Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/category/waste/)
Everything from litter to nuclear waste.
Universities across the globe are monitoring wastewater on their campuses for viruses like COVID-19. It is a practice that has raised some medical privacy concerns, although researchers say there is no way to link the detection of the virus in wastewater with an individual who is sick.
The same supply chain disruptions that slow Michigan manufacturing could help the recycling industry bring in new business.
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.
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.
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.
