Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/category/waste/page/15/)
Everything from litter to nuclear waste.
(MI) Holland Sentinel – The facilities manager at Haworth Inc. was behind the move to get the company’s 10 U.S. manufacturing facilities and one distribution center to zero-landfill status. That status is the tip of a sustainability iceberg that ends at the holy grail of environmentalism: zero waste. More
(MI) The Detroit News – After close to 20 years of separating lawn clippings from trash, bills under consideration in Lansing would roll back Michigan’s 1990 yard waste ban in an effort to convert grass to gas. Bills in the House and the Senate would exempt an estimated more than 20 landfills from the ban to increase production of landfill gas, a renewable energy source that can be sold to utility companies. More
By Sarah Coefield
Dec. 17, 2009
Gibson Lake, built by one of the world’s largest coal-fired power plants to store wastewater, has attracted birds and fishermen to its shores for years. But after years of wastewater discharge, the Indiana lake contains high levels of selenium that threaten hundreds of species of birds, including the endangered least tern, and render fish unsafe to eat. Selenium is an essential nutrient, but in wildlife and people excess amounts can be dangerous. As with mercury, selenium monitoring and regulations are spotty across the Great Lakes region.
(MI) Metro Times – When it comes to curbside recycling in Detroit, city officials and activists looking to boost participation in a pilot program are hoping children can help lead the way to a greener future. It’s help that is definitely needed. In place since July 1, Detroit’s pilot program offers curbside recycling to about 30,000 households in select neighborhoods on the city’s east and west sides. The $3.8 million yearlong effort will be used to help determine curbside recycling’s future. More
(MI) MLive – Michigan could add as many as 13,000 new jobs if the state boosted its recycling rate average to equal rates in neighboring Great Lakes states, a new report concludes.
The report from Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants finds that Michigan’s recycling rate of 20 percent lags behind its Great Lakes state neighbors, which average 30 percent. The state has 2,242 recycling and reuse industry establishments that collectively employ nearly 62,000 workers, the research firm said. More
By Hyonhee Shin
Nov. 7, 2009
LANSING — Some Michigan lawmakers are seeking an increase in solid waste disposal fees to help reduce landfills and incineration. The current fee is 21 cents per ton. Most other Great Lakes states charge more — 50 cents in Indiana, $2.22 in Illinois, $4.75 in Ohio, $7.25 in Pennsylvania and $13 in Wisconsin, the highest in the nation. A proposal by state Rep. Daniel Scripps, D-Leland, would establish a $7.50 per ton state tipping fee on solid waste dumped at Michigan landfills and municipal incinerators.
(IL) Chicago Tribune – Mayor Richard Daley’s top budget aide tried Wednesday to convince the City Council that the wheels aren’t falling off the city’s blue-cart recycling program, even as he acknowledged there would be no major expansion of the program to most of the city for at least another year. There’s no new funding for blue carts in Daley’s proposed 2010 spending plan that freezes the Streets and Sanitation budget. As a result, some households will likely see their recycling picked up less frequently, city Budget Director Eugene Munin said on the first day of budget hearings. More
(NY) The New York Times – Across the nation, an antigarbage strategy known as “zero waste” is moving from the fringes to the mainstream, taking hold in school cafeterias, national parks, restaurants, stadiums and corporations. The movement is simple in concept if not always in execution: Produce less waste. Shun polystyrene foam containers or any other packaging that is not biodegradable. Recycle or compost whatever you can. More
(MI) Grand Rapids Press – There is a new prescription for all those unused pills in the medicine cabinet: Incineration. Wyoming this fall plans to launch a medicine collection program in partnership with about 25 pharmacies in the city. The effort aims to get excess drugs beyond the reach of children and other unauthorized users without flushing them into the sewer system and, ultimately, into area drinking water. “The main thing is just getting rid of it,” said City Councilman Jack Poll, a pharmacist. “There are just a ton of prescription drugs sitting in people’s homes and, obviously, the easiest thing to do is dump them in the trash or flush them down the toilet.” More
By Hyonhee Shin
Oct. 17, 2009
LANSING, Mich. — After a fine dinner with a glass of wine or beer, where do the green bottles go? The answer is troubling for many environmentally conscious consumers. Michigan has a long record of recycling, and glass is one of the most recycled materials, but not green glass.