Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/category/waste/)
Everything from litter to nuclear waste.
A federal judge has placed the ex-president of a Fort Wayne environmental services company – described in her lawyer’s sentencing memorandum as “kind, generous, hard-working and honest” and a “huge source of inspiration” for her children and grandchildren” – on probation for two years for illegally storing hazardous wastes and falsifying a document.
State officials are publishing data from 19 Michigan sewage treatment plants and more than 400 wastewater collection systems to create an early warning system for COVID-19 outbreaks.
Recently, eco-friendly living has led to a surge of low-waste stores rapidly popping up across the region.
Michigan has disposed of more than 50,000 gallons of potentially harmful firefighting foam since 2019. Firefighters and environmental advocates say that isn’t enough.
Some Michigan lawmakers and environmental advocates want to create a hotline to stop retailers from fraudulently cashing in on the state’s beverage container deposit law.
Michigan is encouraging counties to consider giving their trash a new life, offering up to $12,000 in grants to those interested in treating it as a resource.
Trash and other types of marine debris are a significant concern in the Great Lakes region and internationally, and balloons are one piece of that puzzle.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is expanding its testing capacity for monitoring a family of so-called “forever chemicals” called PFAS.
By Eric Freedman
A federal judge has sentenced a Flint, Michigan, polluter to one year behind bars for illegally discharging more than 47 million gallons of untreated waste into the city’s sewer system. Robert Massey, the 70-year-old president and owner of family-owned Oil Chem Inc., pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act over an 8½ year period between 2007 and 2015. “That amounts to over 72 Olympic-size swimming pools. The crime was driven by greed. Oil Chem received over a million dollars to dispose of the (material),” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in its sentencing memorandum to U.S. District Judge Stephanie Davis.
A type of algae that a recent study found collects microfibers brings up questions about microplastic pollution impacts and how it could affect human health.
There is an emerging new worker that could make a career out of sorting recyclables: robots.
