The average London, Ontario, household wastes 2.81 kg (6 pounds) of food each week, and approximately half the food waste is avoidable. Local communities and nonprofits are looking for solutions to the problem.
Waste
Michigan’s recycling rate lags U.S. average
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Michigan’s estimated overall recycling rate is 18%, which lags considerably behind the national average of 32%. Efforts to update recycling procedures, policies and practices are being made across the state.
Homepage Featured
Community fridges: Radical solutions to food insecurity, waste and cultural stigmas
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In the Great Lakes region there are community fridges in such major cities as Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, Cleveland and Toronto. Community fridges are working fridges, usually connected to an organization, that provide free food to passersby. The concept is to take what you need and bring what you can.
Homepage Featured
COVID-19 in sewage is new gauge on state dashboard
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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.
Homepage Featured
Packaging-free stores spread sustainable shopping
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Recently, eco-friendly living has led to a surge of low-waste stores rapidly popping up across the region.
Waste
Firefighters, environmental advocates push for safer foam
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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.
Waste
Proposed hotline aimed at bottle bill fraud
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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.
Waste
Michigan encourages counties to convert trash into treasure
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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.
Homepage Featured
High schooler inspires bill to ban balloon litter
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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.
Contaminants
Michigan expanding PFAS testing capacity
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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.
Contaminants
Michigan polluter ordered to jail for illegally discharging untreated waste
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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.