recycling

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Colo. Resort Town Mulls 'Pay as You Throw' Trash Plan

Vail program would encourage recycling

(Newser) - A Colorado resort town is trying out a newer, greener trash collection program, the Denver Post reports. The new “pay-as-you-throw” system would charge residents of Vail based on how much junk they throw away each week, but provide curbside recycling for free.

Inaugural Ball Flaunts Fashion Made of Trash

Cans, plastic bags, campaign signs make up 'trashion' lines

(Newser) - Stuck on what to wear to that upcoming Washington gala? How about a shower-curtain-and-aluminum-can cocktail dress? Or a canvas-scrap-and-rusty-nail gown? The actual “trashion,” created by recycling advocate Nancy Judd, will be showcased at Saturday’s Green Inaugural Ball, the Wall Street Journal reports. The fashionista even has a...

Texting, Research Laws to Hit Calif. in New Year

Student journalists, bottled water also targeted by lawmakers

(Newser) - A texting-while-driving ban isn’t the only new law Californians will wake up to on Jan. 1. The San Francisco Chronicle lists some other new regulations:
  • Drivers can now mount a GPS system in the lower corners of their windshields.
  • It will become a crime to publish the names or
...

Recession Has US Recycling Industry in Dumpster

Scrap fetching a fraction of the price it used to—if it's not cheaper to send it to landfills

(Newser) - With the economy tanking, recyclable material is selling like, well, trash. Mixed paper, which sold for $105 per ton as recently as October, now fetches $20-$25, the New York Times reports. “It’s awful,” said one recycling rep, who says her yard is packed with refuse that can’...

Gray Smog Conceals a Greening China
 Gray Smog Conceals 
 a Greening China 
analysis

Gray Smog Conceals a Greening China

Green innovator gets unfair rap as environmental offender

(Newser) - The world's attitude toward China's environmentalism is "hypocritical and decidedly unfair," writes Fred Pearce in Yale Environment 360—this coming from someone who has "literally held my nose at the foul air." Yes, China's "development zeal" has it doing "the bad things that most...

Kids Take Green Lessons to Heart, Then to Home

Kids are America's new eco-police

(Newser) - They’re watching. No, not surveillance cameras; the growing population of “eco-kids”—children who, lectured on sustainability at school and elsewhere, are pushing green practices at home. They rummage through garbage bins, agitate for hybrid vehicles, and even even turn off the water while parents are brushing their...

Kegger-Plagued College Town Paves With Rubber

Iowa college town ditches concrete for more flexible solution

(Newser) - Sloppy keg delivery has taken its toll on sidewalks in the Campustown area popular with Iowa State University students, the Ames Tribune reports—but officials aren’t cracking under the pressure. Instead, they’re installing rubber sidewalks to replace pavement battered by years of abuse from offloaded beer barrels. Made...

Houston Too Ornery to Recycle
 Houston Too Ornery to Recycle

Houston Too Ornery to Recycle

'Independent streak,' cheap landfills have reuse rate at 2.6%, worst among US cities

(Newser) - While other Texas cities are working hard to separate their garbage, Houston still considers recycling to be sissy stuff, earning the oil town the worst recycling rate of 30 top US cities. Houston recycles just 2.6% of its trash, the New York Times reports, while San Francisco is at...

Recycled 'E-Waste' Can Be Toxic

Old TVs, PCs can pollute developing countries

(Newser) - Recycling old computers, cell phones, and TVs may sound like a good idea—but be sure you know the destination before you dump such material, USA Today advises. While such “e-waste” recycling programs are springing up everywhere these days, some pose a threat. Often, the materials end up in...

Britons: New Trash Laws Are Rubbish

Controversial UK measures get tough on waste

(Newser) - In the midst of a garbage overload, the UK is cracking down on trash with strict new rules, sparking a backlash among Britons, the New York Times reports. Many areas now pick up trash only biweekly, and accept only regulation amounts. Some reject recycling bins tainted with garbage. In response,...

Sony Gets Green Thumbs-Up in Electronics Rankings

Nintendo lowest on Greenpeace list of environment-friendly manufacturers

(Newser) - Sony and Sony Ericsson are Greenpeace’s model tech citizens, topping a list of eco-friendly electronics companies. The environmental activists look at industry players’ use of hazardous chemicals, responsibility for obsolete products and—new this year—corporate policy toward climate change and other energy issues. Sony Ericsson was the first...

When in Venice, Can the Water Bottles

Legendary city pleads with tourists to use public fountains

(Newser) - Faced with a mountain of discarded plastic bottles, Venice is asking 19 million tourists to quit drinking mineral water and use the city's 122 public fountains. Beginning Thursday, visitors to the Piazzale Roma will be handed reusable plastic bottles and a map showing fountains that city officials claim are "...

For Sale: Stadium Seating, Lightly Used

London Olympic planners eye passing along parts of arena

(Newser) - If Chicago wins its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games, it might follow more closely in London 2012's footsteps than expected. The cities have begun discussing the possible sale of large parts of London's new stadium to Chicago, the Guardian reports. The deal could result in 55,000 seats...

Broken Tech Becomes Gold Mine, Literally

Commodity prices have 'urban miners' panning discarded electronics

(Newser) - No matter how broken it is, your old cell phone is still valuable to some people. That’s because it, like most electronics, is loaded with copper, iridium, gold, and other commodities that are becoming more expensive by the day. “To some it's just a mountain of garbage, but...

Gore's New Hard Truth: Nothing Is Changing

Climate change too low on priority list: Gore

(Newser) - Despite the impact of his movie, An Inconvenient Truth, the success of Live Earth concerts and news stories about melting ice caps, little has changed and action is needed more urgently than ever to stem global warming, Al Gore tells the Sun. The Nobel Prize-winning former vice president believes it's...

Sea of Plastic Dooms Oceans, Expert Says

Pacific pollution—as big as Africa—is too deep and broad to fix

(Newser) - A noted oceanographer says the aquatic pollution in the Pacific Ocean is too significant to be cleaned up. “We are damned to a future of pollution by plastic,” Charles Moore said after showing that the amount of Pacific plastic has ballooned fivefold in the last 10 years. A...

Corporations Share Green Tech Patents

IBM, Nokia, Sony and Pitney-Bowes join the new Eco-patent Commons

(Newser) - IBM tops the list of companies donating patents to a group that aims to help businesses produce greener products by sharing eco-friendly technology. Big Blue has promised 27 patents to the Eco-patent Commons; Nokia, Sony and mail equipment maker Pitney-Bowes will also donate, reports PC World. Shared patents will be...

Recyclers Turn Discarded Cellphones into 'Green Gold'

Waste from old electronics can pose a threat, or turn a profit

(Newser) - With a smelter burning at more than 2,100 degrees, Belgian recycler Umicore turns tons of e-waste - discarded cellphones, computers and televisions - into “green gold,” extracting precious metals in a process that, while not environmentaly pure is, in Greenpeace’s eyes, preferable to burying the waste...

Traveling Green? US Cities Getting Better

More US hotels meet green standards

(Newser) - Traveling green still ain't easy States-side. US hotels lag behind Europe in water waste, car rentals, and chemical-free eateries. Quick fixes don't help either—recycling programs and low-flow showers may just be "greenwashing." Real green starts with original design. But some US lodges are stepping up to impress...

Cutting Back on E-Consumerism
Cutting Back on E-Consumerism

Cutting Back on E-Consumerism

PC World's Grant Gross joins activist online group

(Newser) - While many Americans spend big bucks online, some are using the Internet to tone down their consumerism. PC World's Grant Gross has joined a national group called the Compact, which encourages members to swear off buying new stuff whenever possible and stick to local products. It's a step "beyond...

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