoire Wide Leg Pants feature organic cotton and a TENCEL blend, a versatile year-round foundation for your look.
• The Verona Blazer is made from organic cotton and TENCEL to deliver an office-appropriate, seasonless look.
• The Sloan Skirt uses TENCEL from sustainably sourced wood pulp to provide moisture-wicking comfort.

6. Warp + Weft — Size-Inclusive Denim Under $100

A traditional pair of jeans takes roughly 1,500 gallons of water to produce. Warp + Weft, a family-owned brand, produces jeans using less than 10 gallons of water. By operating a vertically integrated denim mill, Warp + Weft controls every step: utilizing onsite solar panels, a heat recovery system, recycling and treating 98% of water used, and employing dry ozone technology instead of chemical bleaching.

The brand is fully size-inclusive (through 3X for women), and prices stay under $100. Their compliance with International Social and Environmental & Quality Standards is auditable, not self-reported. Warp + Weft has expanded from denim into matching sets, tops, and jackets, making it easier to build a full outfit around their sustainable denim base.

Shop at warpweftworld.com and Amazon.

7. Karen Kane — Ethical Production and TENCEL Chambray

Karen Kane stands out for its transparent, energy-efficient operations, including LA-based manufacturing, hangar reuse, and sustainable fabric initiatives. The Asymmetric Hem Wrap Top, a signature design, is crafted from 100% TENCEL soft chambray made with FSC-certified wood pulp. This closed-loop process recaptures and reuses solvents, greatly reducing chemical waste compared to traditional rayon methods.

Karen Kane offers a broader range of wardrobe essentials beyond the wrap top, and its women’s collection is available on itssite and select Amazon listings.

8. Mango — Organic Denim and a Declared Sustainability Road Map

Mango is a larger brand, which warrants more scrutiny, but it can also make a positive impact through its environmental commitments. The brand publicly committed to using 100% organic cotton and 50% recycled polyester by 2025, and 100% cellulose fibers with verified sustainable origins by 2030. Their organic cotton pieces, including several denim options, are genuinely certified organic, meaning no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers are used in cultivation.

Mango describes its sustainability journey as ongoing, and it is. Organic cotton still requires significant water input, and a large global retailer faces supply chain complexity that smaller brands avoid. Good On You rates the brand as making progress but “Not Good Enough.” That said, Mango’s organic denim line is worth considering for shoppers who want accessible price points alongside high-quality materials. Organic Mango pieces are available through mango.com.

What You Can Do To Lower Your Impact

Individual purchasing choices alone won’t fix a 17-million-ton textile waste problem. But they shape markets, and markets respond. Here’s how to shop with more impact:

• Look for GOTS, Fair Trade Certified, or B Corp status. These require third-party audits, not just brand claims.
• Prioritize longevity. A $90 Eileen Fisher linen shirt, worn 200 times, has a far lower footprint than a $20 fast-fashion top, worn 7.
• When you’re done with clothes, resell on ThredUP, Poshmark, or TheRealReal before donating. Secondhand marketplaces keep clothing in circulation longer.
• Use Earth911’s recycling search to find textile recycling options in your area. Only about 15% of U.S. textiles are currently recycled.
• Check takeback programs before you throw anything out. Eileen Fisher Renew, Girlfriend Collective’s ReGirlfriend, and Reformation’s takeback initiative all exist for exactly this reason.

The post 8 Sustainable Women’s Fashion Brands for Spring & Summer 2026 appeared first on Earth911.

How do you reduce your digital life’s environmental impact? Making changes to reduce your environmental impact around the house is straightforward — you can eat less meat, reduce your purchases of single-use plastic or turn down the thermostat by a few degrees to make a difference. But when you go online, there aren’t many obvious choices to cut your impact. Enter Ecosia.org, which has planted more than 143 million trees to offset the environmental impact of web searches. Ecosia remains a stalwart of ecologically responsible tech four years after this interview.

Christian started Ecosia in 2009 after seeing the devastating impact of deforestation first-hand while traveling after graduating from college. The company was also the first B Corporation in Germany. While the search engine does produce CO2, the trees planted offset more emissions than ecosia.org creates — they estimate that the trees planted result in a net reduction of CO2 of 2.2 lbs. per search. To put that in context, Ecosia estimates that if it had the same volume of searches as Google, it could plant enough trees to remove 15% of humanity’s CO2 emissions each year. You can search, plant trees, and learn more at ecosia.org.

• Subscribe to Sustainability in Your Ear on iTunes and Apple Podcasts.
• Follow Sustainability in Your Ear on Spreaker, iHeartRadio, or YouTube

Editor’s Note: This episode originally aired on February 16. 2022.

The post Classic Sustainability In Your Ear: Ecosia.org’s Christian Kroll on Planting Trees With Every Web Search appeared first on Earth911.

As the spring flowers start to appear and the days get longer, the urge to dig in the dirt returns. But you don’t have to wait for warmer weather to get growing. Starting plants from seed extends your relationship with the garden, gives you more control over seed sourcing, and saves real money compared to buying nursery starts, sometimes as much as 90% per plant.

Seed starting is also a lower-waste choice. You don’t need plastic nursery pots or peat-heavy commercial growing media, and get the option to select organic or open-pollinated varieties that big-box stores rarely carry. Here’s how to do it right.

This article includes affiliate links. If you buy something through these links, we earn a small commission that helps support our work.

Choose Seeds Worth Growing

Not all seeds are created equal, or equally easy. For beginners, stick to varieties with reliable indoor germination rates. Good bets include basil, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chives, lettuce, melon, onion, pepper, and tomatoes.

For direct sowing outdoors, which lets you skip the indoor start entirely, beans, beets, carrots, corn, peas, spinach, squash, and zucchini all transplant poorly and are better started where they’ll grow.

When selecting seeds, consider choosing open-pollinated or heirloom varieties — they let you save seeds at season’s end and replant the following year, compounding your savings over time. Rebel Gardens’ certified organic 13-variety heirloom pack (seeds grown and packed in the USA in 100% recycled packets) is a solid starting point, as is Purely Organic’s USDA-certified vegetable starter kit. For herbs, Sweet Yards’ organic herb seed pack covers the kitchen essentials — basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, thyme, and more.

Reuse Containers or Go Soil Blocking

The sustainability case for seed starting is strongest when you skip buying new plastic plug trays. Save nursery flats from prior seasons or raid the recycling bin for 2- to 3-inch containers such as single-serve yogurt, applesauce, or pudding cups. Wash thoroughly and punch drainage holes in the bottom.

A more advanced option is soil blocking. A soil blocker tool compresses growing medium into self-contained cubes that need no container at all. Roots hit air at the block’s edge and stop growing (a phenomenon called air pruning), which produces a denser, healthier root mass.

Ladbrooke’s 20-block Mini 4 Blocker is the most widely used model for home gardeners.

Get Your Growing Medium Right

Don’t use garden soil or standard potting mix for seed starts; both are too dense and can introduce pathogens. You need a dedicated starter mix: light, sterile, and fine-textured enough to let tiny roots push through.

A premixed option, Old Potters’ Professional Germination Mix, offers a pH-adjusted medium made from peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite that eliminates the guesswork of blending your own starter soil. Or mix your own by combining equal parts perlite, vermiculite, and peat moss, then add 1/4 teaspoon of lime per gallon to neutralize the peat’s acidity.

Peat moss extraction raises sustainability concerns. It’s a slow-renewing carbon store. Coco coir, made from coconut processing byproduct, is a renewable alternative with similar moisture-retention properties. Plantonix’s coco coir + perlite + vermiculite bundle is worth considering if you want to skip peat entirely.

Heat Is the Underrated Variable

Most vegetable seeds germinate best between 65–85°F, and soil temperature matters more than air temperature. A spot near a heat vent can work, but that can be inconsistent. A seedling heat mat is the most reliable solution because it warms the root zone 10–20°F above ambient air temperature, which can cut germination time.

The VIVOSUN Seedling Heat Mat is a top-rated, UL-certified 10″×20.75″ mat that fits standard nursery flats and allows you to control the temperature. For an all-in-one solution, SOLIGT’s 60-cell seed starter kit with grow light and heat mat bundles tray, dome, light, and mat in a single purchase.

Before germination, seeds need consistent moisture, not light. Cover your flat with plastic wrap, a humidity dome, or a pane of glass to hold humidity while seeds sprout. Once you see green, remove the cover immediately: trapped humidity post-germination promotes damping-off, a fungal disease that collapses seedlings at the soil line.

Water Smart, Not Hard

Overwatering kills more seedlings than drought does. The goal is consistent moisture, which will make the soil feel like a well-wrung sponge, not a puddle. A fine-mist spray bottle is better than pouring water from above, which can displace seeds and compact the growing medium.

A quality garden mist sprayer runs under $25 and pays for itself immediately.

Grow Lights: Non-Negotiable Unless You Have a South-Facing Window

Seedlings need 12–16 hours of light per day. A sunny south-facing window might deliver 6–8 hours on a clear day. The gap produces leggy, weak starts that struggle when transplanted. Grow lights eliminate the variable entirely.

Position the bulb 2–4 inches above seedlings and use an outlet timer to automate the schedule. Full-spectrum LEDs are the current standard, as they run cooler and more efficiently than fluorescents. GROWFRIEND’s 40-cell all-in-one kit includes dual LED grow lights, a heat mat, humidity dome, and a soil moisture meter in one package.

Label Everything Because You Will Forget

This sounds obvious until you’re staring at 60 identical seedlings in March. Label every cell or flat immediately after sowing, noting the variety and the date. Reusable plant markers and a waterproof pen cost almost nothing and save considerable grief later.

Waterproof garden plant markers with permanent pen included are available in packs of 100+ for a few dollars.

Feed Lightly, Starting at Week 3

Commercial seed-starting mix contains little to no fertilizer by design, as high fertility can burn delicate seedlings. But after the first true leaves appear, plants need a nutritional boost. Start with a diluted liquid fertilizer (half the label-recommended strength) and apply weekly.

Fish emulsion and kelp-based fertilizers are popular organic choices that provide a balanced nutrient profile without the risk of chemical burn from synthetic fertilizers.

Thin Ruthlessly

Sowing two or three seeds per cell is standard practice. It hedges against low germination rates. But once sprouts emerge, you need to thin to one per cell. The instinct is to leave multiples “in case.” Resist it. Crowded seedlings compete for light, water, and nutrients, and the result is weaker plants across the board.

Thin by snipping extras at soil level with small scissors rather than pulling, which can disturb roots of the seedling you’re keeping.

Pot Up Before Roots Get Crowded

Seed-starting mix has almost no nutrients. Once seedlings develop their first true leaves, which are the second set, after the initial seed leaves, they need more root space and fertility. Move them into 3- to 4-inch pots filled with a nutrient-rich potting mix.

This “potting up” step is often skipped, and seedlings suffer for it, becoming stunted, yellowed, slow to establish when finally transplanted. Pot up early rather than late.

Harden Off: Skipping This Step Is Costly

Indoor seedlings are soft. They haven’t experienced wind, direct UV, or temperature swings. Transplanting directly from a grow light to full outdoor sun causes transplant shock that can set plants back weeks or can kill them outright.

Harden off over 7–10 days: start with 2–3 hours in filtered shade on a mild day, gradually increasing sun and wind exposure. Growveg’s hardening-off guide has a clear day-by-day schedule.

Timing: Use a Planting Calendar, Not Gut Feel

The single most common beginner mistake is planting too early. Tomatoes and peppers in the ground before nights are consistently above 50°F will sulk rather than grow. Frost-tender crops started too early indoors get root-bound before it’s safe to plant them out.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac planting calendar calculates seed-starting dates based on your last frost date. Input your zip code and it generates a personalized schedule. Check the forecast in the 48 hours before any outdoor transplanting.

What You Can Do

• Start with easy wins: basil, broccoli, lettuce, and tomatoes have high germination rates and forgive beginner mistakes.
• Choose open-pollinated seeds: you can save and replant them each year, building independence from annual seed purchases.
• Skip peat when possible: coco coir-based growing media performs similarly and avoids harvesting slow-renewing peat bogs.
• Reuse containers: clean nursery flats or single-serve food containers reduce plastic demand before a single seed goes in.
• Use a heat mat and grow light: these two tools account for the majority of seed-starting failures when absent.
• Harden off every seedling: skipping this step costs plants; the process takes 10 days and pays off every time.
• Time your starts correctly: use a frost-date-based planting calendar, not the date on the seed packet, which isn’t calibrated to your region.

Related Reading on Earth911:

• Home Economics: Are Vegetable Gardens Worth It?
• 8 Ways to Green Your DIY
• Earth911 Recycling Search

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published April 30, 2015, by Sarah Lozanova, and most recently updated in March 2026.

The post Seed, Sprout, Spectacular: Tips for Starting Your Garden From Scratch appeared first on Earth911.

Stewart Brand, who popularized the “blue marble” photograph that changed humanity’s perspective on the fragility of the Earth, points out that Californians and Europeans use half the energy of the typical American, without losing any quality of life. This quote comes from Whole Earth Discipline: Why Dense Cities, Nuclear Power, Transgenic Crops, Restored Wildlands, and Geoengineering Are Necessary, and Brand is also the creator of the Whole Earth Catalog.

Post and share Earth911 posters to help people think of the planet first, every day. Click the poster to get a larger image.

The post Earth911 Inspiration: Half The Energy and Doing Just Fine appeared first on Earth911.

Project Repat, founded by Ross Lohr and Nathan Rothstein, had prevented more than 11 million T-shirts from landfills while bringing some sewing work back to the United States when we talked with them in 2019. They’re still going strong. Tune into a classic conversation as Earth911’s Mitch Ratcliffe talks with Rothstein about the inspiration behind Project Repat and the massive changes in U.S. T-shirt manufacturing over the past 30 years. After migrating to Mexico, T-shirt printing jobs have gone overseas and few American companies still make them.

Project Repat has a better idea: turn old shirts into keepsake quilts hand-sewn using T-shirts sent by customers. Instead of tossing a T-shirt in the donation bin, it can be turned into a part of a memorable and snug quilt. Love a sports team? Make a quilt of the team T-shirts and jerseys you’ve purchased over the years. Want to remember a school or a company where you worked? In all likelihood, you have the makings of a Project Repat quilt. Reasonably priced  based on the size, Project Repat takes your order and receives your shirts by mail, then turns them into fleece-backed quilt.

• Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.
• Follow the podcast on Spreaker, iHeartRadio, or YouTube.

Editor’s note: This epsiode originally aired on October 7, 2019.

The post Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Project Repat Is Saving US Jobs & T-Shirts From Landfills appeared first on Earth911.

Fair Trade aims to create a more ethical and sustainable way of trading that puts people and the environment first. It offers a conscious alternative to global markets, where profits often come at the cost of farmers, fishers, and factory workers at the start of the supply chain.

When you pick up a bag of coffee or a chocolate bar with a Fair Trade label, you’re being asked to pay a little more on the premise that the extra money reaches the people who grew it. But does it?

To understand why Fair Trade premiums matter, it helps to know the position smallholder farmers occupy in the global food system. Smallholder farmers produce 46% of the world’s food on just one-third of the world’s agricultural land, yet they remain among the most vulnerable populations, with many experiencing food insecurity. Over 90% of global cocoa is grown by smallholders, small-scale farmers produce 73% of the world’s coffee, and 75% of its cotton. These are the people who literally work the soil and process raw goods at the beginning of supply chains for the products most American consumers buy every week.

When you think about paying more for a Fair Trade product, remember that these numbers reflect real decisions made by real people. In a Fair Trade USA survey of 3,857 smallholder farmers, fishers, and other workers, 68% said Fair Trade made a positive difference in their lives, and 71% were happy with how the money was used.

Fair Trade’s Origins

Fair Trade, as Americans know it today, started in the 1990s. Paul Rice worked with Nicaraguan coffee farmers to develop cooperatives. When he returned to the U.S., he founded the organization TransFair, now known as Fair Trade USA, encouraging large companies that sold commodity goods like cocoa, bananas, and tea to get certified. Rice stepped down as CEO in 2024 after 26 years, and Felipe Arango now leads the organization.

Getting fair-trade certified takes time and involves a detailed process. Independent auditors regularly check that farms and factories meet standards for workers’ rights, fair labor, and responsible land use. Certified products cost a bit more, and that extra money goes straight to farmer cooperatives or worker groups, who decide together how to use it.

The Fair Trade system has grown to include 1,896 certified producer organizations, representing more than 1.9 million farmers and workers, earned $241.6 million in Fairtrade Premium in 2023. That money doesn’t flow to corporate headquarters; it goes directly to cooperatives, which decide collectively how to invest it.

Fair Trade USA also has a big impact. Its program supports 1.6 million certified producers in more than 50 countries. So far, farmers, workers, and fishers have received over $1 billion in Community Development Funds. In May 2025, Fair Trade USA and its partners announced they had raised $100 million in these funds just for factory workers and their communities around the world.

What the Research Shows

The evidence on whether Fair Trade actually improves farmers’ lives is genuinely mixed, and it’s worth being honest about that complexity.

On the positive side, a study of cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire found that Fairtrade certification increases aggregate household consumption expenditures by about 9% on average. That may not sound dramatic, but for families living close to subsistence, a 9% increase in what they can buy is meaningful.

On the more critical side, research on Fair Trade coffee in Costa Rica found that only about 12% of Fair Trade-eligible coffee was actually sold at Fair Trade prices during the study period. When price-benefit-to-certification payments increased by 1 cent, the average payment to Fair Trade-certified mills was less than a penny. The gap between what’s certified and what’s actually sold under Fair Trade terms is a persistent structural problem.

A 2025 study of Fairtrade certification for four crops in Ghana found big gaps in how it was carried out. Problems included not enough training, rare inspections, and farmers not knowing about price premiums. Just having certification on paper doesn’t always mean real benefits for farmers.

The Community Development Difference

Fair Trade often has the biggest impact through community projects funded by these premiums. Since workers and cooperatives decide together how to spend the money, Fair Trade helps build teamwork and support networks.

Fair Trade USA’s 2023 annual report gives examples like farmworkers in Mexico getting dental and eye care for the first time, garment workers in Vietnam providing hepatitis vaccines, and small coffee farmers in Ethiopia setting up scholarships for their children. These are projects chosen by the communities themselves, not imposed from outside.

Which Label Should You Trust?

With so many sustainability and other certifications, it can be hard for consumers to identify Fair Trade options. Most Americans encounter two systems: Fairtrade International (also called Fairtrade America) and Fair Trade USA. They certify different products with different standards, and their relationship has been tense since Fair Trade USA split from the international group in 2011.

The Fair World Project, a nonprofit that reviews certification systems, recommends Fairtrade International as one of several strong third-party labels that help farmers. They suggest being more cautious with Fair Trade USA’s label because of concerns about its standards and loopholes. However, Fair Trade USA has made big updates to its standards in 2023 and 2024, especially for factories and farms.

Rainforest Alliance certification, which appears on many coffee and chocolate products, focuses more on environmental practices and uses different labor standards than Fair Trade labels.

Is Fair Trade Worth It?

Fair Trade is most effective in markets where cooperatives are strong, certification is affordable, and buyers agree to purchase all their goods at fair trade prices, not just a small portion.

One thing is clear: buying the cheapest products with no certification almost always means farmers and workers get paid the lowest possible price for their work. Research shows that Fair Trade cooperatives often improve farmer incomes, community ties, and environmental practices, even if not every worker benefits equally.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to learn about the different certification systems. Fair Trade labels aren’t a guarantee, but they’re better than nothing. For everyday items like coffee, chocolate, bananas, and tea, picking a certified product from a brand that buys most of its supply at fair trade prices is one of the most direct ways your shopping can support the people who grow these products.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally written by Gemma Alexander on March 22, 2019, and was substantially updated in March 2026.

The post What Is Fair Trade Worth? appeared first on Earth911.

Every pair of jeans you buy took roughly 2,000 gallons of water to produce. Every cotton t-shirt, about 700 more. The clothes you wear are the second-largest consumer of water among all industries, and fashion as a whole generates as much carbon as international aviation and maritime shipping combined. Where and how you shop makes a big difference for the planet that you want to get outside, into nature, and enjoy.

Men’s clothing brands are making the moves to reduce damage to the nature. They’re using organic and recycled fibers, paying fair wages, publishing their supply chains, repairing garments for free, and planting trees. Some are even rethinking what fabric itself can be made from.

Still, fast fashion is growing by more than 10% each year and could double to $291 billion by 2032. Only 0.3% of textile fiber worldwide is recycled, and 85% of discarded clothing in the U.S. goes to landfills. The brands here are working hard to change that, which is why they deserve your support.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s A New Textiles Economy report says that if we doubled how often we wear each piece of clothing, greenhouse gas emissions from clothing would drop by 44%. The best way to help is to use what you already have. After that, buying from brands that are truly making an effort is the next best step. Here are 12 such brands.

This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item through the Amazon links below, Earth911 receives a small commission that helps fund our Recycling Directory. If you don’t return an item, Amazon shipping is typically more efficient than retail shopping.

The Brands

1. Nudie Jeans

Nudie Jeans has built one of the most honest sustainability programs in denim. Their 2024 report shows that 93% of fiber usage is organic, Fairtrade, or recycled cotton, and in 2024 they finalized their first garments made from regenerative organic cotton—farming that doesn’t just avoid harm but actively rebuilds soil health. They also run 33 free-for-life repair shops across 20 cities, repaired 68,342 pairs of jeans in 2024, and sell pre-owned jeans directly on their site. If you want denim that’s designed to be worn, repaired, and worn again rather than replaced, this is the brand.

Current Pick: Gritty Jackson Jeans

The Gritty Jackson is Nudie’s main men’s jean, with a regular straight fit made from 100% organic cotton. It now comes in styles that use the new regenerative organic cotton. Buy directly from Nudie to use their repair program, or find them on Amazon.

2. Asket

Asket operates on a simple premise, that the most sustainable garment is one you already own. So, the Swedish brand makes a permanent, no-new-seasons collection and publishes the full CO₂ impact and material traceability of every single product on its website. No other brand in this guide is more transparent about what your clothes are made of and what it cost the planet to make them.

Current Pick: Oxford Shirt

The Oxford Shirt comes in seven colors, is made from 100% yarn-dyed cotton, and carries a disclosed CO₂ impact of 5.5 kg per shirt. It’s the kind of shirt you buy once and wear for a decade. Asket ships directly to the U.S and offers  full transparency data for your purchase.

3. prAna

prAna is a great choice for men who want clothes that work for hiking, yoga, or a night out. The brand uses recycled and organic fibers, supports Fair Trade, and shares full supply chain details, including factory names and conditions. Since being bought by Columbia Sportswear in 2014, prAna has kept its focus on sustainability and uses bluesign® certified fabrics.

Current Pick: Stretch Zion Pant II

The Stretch Zion Pant II is prAna’s top men’s pant, made from recycled nylon and bluesign® certified. It’s built for climbing and hiking but comfortable enough for travel. You can find it on Amazon.

4. tentree

tentree has planted over 120 million trees in 13 countries and aims to reach one billion by 2030. That’s ten trees for every item sold. The brand is a certified B Corp, has been carbon-neutral since 2022, and uses organic cotton, TENCEL™ lyocell, hemp, and recycled polyester. They also run a Circularity program that takes back clothes from any brand for resale or recycling. In 2024, they funded 100 beehives at planting sites in Kenya to help support local communities after reforestation projects end.

Current Pick: Juniper Classic Hoodie

The Juniper Classic Hoodieis made from recycled polyester and organic cotton. It’s a simple, versatile layer that comes with tentree’s tree-planting promise. You can find it on Amazon.

5. Warp + Weft

Warp + Weft might be the most underrated brand here. While regular jeans use about 1,500 gallons of water to make, Warp + Weft jeans use less than 10. They treat and recycle 98% of their water, power their mill with solar panels, and use Dry Ozone technology instead of chemical bleaching. All their pieces cost under $100 and come in sizes up to 3X, making sustainable denim more accessible. Their Fall 2024 collection added stretch corduroy, knit denim, and a new relaxed-fit men’s jean.

Current Pick: GRR Relaxed Jean

The GRR Relaxed Jean has a mid-rise and loose leg, made from Warp + Weft’s low-water denim. You can find them on Amazon.

6. Everlane

Everlane ranked first in Remake’s 2024 Fashion Accountability Report, beating 52 other brands and earning its highest score ever. Their 2024 impact report shows that 90% of their materials now meet lower-impact standards, and they have cut Scope 1–3 emissions by 52% since 2019. The ReNew collection, made from recycled plastic bottles and fishing nets, has grown, and 95% of the cotton Everlane uses is certified organic, regenerative, recycled, or farm-traceable. A 2020 labor scandal still affects their “radical transparency” claims, and their goal of 100% preferred materials by the end of 2025 is still in progress. Still, the data shows real improvement.

Current Pick: The ReNew Fleece Jacket

Made from 100% recycled materials and bluesign®-approved dyes, the ReNew Fleece Jacket is the updated staple of the ReNew collection. It’s versatile enough for layering in spring and fall.

7. Nau

Nau started in Portland in 2005 with the goal of proving that business could be a force for environmental good. Now owned by South Korean outdoor company Black Yak, the brand continues to make versatile performance-lifestyle clothing from recycled polyester, organic cotton, TENCEL, and ethically sourced Merino wool, using PFC-free coatings instead of the persistent chemical water repellents most outdoor brands still rely on.

Current Pick: Latitude Crew Pullover

The Aeroshell Hooded Shirt is made from recycled nylon and works well for both city commutes and weekend hikes. You can find Nau on Amazon.

8. Thought Clothing

Thought Clothing, formerly Braintree, is a UK brand built on natural, traceable fibers: hemp, organic cotton, TENCEL, bamboo, recycled polyester, and Merino wool. Their packaging is compostable cornstarch or recycled paper. Hemp is the standout material here—it requires roughly 300–500 liters of water per kilogram to grow, compared to nearly 10,000 liters for conventional cotton. If you’re looking for warm-weather shirts that wear well and wash easy, Thought is worth the international order.

Current Pick: Golf Socks with Panache

The Kinley Golf Course Bamboo Socks in Cobalt Blue are a standout from Thought’s men’s sock line — a golf-course-ready pattern built from a blend of 53% bamboo-derived viscose, 28% recycled polyester, 16% organic cotton, and 3% elastane. Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing renewable crops on the planet, and in fabric form, it delivers genuine performance benefits: the material is naturally breathable, antibacterial, and antifungal, with zero plastic packaging. £7.95 direct from thoughtsocks.com, with international shipping available.

9. Pact

Pact is the easiest brand to start with on this list. They use GOTS-certified organic cotton, Fair Trade Certified™ factories, offer optional carbon offsets at checkout, and use 100% post-consumer recycled packaging. Their prices are much lower than most sustainable brands. Pact covers the basics: underwear, t-shirts, socks, and pants. If you’re just starting to move away from fast fashion and don’t want to spend $100 on a hoodie, this is a good place to begin.

Current Pick: Daily Twill Midweight Pant

The Daily Twill Midweight Pant is an organic cotton trouser with an elastic waistband and drawcord—equally at home at a desk or on a trail. Their Backyard Collection adds organic cotton shorts and button-ups for summer. Find Pact on Amazon.

10. PANGAIA

PANGAIA has moved well beyond the recycled cashmere hoodie it was known for in 2021. The brand now functions as a material science company developing fibers from seaweed (C-FIBER™), fruit waste (FRUTFIBER™), nettles (PANettle™ Denim), and plant-based nylon ((gaia)PLNT). Their PPRMINT™ natural peppermint oil treatment discourages odor-causing bacteria, which means you wash less, and every wash avoided is microplastics not released into waterways. If you want to wear something genuinely on the frontier of what sustainable textiles can be, this is your brand.

Current Pick: Men’s DNA Hoodie

The DNA Hoodie is made from 50% organic cotton and 50% recycled cotton, with an oversized fit and PPRMINT™ treatment. It’s PANGAIA’s most accessible men’s item and a highlight of their collection. Also consider the 365 Hoodie, which comes in C-FIBER™ and recycled cotton blends.

11. Outerknown

Outerknown was co-founded by 11-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater in 2015 and has become one of the most respected men’s sustainable brands in the U.S. Its reputation comes from its supply chain, not just its founder. The brand claims to be the first built on a full commitment to sustainability, using Regenerative Organic Certified® cotton, Fair Trade Certified™ factories, and full transparency about where products are made. Outerknown also has a Pre-Loved resale program for used items.

Current Pick: The Blanket Shirt

The Blanket Shirt is Outerknown’s most iconic piece and deserves its reputation. Made from 100% organic cotton BlanketWeave™ twill with buttons from nuts, it’s built to be the shirt you reach for constantly and wear for years. Available in more than 20 colors and patterns. Also worth considering: the S.E.A. Jeans made from organic cotton denim in a Fair Trade Certified factory. Find Outerknown on Amazon.

No brand on this list is perfect. Every piece of clothing has some environmental impact, and “sustainable” is a spectrum, not a certification. Still, all 12 of these brands are making real, documented efforts to improve: better materials, better factories, more transparency, and in some cases, taking back clothes when you’re done with them.

Buy less and wear your clothes longer. When you do shop, choose brands that can show where their products come from and what their impact is on the planet. That’s the whole approach.

Editor’s Note: Originally published on March 19, 2021, this article was updated in March 2026.

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