As Election Day nears, state and local officials should take a serious look at what can realistically be achieved before setting future recycling goals. Election Day is little more than two months away. While waste and recycling haven’t been big issues in this election, I expect to see more than the normal number of recycling […]

One of the few landscaping elements that literally blankets itself with flowers and foliage, a garden trellis brings a welcome sense of peace and serenity to your property. With basic tools, inexpensive materials, and a free day or two, you can build a simple garden trellis that will add grace and charm to your home. Because […]

On the banks of the Hoquiam River in southwestern Washington, a mostly sunken vessel lies along a bank at an angle with only its mast and the top of its pilothouse marking its resting place. This stretch of river is a misty, placid working patch of water marked with boats, boatyards and Highway 101 bridges. The […]

Oregon plans to suspend its recycling program for up to two years to re-educate the public on ways to improve the process. China has stopped accepting most recycling materials from the U.S. due to contamination. “The recycling world is changing dramatically worldwide,” said City Administrator Mike Beazley at a recent council meeting. “It’s affecting this […]

Vermont topped the list, with Delaware, Tennessee, Minnesota, New Hampshire, California, Pennsylvania, Washington, Maryland and Texas rounding out the top 10. Call2Recycle announced that in 2017, it recycled more than 8 million pounds of batteries through its battery recycling program. And just this week, the company released its top-performing battery recycling states in the U.S. […]

The Kroger Co. announced it will phase out single-use plastic bags and transition to reusable bags across its family of stores by 2025. Seattle-based QFC will be the company’s first retail division to phase out single-use plastic bags. The company expects QFC’s transition to be completed in 2019. “As part of our Zero Hunger | Zero […]

Energy efficiency is often a hard sell in the US. Energy efficient devices can require a bit more money up front, which is then paid back gradually often over the course of several years. But a new study in the latest edition of PNAS suggests that the problem isn’t only a matter of economics—instead, like […]

The report predicts that, as a direct result of increased energy consumption, there will be a 70-percent increase in energy-oriented carbon dioxide emissions, and an overall increase in greenhouse gas emissions of 50 percent. This would correlate to a rise in global average temperature between 3° C and 6° C above preindustrial levels. Air pollution […]

Each year, 8 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the world’s oceans. Millions of plastic straws are used and disposed each day. The straws are usually made from polypropylene and are not truly degradable. Most recycling programs are loath to accept straws because straws are too light and fall off sorters. They are often […]

The Pacific Ocean is beautiful. However, halfway between California and Hawaii, the ocean is also the site of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. At over 600,000 miles, it is more than twice the size of France. The detritus already weighs around 87,000 tons and is growing by the day. Bottles, bags, fishing nets, and such […]