In Philadelphia, people like to recycle. Together, all 1.6 million of us generate about 400 tons of recyclable material each day. But since last fall, roughly half of the bottles and cans my neighbors and I have placed dutifully curbside in our blue bins every week haven’t made their way to a sorting facility. They’ve […]

Try going a day without it. I bet you’ll say you can’t, but I’m going to challenge you anyway. Because, what if I told you that just by changing one thing in your life, you could save thousands, perhaps millions of lives? Would you do it? I hope so. The change I’m referring to is […]

With the recycling industry in flux, the rules surrounding recycling plastic aren’t always a given (at least, in the U.S.). For one, you can’t recycle plastic bags or straws and now black plastic is even becoming a problem. How will we ever know the right way to recycle? Given the confusion, it makes sense that […]

It’s easy to underestimate the significance of what’s been happening this year. That’s just the way mainstream media pundits and politicians want it. Thousands of children in Europe and Great Britain walked out of school to protest climate change inaction. In rallies and interviews with contentious and cynical reporters, they articulated the science, economics, and […]

Finally, there is a long overdue sense of urgency that something must be done about plastic bags. They have choked our planet, and killed our wildlife/marine life for years. Plastic never, ever, goes away. Here in Cumberland County, we have a very serious litter, dumping and plastic bag issue. I would consider it urgent. There […]

Walmart will be reducing their plastic waste, the company announced at their supplier growth forum. In their most recent press release the corporation outlined a set of commitments to be more environmentally friendly. • Seek to achieve 100 percent recyclable, reusable or industrially compostable packaging for its private brand packaging by 2025; • Target at […]

California lawmakers introduced legislation this week to phase out single-use plastic food containers and other packaging that can’t demonstrate it’s recyclable or compostable. Proponents of the legislation say it could help reduce the problem of plastic littering beaches and oceans. Last year the Golden State became the first in the nation to restrict the use […]

When you woke up this morning, you may have spent about an hour getting ready. You brushed your teeth, showered, and got dressed. Feeling hungry, perhaps you made breakfast and watched the morning news. Some of you sent children off to school. Others responded to emails that arrived overnight. Me? I cut myself shaving again. […]

On Presidents Day, Ringer staffers gave their nominations for the best commander in chief to grace the silver screen It’s Presidents Day, so we asked Ringer staffers to write about their favorite movie presidents. Before you get started: Martin Sheen’s Jed Bartlet from The West Wing was a television president, so that’s why he doesn’t […]

I am big on recycling. It’s part of my family’s weekly routine. But come to find out, a lot of what we’ve been doing is wrong — and we have been contaminating entire bins of recyclables. Metro Public Works has started auditing recycling routes to help reduce contamination from people like me. Ricky Lloyd, a Public Works […]