All posts tagged: wasted

Nearly 50% of all cotton T-shirts are wasted before purchase

Nearly 50% of all cotton T-shirts are wasted before purchase

Published by Jenni Sidey

Most debates about textile waste start at the closet, or at the donation bin. But a closer look at a basic cotton T-shirt suggests the biggest losses may happen long before a shirt is worn, washed, or thrown away. In a new analysis of two consecutive T-shirt life cycles, researchers found that about 44 percent of the original cotton fiber was lost during production, before the garment ever reached a store. Under current conditions, only about 17 percent of the initial fiber input could be mechanically recovered and used again in a new T-shirt. That finding shifts attention away from the usual end-of-life discussion and toward the factory floor. Here, spinning, dyeing, cutting, and sewing quietly erase a large share of the material that goes into clothing. “When we talk about textile waste, the debate often focuses on the clothes we throw away. But the problem starts much earlier,” explained former master’s student Rakib Ahmed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), currently a researcher at SINTEF Industry. System boundary of the study …

Pizza Hut’s AI Store Control System Is Such a Disaster That It’s Wasted 0 Million, Lawsuit Alleges

Pizza Hut’s AI Store Control System Is Such a Disaster That It’s Wasted $100 Million, Lawsuit Alleges

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech A lot goes into getting that warm pizza to your doorstep. Dough is kneaded, toppings are sprinkled, ovens are fired up, and cars hit the road. Did we mention there’s an AI pulling all the strings? That’s the case at Pizza Hut, at least, and not everyone’s happy about it. One of the pie-slinging chain’s largest franchisees in the country is suing the parent company over its mandatory deployment of an AI-powered kitchen management and delivery system that’s been so disastrous that it’s allegedly caused the franchisee to lose over $100 million, according to the lawsuit. The franchisee, Chaac Pizza Northeast, operates 111 Pizza Hut locations on the East Coast, including in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC. In the suit filed earlier this month, Chaac accused Pizza Hut HQ of forcing stores to adopt Dragontail, a back-of-house management system that the company boasts is powered with “true AI throughout” and provides “AI scheduling for delivery/service.” But …

Yet Another Wasted Met Gala

Yet Another Wasted Met Gala

Published by Daniella Wilson

Every year, the Met Gala—the opulent celebration of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute—unveils a theme with a dress code that its famous attendees then attempt to interpret. And every year, many of the guests fail the assignment: They arrive in a superficial take on “punk” or an awkward rendition of “dandyism,” if they don’t veer off course completely. (See: various questionable efforts to capture the 2019 theme, “camp.”) It’s a treat, then, when someone gets it just right. Someone like the actor Tessa Thompson at this year’s event, for instance. The theme of the 2026 exhibit, “Costume Art,” considered how fashion and fine art intersect; the gala’s corresponding dress code was “fashion is art.” Thompson’s Valentino garment, inspired by the French painter Yves Klein, couldn’t have been more appropriate. Klein was known for exploring a particular shade of ultramarine blue, now known as International Klein Blue, throughout his career; in one project, he drenched models in blue paint and used them as human paintbrushes. Thompson’s dress, in said hue, involved sculptural pattern cuttings …

I wasted money on cleanup apps before realizing Windows had one built in

I wasted money on cleanup apps before realizing Windows had one built in

Published by skeptic

At some point, you might have opened your laptop to a “low disk space” warning and immediately turned to the internet for help. The answer is almost always the same: download a cleanup app. So you start searching for free tools that’ll clean, optimize, and boost your Windows PC, and grab CCleaner, or maybe IObit Advanced SystemCare, because the reviews looked convincing. Or perhaps you spring for AVG TuneUp because you already trust the brand from its antivirus days. The scans are fast, the results look alarming, and the “Fix Now” button is very tempting to click. What you might not know, however, is that Windows has had a built-in answer to this exact problem the entire time. It is called Storage Sense; it costs nothing, and it sits in your settings. Related I tested every major Windows cleaner and this is the only one I trust Most cleaners promise speed. I learned to value restraint. Buried in Settings is Microsoft’s best-kept open secret Unbothered and underrated Storage Sense is a built-in, automated disk cleanup …

Cancelled Star Wars film director says Adam Driver felt bad about “wasted time”

Cancelled Star Wars film director says Adam Driver felt bad about “wasted time”

Published by Daniella Wilson

Prolific film director Steven Soderbergh has shared more about his feelings towards his cancelled Star Wars film, The Hunt for Ben Solo, which he had previously been developing with franchise star Adam Driver. As the title suggests, the film would have brought back Driver’s character – the troubled son of Han Solo and Princess Leia, also known as Kylo Ren – in a story set after the events of 2019’s divisive The Rise of Skywalker. Soderbergh and Driver previously worked together on 2017 heist comedy Logan Lucky, which earned very positive reviews from critics, but underwhelming box office returns. Previously, the actor revealed (via AP) that Lucasfilm executives were enthusiastic about the idea, but Disney bosses Bob Iger and Alan Bergman “said no” as they didn’t see a way that Solo could plausibly return from his demise in the previous film. Now, in a new interview with Variety, Ocean’s Eleven and Erin Brockovich filmmaker Soderbergh has revealed that Driver “felt bad” for ever involving him in the failed project, with his interpretation being that he’d …

I’ve spent 20 years treading water and fear that I’ve wasted so much time. Am I depressed? | Family

I’ve spent 20 years treading water and fear that I’ve wasted so much time. Am I depressed? | Family

Published by Sam Flores

My wife and I are in our late 60s. The past 20 years have felt like treading water, as all my funds are tied up in a property that, for complex reasons, I am unable to sell. We are both creative. Over the past year or so I’ve made some improvements to our house, things that make people say wow. I enjoy seeing their pleasure, but their praise isn’t hugely important to me. In fact, I am somewhat reclusive. I do not enjoy being part of a wider community and I’m content with a handful of close friends. Last year my father died, and after a period of despair, during which I found myself contemplating suicide (I did not share this with my wife), I turned first to Samaritans, then a therapist. Another problem had been my love of cross-dressing, which never sat easily with my wife, though she was accommodating to a degree. I was able to visit the therapist “dressed”, and with his help I raised the subject again with my wife. To …

Anti-ICE billboards show Angelenos how their tax dollars are ‘wasted’

Anti-ICE billboards show Angelenos how their tax dollars are ‘wasted’

Published by Sam Flores

There are some new billboards in town that want you to know what the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is doing with its newfound funding. “Your tax $ wasted” reads the top of these billboards that can be found around L.A. and in several other cities around the country, including Memphis, Miami and Raleigh, N.C. Other messages found on the signs are: “ICE weapons spending increases 600%, 17 million people lose healthcare;” “ICE cruelty is costing you $28 billion;” and “Funding ICE is a slippery slope to fascism.” The coordinated action was put together by the activist group Mijente Support Committee, a Latinx rights advocacy group whose ethos is “no one is coming to save us, so we have to save ourselves and each other.” Joseline Garcia — who serves as Mijente’s community defense director, as well as community defense training for L.A. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez’s first district — spoke with The Times about the advocacy organization’s billboard campaign. “Over the past few months, we’ve seen an increase in the use of billboards for …

This new tech captures wasted power and cuts energy bills 20%

This new tech captures wasted power and cuts energy bills 20%

Published by skeptic

Image: IR Power Factories waste vast amounts of electricity every time heavy machinery slows down. This Scottish company says it can capture that lost power and slash energy bills by up to 20%. IR Power, owned by MWNW Group, has developed a plug-and-play system that captures the electricity industrial machines generate when they decelerate. In many plants, equipment constantly ramps up and down – presses, conveyors, mixers. Each slowdown produces energy that’s usually wasted as heat. But IR Power’s system, reducERS electricity recycling system, works like regenerative braking in an EV, feeding that captured power straight back into the factory grid for immediate reuse. How much energy are factories actually wasting? On large automotive press lines, where clusters of machines cycle roughly every six seconds, the company says its technology can recapture 10-20% of total electricity use. At current UK industrial power prices, that can translate to £50,000 to £100,000 in annual savings per machine cluster. Energy recovery technology itself isn’t new. But historically, these systems required expensive custom engineering, weeks or months of installation, and often …

Two-way electric vehicle charging at scale could stop renewable energy being wasted – here’s how it works

Two-way electric vehicle charging at scale could stop renewable energy being wasted – here’s how it works

Published by skeptic

The amount of renewable energy produced around the world is increasingly exceeding demand – particularly from wind and solar sources. This presents a significant challenge when limited grid capacity and insufficient energy storage mean this clean power has to be curtailed, wasting the excess generation. The scale of this problem is substantial. In the UK, for example, wind farms were forced to curtail 4.3 terawatt (trillion watt) hours of surplus energy – about 5% of their annual output – in 2023. This would have been enough to power 1.5 million homes for the year, so failing to harness it cost bill payers roughly £300 million and left some energy providers facing costly constraint payments. Similar patterns are emerging across Europe, North America, Australia and other regions rapidly expanding their renewable capacity, where grid infrastructure has struggled to keep pace. But on the Isle of Wight, off England’s south coast, a trial is under way that, in years to come, could help resolve this energy conundrum. It relies on “bidirectional charging” – the idea that electric …