Billions of bits of plastic are accumulating in a massive garbage patch in the Atlantic Ocean—a lesser known cousin to the Texas-size trash vortex in the Pacific, scientists say.  "Many people have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch," said Kara Law, oceanographer at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Mass.  "But this issue has essentially been ignored in the Atlantic."  See pictures of the Pacific Ocean trash vortex.

The community of Brookmont started Small Metals Recycling in March 2011.  A collection bin has been installed at the Brookmont Church on Virginia Avenue.  Resident Davey Hearn monitors the bin, and he has distributed a flyer to all residents describing the types of metals suitable for placement in the bin.  For items too large to fit in the bin, residents are allowed unlimited pickups by Montgomery County on their regular trash day by calling 240-777-6410 before 11am the day before regular trash pickup.  Remember, Cabin John residents can recycle their small scrap metals at the homes of Tom Rojas (7513 MacArthur Blvd - blue trash bin to right of driveway) or Jennifer Jordan (7511 Arden Rd - blue trash bin to left of house).  Refer to our Metal Recycling Challenge story for more information about the importance of recycling metals.

America’s love relationship with the manicured lawn could use a thinking-over.  The biggest problem?  The seventy million pounds of pesticides applied annually to our lawns, making polluted runoff our largest source of water pollution.  What follows is a little food for thought.  Warning: read at your own risk – a manicured lawn may never have the same appeal again!

Lawns occupy over 25 million acres in the U.S., more than double the land used for cotton, a crop for which we are the world's leading exporter.  On those lawns, homeowners apply ten times more pesticides per acre than farmers.  When it rains, these lawn pesticides naturally wash into our waterways.   Forty percent of our water systems violated the Safe Drinking Water Act at least once last year and dozens of pesticides and other chemicals were detected at unsafe levels.   As a former EPA lawyer stated, “The public believes that the EPA has carefully reviewed all the chemicals that are used and has the authority it needs to deal with risks, but that’s often not the case".

Saskia van Gendt: Life Scientist, Environmental Protection Agency

As a young scientist with four years under her belt at the EPA, van Gendt is leading innovative efforts to help foster green building construction and promote the design and development of reusable packaging to significantly reduce waste. Her work focuses on a new field that she calls "Climaterials" - the connection between climate change and materials.  There is so much that can be done, van Gendt says. Each stage of the life cycle of a product from extraction of raw materials through disposal can release toxins, consume energy and release greenhouse gas emissions. Van Gendt says greener products are not only about the final product. The challenge is to identify and figure out how to make environmentally friendly improvements each step of the way. "Within my office, I'm continually inspired by the innovative thinking being applied towards traditionally difficult environmental issues. Instead of just focusing on tail pipe solutions, we are working to prevent pollution before it happens. Environmental protection is evolving towards a biological model or a life cycle thinking approach where there is no waste."