Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/category/waste/page/16/)
Everything from litter to nuclear waste.
(MI) AnnArbor.com – Ann Arbor residents might not have to sort their recyclables in the future – and they might even get rewarded for recycling – if the City Council ultimately passes a proposal reviewed Monday evening. In a special work session, council members were presented with a $3.5 million plan that would convert Ann Arbor’s Materials Recovery Facility into what’s referred to as a single-stream operation. More
(IN) The Post-Tribune – Yellowed photos and a school yearbook tell the story of a rural town of 300 people whose lives may never be the same again if a $285 million, first-of-its-kind garbage-to-ethanol plant becomes a reality. The vast majority of Schneider’s populace hopes it will. Businesses come and go, struggle to stay alive in and around this burg that hugs the Kankakee River and, while most residents work outside of town, many are unemployed, they say. More
(MI) The Ann Arbor Chronicle – At a pre-game tailgate hosted by the UM Alumni Association, a team of Student Sustainability Initiative SSI) volunteers came up at least three coffee creamer containers shy of their goal: a “zero waste” tailgate. Those three coffee creamer containers came from Edward J. Vander Velde — from the 50th reunion class of 1959 — who kidded the volunteers who were staffing one of the waste stations inside Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, saying, “We’re still short of perfect!” More
(MI) AnnArbor.com – A proposal to convert Ann Arbor’s recycling facility so residents wouldn’t have to sort their recycled papers from their plastics is being sent over to the City Council next week. The specifics of the proposal won’t be available until council members get their first look at the Oct. 12 work session. The proposal could be considered at a council meeting as soon as Nov. 5.
(IL) Chicago Tribune – In the lunchroom at Stowe Elementary School in Duluth, Minn., forlorn piles of half-eaten sandwiches and bruised bananas are transformed from trash to treasure. Instead of tossing their uneaten school lunch scraps in the garbage bin, Stowe students donate their leftover fruits and vegetables to the school’s worm compost. Items that aren’t as compost-friendly, such as breads and potatoes, are donated to area farmers, who feed the free and tasty slop to their pigs. “Knowing it won’t all be going into a landfill feels good,” said 10-year-old Bradley MacDougall. More
(MI) AnnArbor.com – A plastic shopping bag ban for the city’s largest retailers will be back before the Ann Arbor City Council tonight. If passed, the ordinance would bar retailers that have gross annual sales of more than $1 million from providing plastic bags. The ordinance doesn’t apply to the small plastic bags often available for produce at grocery stores. More
(MI) Flint Journal – A little paint, creativity and a “garbage tree” are going a long way toward making the Flint area a more beautiful place. Students at Carman-Ainsworth’s Academic Acceleration Academy incorporated those elements into a mural to promote recycling in Flint. Their effort so impressed a grant committee that they received money from a fund usually reserved for outdoor projects. The students received $500 from the Ruth Mott Foundation, said Laura Hammond, educational specialist at AAA. More
(ON) The Toronto Star – The plastics industry is warning consumers that reusable fabric grocery bags can create a health risk because they can become contaminated with fungus and bacteria if not properly washed. As the green movement against disposable plastics gains momentum, the Canadian Plastics Industry Association warns that it had 24 reusable bags tested at two laboratories and in many of them found mould, yeast and bacteria, including intestinal fecal bacteria. More
(MI) The Detroit News – If you eat, sleep or waste in Detroit, or Royal Oak or a dozen other local municipalities, chances are good your garbage will be shipped to the heart of this city where it will be incinerated and converted into steam, electricity and exhaust fumes that will be recycled into some citizen’s lungs. If you take a trip to the incinerator — or if you prefer the official Orwellian name, the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Facility — you are in for a view of the decadent, profligate habits of the American citizen and the protracted problem of trying to dispose of his detritus. More
Even though only 1 percent of toys contain mercury, Mike Shriberg says that’s too much of the dangerous element in the hands of vulnerable children. “You’re still talking about millions of products out there,” said Shribert, a children’s health advocate. The Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health, where Shriberg directs policy, is pushing a package of bills in the Michigan Legislature to tighten restrictions on mercury-containing products, including toys. The bills passed the house last week and were sent to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs. Michigan and Pennsylvania are the only two Great Lakes states that haven’t banned the sale of mercury-added “novelties,” a term lawmakers use to cover products as diverse as toys, games, shoes and yard statues.