Compost

Burial and cremation are no longer the only two options we have in deciding what happens to us at the end of life, as turning your body into compost is gaining legal status across the world. The latest to give it the green light is Australia.

Although we should try to keep as little of our organic waste as possible from going to the landfill, not everyone has the outdoor space for a compost heap. The Puresky Waste Composter is designed to help, by moving the composting indoors.

Single-use, single-serve coffee "pods" are definitely not eco-friendly, which is why refillable pods have been created. Swiss company CoffeeB is taking a different approach, however, with its fully compostable Coffee Balls.

Using a compost heap is a great way of putting food waste to use, but that waste can take several weeks or longer to become compost – in the meantime, it may stink or attract pests. The indoor Kalea device, on the other hand, is claimed to produce compost in just two days.

​Compost heaps do have some limitations – they take a long time to convert waste to soil, they can attract pests, and you're not supposed to put meat scraps in them. Well, apparently none of those things apply to a new appliance known as the Zera Food Recycler.

New York creates a huge amount of waste. Disposing of it requires a variety of environmentally damaging processes, such as landfill and transportation. To try and minimize the impact of waste disposal, Present Architecture has proposed a series of composting islands along the city's waterfront.

Having chickens and vegetables in your backyard is a great for self-sustainability, but what if I want both in a small yard?