Here at Sunrise we love progress. Especially when it involves the environment, so a recent blog post at Ecogeek sparked our interest.  The post brought a cool invention to our attention.  The design of the recycing robot by Osaka University and Mitsubishi Electric Engineering Co.  They  have created a robot with laser-sensing technology that can differentiate six different types of plastic from all other garbage.  The 5-foot 6-inch by 6-foot 9-inch machine identifies the plastic materials by analyzing the reflectivity of five different wavelengths of lasers on the materials. 

The purpose of the robot is to streamline the recycling process and increase the amount of plastic that gets recycled.  With this robot taking care of that sorting, people can recycle with the assurance that the robot will take care of the details.

Although at 55,000 dollars this isn’t exactly being marketed as a home sorting device it certainly has a lot of potential for industrial sites.

For more information please visit

EcoGeek

Telegraph

Botropolis

Jazzing up your company catalog isn’t a quick process.  It takes a lot of thought, opinion polling, and research to try and get it right.    Here are a few tips in creating an effective catalog.

1.The first tip is to not try and jam everything into a few pages to be cost effective.  This will overwhelm your customer and will likely leave the pictures too small.  Instead try weaving white space effectively into your design.  This is  especially true for photos that you want to draw the customer’s attention.

2. Another way to create an effective catalog is to create consistency from page to page.  A layout that your customer finds easy to navigate will certainly help this process.

3.  Finally, ensure that the color scheme is in sync with the color scheme of the company. This means company cards, website, etc.  This should be a continued branding effort.  Therefore it should be a continuation of what the company looks like not a deviance from it.

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Print Runner

A newsletter is an opportunity that companies both large and small capitalize on to inform their customers about the current events of the company.  It often works as both an informative piece as well as a promotional one.  But how exactly do you create an effective newsletter. There isn’t an exact formula- if there was we would all be using it.  However, here are a few helpful tips.

The first piece of advice is to keep the information relevant.  It may seem obvious but too often newsletters are an overwhelming amount of irrelavent information.  Align what you’re writing about with what your customers will take the time to read.  If your customers are environmentally consciousness you might want to spotlight your new green product line, or ways that your company has started recycling.

Another helpful hint is to send your newsletter out on a set schedule.  Don’t send it out whenever you find it convenient.  It isn’t a press release. It’s a newsletter. You also don’t want to overwhelm customers.   Monthly is usually a good time frame to send it out.

One of the best ways to improve your own newsletter is to look at newsletters you find interesting and mimic what they do. Do they have a lot of links?  Are they concise?  Is it an easy layout?  What type of colors and fonts are they using?  If it worked once it’ll likely work again.

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Promarketer

Top Story

What is being hailed as the world’s smallest library is somewhere between quaint and genius.  This “library” is none other than a salvaged phone box.  Stocking around 100 books it works as a book exchange.  Users simply bring books they have read and then take books that they haven’t.  This little libarary also hosts DVD’s and CD’s and appeals to all ages with a variety of childrens books as well.

In addition to the creativity and sense of community that this library offers there is a eco-friendly factor.  The salvaging of the phone box itself along with the book exchange it facilitates is a great way to be green. It is the epitome of reuse.

For more information please visit:

Baltimore Sun

Blogspot

You may not feel familiar with thermoforming, however, it is surprising to find just how often it works its way into daily life.  The plastic plates you picked up for this week’s party are thermoformed.  Those large plastic parts in cars and planes are thermoformed.  The majority of  food, medical, and retail plastic packaging is also thermoformed.

The difference between large thermoformed plastic parts for an airplane and the thin material of dinnerware is referred to as thin gauge verse thick gauge.  Thin gauge means that the plastic is thin enough that it is actually fed through the machine on a roll.  Thick gauge means that the plastic has to be fed through on flat sheets.  Thin gauge is used for items like plastic cups, lids, trays, etc.  It is usually disposable or recyclable.  On the flip side thick gauge is tends to be used for more permanent items.

Now when you go to the store you can feel a little  more informed about your plastic purchases.

With the invention of MP3 players and online music stores you may not be buying CD’s anymore. However, that doesn’t solve the problem of what to do with all of the old CD cases from when you were.  Luckily a few creative minds have come up with some options to put those cases back into use.  These alternative uses can be more than just Saturday morning art projects for your kids, although that is a possibility too.

1. The jewel case poster display.

This is a project you’ll want to make sure you layout and measure carefully before moving ahead with the cutting.  It’s the old cliche, measure twice cut once.  This is done by taking a poster of your choice and cutting it into sections that fit into the CD case.  The cases are then hung on the wall to recreate the poster with a little edge and artistic twist.  It seems to work especially well for music posters, but the sky is the limit.

2. The CD case photo collage.

In order to create the collage simple print out photos you want to incorporate and place them individually in cases.  Then attach them to the wall with wall putty in whatever order you want.  Photos that are printed in black and white and then placed in colored jewel cases take on an especially unique and cool look.

3. Create a Book- Kid’s style

Kid’s love art projects.  They especially love art project where they can show off their decorating, drawing and writing skills all at once.  Creating a book out of old CD cases is perfect.  Allow them to decorate the case with stickers and whatever else they may find interesting to create the cover. Then cut pages that fold and fit into the CD case. Attach it by double-stick taping the front and back page to the cover or by gluing it.

For more information and ideas visit:

Associated Content

Paper Jewels

Life Hackery

After much anticipation over 2010’s color of the year the winner is Turquoise as announced by Pantone Color Institute.  It is said to be both an inviting and luminous hue.    This color shies away from the vibrant yellow of last year.  In case you are wondering how these experts choose the color of the year, they say that it is chosen based off of years of research from word-association studies.

This is what Pantone’s executive director had to say about the color turquoise.  “It is believed to be a protective talisman, a color of deep compassion and healing, and a color of faith and truth, inspired by water and sky. … we also find that Turquoise represents an escape to many – taking them to a tropical paradise that is pleasant and inviting, even if only a fantasy.”

Some of the most beautiful items in the world are turquoise, including the turquoise color of a Caribbean sea, and turquoise jewelry made by master craftsmen. And if anyone is an expert in color, you can bet it’s Pantone!

For more information visit:

Pantone

How do you feel about spending a relaxing afternoon on the deck, basking in the sun, taking in the scenery and kicking back… on a bunch of milk jugs?  This afternoon might have sounded like it was headed in the right direction until the milk jugs, but don’t be deterred.  By the Yard is an innovative, fellow Minnesota-based company whose outdoor furniture is made out of recycled milk and water jugs.  If you aren’t sold on their innovative materials you might be swayed by their comfort, variety and product guarantees.

Their furniture is no joke. By the Yard boasts a 35 year warranty for their outdoor furniture, guaranteeing that it will not crack, rot, or peel within that time.  It is also offered in a variety of colors and styles to ensure it meets your decor. Perhaps the best part about the color you choose is that it’ll stay that way.  Their website states;

It will not fade more than 3% over a 10 year period; a color change that is generally not noticeable to the human eye. The color runs throughout each piece and has a UV-inhibitor incorporated into the material to minimize the chance of any discoloration.

The following is a sampling of a few of these colors and styles.

Now that’s cool!

For more information please visit:

By the Yard

Living a more sustainable lifestyle doesn’t happen overnight.  It’s unlikely that you go to bed a fossil fuel hog and wake up the next day with your hybrid car and carrying reusable grocery bags. It’s a continual learning process.  It’s also about recognizing the impact of your daily habits and understanding what it takes to change them.  For example, take a magazine and consider it’s impact on the environment.  You probably think that if you recycle them you are doing your part. To some extent this is true but did you ever think about the resources used to make the original magazine?  Do you know if you subscribe to a magazine that is made out of recycled paper or not?  Many magazines are in fact made out of recycled paper which significantly cuts down on the amount of resources needed to print them.   One such magazine is the popular Everyday With Rachel Ray.  For a list of more magazines go to better magazine list.

You may think now that you’ve subscribed to a magazine printed on recycled paper (which you of course plan to recycle when you’re done reading) you’ve really done your part. However, even this can be improved upon for the die hard green goers.  I’d like to introduce you to the electronic magazine subscription.  Available through your computer and involved in the destruction of zero trees.  Described by Barnes and Noble as

“…delivered to the recipient’s email address. Scores of titles available. An Eco-Friendly gift because these subscriptions are paperless and are delivered electronically- not by mail carrier.”

It’s everything the environment ever wanted.

For more information visit:

Grist

Barnes and Noble

The average American throws away 4 pounds of trash daily.   Considering the fact that there are over 300,000,000 people living within the United States it is easy to see how the trash situation can get out of hand.  In fact, it’s estimated that the US generates around 230 million tons of trash a year.  The good news is that with that much trash there is a lot of room for improvement.  Here are some statistics from The Clean Air Council that demonstrate how much room for improvement there really is.

• Only about 1/10 of solid garbage in the U.S. gets recycled.
• Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.



• In the U.S., an additional 5 million tons of waste is generated during the holidays.  Four million tons of this is wrapping paper and shopping bags.
• Americans throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months.

The good news is that a little recycling can go a long way.

• For every ton of plastic bottles that are recycled, 3.8 barrels of oil are saved.
• Aluminum has a quick turn-around as a recycled material. It can be back on the shelf as a new can in as little as six weeks.

For more information visit:

Learner

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