By Sarah Currie-Halpern AI waste is fast becoming the preeminent environmental problem of our time. Right? To begin understanding AI’s environmental impact, we first need to acknowledge that we’re missing the full picture. How much water AI removes from the water cycle is still debated, as are the technological benefits AI might have on ecologically restorative or sustainability efforts. This technology arrived and became central to environmental debates almost overnight. No

by Sarah Currie-Halpern & Nicole De Santis Being a parent with a commitment to a low waste household can be challenging. Normalizing a low waste lifestyle is an important step for the climate and for our families. I remember before I had kids going to a friend's daughter's 3rd birthday party. An enormous pile of gifts grew in the corner as more guests arrived. Later I watched the unwrapping, amazed as the young child grabbed the gifts and ripped the wrapping off, barely glanc

Electronic waste piling up with other garbage By Ushma Pandya Mehta It’s hard to discuss electronic waste without sounding alarmist. The statistics are certainly sobering. According to the UN , e-waste is rising at a rate of 2.6 million tons per year, having leapt 82% between 2010 and 2024 alone. Experts predict e-waste generation to hit 82 million tons by 2030—which is not only a huge increase in volume from 2024 (62 million tons) but tantamount to billions of dollars of sti

By Sarah Currie-Halpern In the space of a decade, extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws have transformed from a niche environmental advocacy topic to a new and multinational legal reality. Companies around the world are juggling mandates to use sustainable packaging materials and cover some of the costs of waste management, including collection, sorting, and recycling. And as is often the case when a sustainability measure of this scale approaches widespread implementat

Robotic sorting of materials at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) By Sarah Currie-Halpern In a perfect world, 2026 would be the year we cut global plastic waste in half, clean up the Pacific Garbage Patch, address microplastic pollution in our waterways, solve every recycling backlog, and, well, the list goes on. Part of what makes working in waste reduction periodically frustrating is the slow pace of change. Waste reduction advocates everywhere have learned to love steady

By Nicole DeSantis, Tenant Engagement Manager, Think Zero LLC 2026 is fast approaching, and the beginning of the New Year is a great time to make some environmental goals and resolutions! Reducing food waste is a huge benefit to the climate and it also saves money! Every year, millions of tons of food are wasted, contributing to the rise of methane emissions that threaten our planet's climate. But what if you could be part of the solution? By adopting smarter catering practic

2025 lays bare the recycling industry’s economic woes By Ushma Pan dya In a perfect world, recycling and the circular economy would deliver on the simple promise of trash becoming treasure over and over again. In our world, it’s a little more complex than that. Environmental action doesn’t run on altruism. Recycling’s ongoing efficacy depends on its status within the broader economic system. To work, there must be a genuine downstream demand for recycled material. To create

City with centralized waste bins for community use By Sarah Currie-Halpern, Co-Founder and Partner The 2020s are turning into a watershed decade already for eco-friendly efforts in urban centers. Various environmental policies once considered distant dreams have turned into real-world legislation under ambitious local governments. That’s great news for the residents of these eco-minded cities and, we might argue, for the rest of the world. Now no city can reasonably claim tha

By Ushma Pandya, Co Founder & Partner at Think Zero LLC Credit: WESSA Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa In an ideal world,...

by Ushma Pandya, Co-Founder & Partner at Think Zero LLC From long afternoons on the beach and dinners on the patio, summer is a...

By Sarah Currie-Halpern What will it take to curb the environmental crisis caused by fast fashion? In France, the answer is the full...