Portland loves to reduce, reuse and, of course, recycle. But even here there are some things that just cannot be recycled. Take the plastic clamshell box, ubiquitous at grocery stores, full of ...

For environmentalists, few quests would seem to make as much sense as the dream of biodegradable Styrofoam. As Greg Glenn, a USDA scientist who has worked on the problem for years, says, “If you’re ...

The scissors were on sale for $3. Suspended between two thick layers of tough plastic, they looked permanently imprisoned. Ingenuity, and no small amount of effort, would be needed to free my ...

If you itch to start growing things weeks before it’s time to start most of your seedlings, use the space under lights (or your sunniest south-facing window) to grow quick crops of lettuce. There is a ...