Well, we all know we’ve got to recycle, but not many people really enjoy it. You’ve gotta trek out to the recycling bin, you’ve gotten stack cans carefully if you don’t have enough space, and you have to find a special way to fit paper, plastic and cans into the same box!

Well the ecopod attempts to help you solve some of your recycling woes.

The ecopod sits inside your house, saving you a trek out to the recycling bin. While you could keep a recycling bin next to your garbage can inside, but if you have a lot of soft drink cans or something similar, you run the risk of attracting bugs. The ecopod keeps all cans in an enclosed space inside the unit, so anything leftover in the can won’t attract bugs. This alone will help a lot of people recycle.

As for space? Well, the ecopod is a compactor, meaning any cans or plastic inside the unit will be quicky and satisfyingly crushed into a thin sheet, perfect for stacking in your recycling bin or taking in for reimbursement.

As for anything recyclable other than metal and plastic, the ecopod features several removable storage bins in the top, all your recycling can reside in one unit.

Ecopod’s manufacturer claims the ecopod will prevent about 130 billion cans from reaching landfills. While I’m not exactly sure how they calculated this number, I can definitely see this appliance encouraging people to recycle.

The ecopod is a great response to some of the problems many people have with recycling. It has a great design and would look right at home in your kitchen. It’ll store your recyclables inside, giving you easy access, and then compact them down for easy stacking in your recycle bin.

Well, we all know if it’s not convenient, many people simply won’t do it. The ecopod helps to make recycling a lot more convenient, so who knows, if this catches on we’ll likely see a lot more people recycling.

Read more at the ecopod site.

Well it seems the green trend is percolating all the way down to the beer industry.

You’ve no doubt read about New Zealand’s Green Man eco-beer, but if beer imported from New Zealand is a little rich for your blood, there’s another option a little closer to home.

The Sierra Nevada brewery of Chico, California is aiming to 100% off-grid. Currently, they are running on fuel-cells, which account for about 75% of their power usage. They’ve been installing a brand new solar system however, and plan to be 100% off-grid very soon. In addition to solar power, they have several other green initiatives in place.

Already a model of sustainability, the brewery also focuses efforts in recycling, heat recovery, carbon-dioxide recovery, water conservation, energy efficiency, and byproduct recycling.

Wow, I have to say I’m impressed. Drink a beer and save the environment at the same time? What could be better?

Check out their environment page for more info. They’ve got a fantastic outline of all the green aspects of their brewery.

via Treehugger, Sierra Nevada Brewery

First off, these are speakers, sort of.

Yes, they look like rolled-up paper, but they work just like speakers. No toxic plastic or metal, they are made from a 100% sustainable material.

Now these aren’t stand-alone speakers exactly. They are designed to amplify your ear-buds, thus working like a speaker. It’s the same principle as yelling through a cone, they amplify the sound.

Even cooler than sustainable amplifiers is that these make use of recycled paper. They use old music scores and a little bit of clay to create the paper. You’re recycling old music to play new music!

These are great for showing off your green side, and they sound great as well.

via Keetsa, Treehugger