NewsRack: flenvcenter/Waste_Independent

PHOTOS: 12 Of Greenpeace's Summer Protests From Around The World - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

Huffington Post — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

From Mexico City to Malta, Berlin to Hong Kong, Greenpeace created impressive protests against environmental injustices this summer. Protesters wore hazardous waste uniforms, drenched themselves...

Fairground Dung and Leftovers Tested in Waste-to-Energy Project - Energy & Climate | Greenbiz.com

GreenBiz Staff — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Which waste is the best to convert to energy -- animal dung or leftover funnel cakes, corn dogs, cotton candy and other fairground favorites? That's what a Midwest scientist and a group of researchers are exploring at the Minnesota State Fair.

Lisa Kaas Boyle: California Drops the Ball on Plastic Bag Ban - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

Lisa Kaas Boyle — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Why is it that the average American hasn't yet come to associate single-use plastic bags with the terrible environmental and economic toll these bags exact?

Yo, Toronto: Chuck and Vince Want Your Electronics - GOOD

Andrew Price — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Canadians are funny. To promote its electronics recycling program, the City of Toronto has created a series of three brilliant video spots that spoof "the hard sell 'bring us your gold jewelry' ads" and they're dead on. They feature two collectors, Chuck and Vince, who wave sparklers, wear gorilla masks, and shout and point at you in concert. Yo, Toronto! Have an old TV encased in mahogany? They want it. Toronto offers a convenient free program that makes recycling electronics as easy as recycling beer bottles. Residents are given green e-waste recycling bags that they can fill with old phones, radios, cables, and other unwanted electronic junk and put out with the trash. Larger items such as computer monitors can just be ...

District energy 101 - Grist Magazine

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Sean Casten. In the fall of 2003 I was at a barbeque in Vermont with a friend and former (Clinton-era) DOE official.  The northeast blackout that August still in the news, and I asked him whether he anticipated that it would lead to any policy reforms.  His response was that during his tenure in DC, the biggest challenge to smart energy policy was that with very rare exceptions, energy has never been an electoral issue.  Those who seek elected office therefore find themselves personally disadvantaged if they allocate their limited educational time to understanding the nuances of our energy policy – and we thus find ourselves with decades of energy policy, written by individuals who have consciously decided not to be ...

American Samoa Bans Plastic Bags - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

AP — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — American Samoa is going to make it illegal for stores to hand out plastic bags once a new law goes...

Nescafé Targets Coffee Sustainability with $350M Investment - Business Operations | GreenBiz.com

GreenBiz Staff — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Nestlé is investing nearly $350 million over the next decade to expand its reach into sustainable coffee farming, make its factories more efficient and reduce its packaging. Beyond the Cup: The Nescafe Plan is the company's global project that adds onto the nearly $200 million already spent on coffee project in previous years.

Rep. Barbara Lee: A Katrina Retrospective: Structural Inequality, Environmental Justice, and our National Discourse on Race. - Politics on HuffingtonPost.com

Rep. Barbara Lee — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

While there will be many essays written upon the 5th Anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, I am compelled to offer my own contribution because...

Greenpeace Argentina Makes Procter & Gamble Take Charge For Tons Of Used Batteries - TreeHugger

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Greenpeace Argentina Makes Procter & Gamble Take Charge For Tons Of Used Batteries

California Senate Rejects Ban on Plastic Bags - GOOD

Patrick James — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

As it turns out, California has not banned single-use plastic shopping bags. Los Angeles Times

Environmentalists Push For Coal-Ash Regulation - Truthout - All Articles

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

New York - In what promises to be a contentious, high-profile series of debates, the forces of environmental protection will be lining up against those of the electric power industry over the future status of coal-ash.

Computer Wire Dress by Tina Sparkles Makes Statement About e-Waste - TreeHugger

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Computer Wire Dress by Tina Sparkles Makes Statement About e-Waste

Honolulu’s trash woes growing worse - ICT - National

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

HONOLULU – Gigantic piles of shrink-wrapped garbage have been moldering in the heat of a Hawaii industrial park for more than five months, waiting for a place to be shipped.

Annie Spiegelman: We Are the Champions! Marin County Fair: Greenest County Fair on Earth - Green on HuffingtonPost.com

Annie Spiegelman — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Marin County officials are claiming the record for recycling the most ever waste at a county fair. Roughly 90 percent of the garbage created at this summer's county fair was diverted away from overcrowded landfills.

The Story of a Troubled Tank - Truthout - All Articles

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Review of the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company's closely held internal investigation report on the May 25 oil spill at Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) Pump Station #9 (PS9) reveals a disturbing picture of chronic problems on the aging, partially revamped pipeline that carries upwards of 550,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from the northern edge of the continent on an 800 mile journey across Alaska to reach tankers headed to the West Coast.

William Bradley: Harsh Realm: The Meg Whitman Program for Future California - Politics on HuffingtonPost.com

William Bradley — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Meg Whitman is failing in her goal of building a big 12 to 15-point lead over Jerry Brown over the summer, a lead from which he can't recover in the fall. In fact, she has no lead at all in any credible poll.

Hearings begin on federal coal ash rules as evidence of damages mounts - Grist Magazine

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Sue Sturgis. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding the first in a series of seven official public hearings today to collect comments on a proposal to federally regulate coal ash. Today’s hearing will take place at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va. from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and is expected to draw attendees from across the country. The event comes amid growing evidence of utilities’ failure under the current state-led regulatory system to protect communities from the serious health hazards of coal ash. A report released last week by environmental advocacy groups documented 39 additional sites in 21 states where coal ash has contaminated water supplies with arsenic and other toxic metals. That brings ...

LifeEdited: Party Like It's 1499! - TreeHugger

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

LifeEdited: Party Like It's 1499!

Smart cities are (un)paving the way for urban farmers and locavores - Grist Magazine

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

by Kerry Trueman. If some sort of natural disaster or terrorist attack were to shut down New York City’s food supply chain, our supermarket shelves would reportedly be picked clean within three days. Other U.S. cities aren’t any better prepared for such emergencies, thanks to our fuelish dependence on a globalized food system. So my husband Matt keeps a bin filled with tins of sardines under the bed in our sardine tin-sized Manhattan apartment. Plus two cans of organic vegetarian chili, and a Kelp Krunch sesame energy bar. He’s on a self-sufficiency kick, too; makes his own vanilla extract, sauerkraut, duck rillette, and cat food. I guess we’ll be in pretty good shape if calamity comes a-callin’. But how ...

U.K. Waste Company Adds Plastic Trucks to Its Fleet - Business Operations | GreenBiz.com

Luke Walsh — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

A waste firm will introduce plastic vehicles to its fleet which are lighter than traditional trucks and could each save up to 11 tonnes of carbon a year.

Vintage circuit boards used to create art, furniture - Science / Technology News

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Instead of seeing all our toxic electronic waste end up in e-waste piles in third world countries, how about turning them into furniture or sculpture? Theo Kamecke, a former filmmaker, has seen the beauty of printed-circuit boards, and done just that.

Muslims Fight Food Waste During Ramadan - TreeHugger

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Muslims Fight Food Waste During Ramadan

Is Hauling Your Own Trash Green? - TreeHugger

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Is Hauling Your Own Trash Green?

Shrinking Packages Help Dell Cut Material Use by Nearly 9M Pounds - Business Operations | GreenBiz.com

Jonathan Bardelline — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Dell has reduced its packaging by 8.7 million pounds in the past year, neared its goal to add more recycled content and is well over halfway to making the majority of its packaging recyclable in most places.

Honolulu Gets (Extremely) Serious About Recycling Construction Materials - GOOD

Andrew Price — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT

There's a bill working its way through the Honolulu city council that would require builders to reuse or recycle a full 60 percent of construction and demolition waste. That includes "concrete, rock, brick, wood, mansonry, roofing, plaster, steel, and other metals, such as copper." There's no word on what the penalty would be for violating the law. To put that in perspective : "C&D waste," as it is called, accounts for 25 to 30 percent of solid waste in the United States, and only 20 to 30 percent of it is recycled or reused. And, of course, the more you reuse the less new materials you have to use (and the less new materials you have to produce) which saves more. This would really raise the bar. Some contractors ...