This Week in Waste: Top Stories April 8 – April 11, 2024

#5 - Why a Reuse-Focused Strategy is Important to IT Sustainability

Several factors are driving the e-waste problem within the IT sector including innovation which is rendering older technology useless, as well as outdated policies and mindsets around data security, making data hoarding prevalent and preventing more devices from entering the circular economy. In this article, I will explore these factors and explain why reuse should be the focus of IT sustainability strategies.

Read the full article here.

#4 - Veolia Advances PFAS Mitigation in Drinking Water With More Than 30 Treatment Projects Launched in the U.S.

Veolia, the largest private operator of water services in the United States, has reached a new milestone in its treatment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals in America’s drinking water, with more than 30 sites now reporting no detectable levels of regulated PFAS chemicals.

Read the full article here.

#3 - A Glimpse at Tire EPR in North America

About 280 million tires are discarded in the U.S. each year and a good share of them are illegally dumped, posing risk for soil contamination, fires and mosquito-borne illness, and strapping governments with enormous clean up expenses. In response, a few U.S. states and several Canadian provinces have followed Europe’s lead by enacting or introducing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws holding tire producers responsible for the cost and management of end-of-life tires (EOL).

Read the full article here.

#2 - Construction & Demolition Disposal and Transfer Leads to Court Case in King County, Washington

Catching some attention recently is an appeals court decision, affirming the right of a county to require transporters of locally generated construction and demolition (C&D) waste to bring the material to county-designated handling facilities – some located in-county, some in nearby jurisdictions. King County, Washington, through its county code, maintains and periodically revises a comprehensive solid waste management plan.

Read the full article here.

#1 - April 2024 Fire Report: We Cannot Be Complacent

We had 71 fires, of which 35 occurred in waste, paper and plastic operations, 25 occurred in scrap operations, four occurred at organics operations, three occurred in e-scrap operations, two occurred at construction and demolition operations and one occurred at a rubber recycling facility. Four of these events were confirmed as catastrophic, but that number is highly conservative based on the public reporting without long-term visibility of the actual damage stemming from these incidents.

Read the full article here.