Mural represents Carman-Ainsworth school’s growing interest in recycling

(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

Cloth bags condemned as plastic strikes back

(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

Detroit incinerator’s burning issues

(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

Michigan may join most Great Lakes states in banning mercury in toys, landfills

 

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.