Compost

Composting toilets are a great idea, but no one likes to think of the waste sitting there and fermenting. A new eco-friendly toilet gets around that problem by using mushrooms to facilitate the composting process, plus it uses no water to do the job.

If you've ever been turning over your compost heap and found months-old "compostable" plastic items that were still mostly intact – well, you're not alone. New research states that 60% of such plastics don't fully degrade in home composting systems.

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam is a problematic material, in that it's cheap and lightweight but also non-biodegradable and difficult to recycle. German scientists have developed a possible alternative, though – foam made out of popcorn.

Although pens may not be a huge source of landfill waste, it still hurts the environment when they're simply thrown away. That's where the Scribit Pen is designed to come in, as it's claimed to be completely compostable.

BioBag World Australia and IG Fresh Produce have come up with an alternative to polyethylene wrap that can be used to keep cucumbers fresh.

Researchers from the Young Investigator Network at Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) in Germany are developing printed electronics from natural and compostable materials that could help make a dent in the millions of tons of electronic waste piling up worldwide each year.

We've already got biodegradable shoes and bikinis, but how about just regular ol' shirts and pants? Well, while materials such as cotton and wool will biodegrade under the right conditions, clothing manufacturer Freitag is producing clothing that's specifically designed for easy composting.

L'Uritonnoir is a portable, composting urinal for large festivals that reduces a bale of hay into usable fertilizer.

The Bokashicycle Food Waste Pulverizer is designed to consolidate commercial food waste, and make it easier to compost.

A University engineer has envisioned an innovative and simple waste disposal system that can be constructed from everyday items designed specifically for Third World countries.

The Muncher is a prototype system that rapidly converts municipal organic waste into compost.

OATS Shoes is launching a line of fully compostable sneakers.