10 Things You Need to Know For the Waste & Recycling Industry Today (July 24, 2014)

High Court to Hear Ameren Landfill Case “The Missouri Supreme Court will weigh in on the issue of whether Ameren Missouri is allowed to build a coal ash landfill in Labadie. On Tuesday a three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District transferred a lawsuit challenging the landfill to the state’s highest court after ruling that the Franklin County Commission did not afford a group of Labadie landowners a fair hearing when they objected to new land use regulations permitting the landfill.” (EMissourian.com)

The Geography of the Global E-Waste Burden “As local and national governments struggle to deal with ever-growing piles of electronic waste (or ‘e-waste’), scientists are now refining the picture of just how much there is and where it really ends up. Published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, their study found that nearly a quarter of e-waste that developed countries discard floods into just seven developing countries — with major potential health risks for the people who live there.” (PDDNet.com)

Sims’ Five-Year Plan to Seek Growth in Metal and Electronics Recycling “A five-year plan has been announced by Sims Metal Management with the intention of growing earnings by 350 per cent compared to 2013. New group chief executive Gladino Claro has reviewed the company and decided on a plan that has already seen the closure of a substantial part of Sims Recycling Solutions in the UK and all of the same business in Canada.” (REBNews.com)

A Food Waste Reduction Movement Gathers Steam “Americans today are paying closer attention to food waste, long a European concern. Helping them reduce that waste is an important new opportunity for food and restaurant brands. Like Ikea and EasyJet, who have made the spartan ethic trendy, food firms can make this an integral part of their brand story. It’s a welcome development given that Americans throw away between 30-40 percent of our edible food every year. Mainstream food brands need to rethink policy and get creative to drive both internal and consumer food-saving behaviors.” (Techonomy.com)

Recycle Plastic Bottles in This Machine, and It Will Dispense Food for Stray Dogs “In Istanbul, Turkey, where an estimated 150,000 stray dogs and cats reportedly wander the streets, a Turkish company called Pugedon believes it has come up with a way to feed the animals: ‘Smart Recycling Boxes,’ a machine that dispenses food and water in exchange for recycled plastic bottles, Big Think reports. The benefits of the vending machine are supposed to be two fold: encourage recycling and feed the city’s strays.” (Time.com)

Meetings Begin on 2040 Dream: ‘Zero Waste’ in San Diego “An impossible dream? San Diego officials are planning for a day when every scrap of trash is recycled. In other words, zero waste. Towards that end, San Diego’s Environmental Services Department has scheduled meetings, beginning tonight (Wednesday), to develop what it calls a Zero Waste Plan. As part of the process, the agency is conducting a series of “stakeholder meetings” to engage residents, businesses, the solid waste industry, nonprofits and others.” (TimesofSanDiego.com)

Speaker says recycling successes overstated “Attention Portlanders, environmental expert Ed Humes has something to say. You are not as special as you think. In fact, when it comes to saving the world, you could learn a lesson from WalMart. According to Humes, the average Portlander generates slightly more solid waste every day than the average American: 7.1 pounds. And even though Portlanders recycle at twice the national rate, Humes says that doesn’t cut it. Recycling takes energy, is inherently inefficient and generates its own solid waste in the end.” (PortlandTribune.com)

Foes of recycling plant get their say at two hearings “Opponents of a recycling deal signed by Mayor Greg Ballard asserted at back-to-back public hearings this week that the proposed plant is an inefficient way to re-use waste. The foes included environmentalists and businesses that use recycled goods and who said the plant, to be built by Covanta Indianapolis, will produce ‘contaminated’ recyclables and discourage curbside recycling, which is cleaner.” (IndyStar.com)

Fly infestation forces recycling to landfill “Plastic bottles, aluminium cans and glass jars collected by Wyre Forest residents in green bins have been sent to landfill, after an infestation of flies led to the temporary closure of a district recycling centre. The insect problem put the site in Hoobrook out of action during the afternoon of Wednesday last week and council bosses chose to redirect kerbside collection lorries to a landfill facility instead.” (KidderminsterShuttle.co.uk)

Pay-as-you-throw could be on the horizon “A pay-as-you-throw trash disposal system may be coming to Brookline during this fiscal year, according to town officials. During the latest Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday, July 22, Town Administrator Mel Kleckner said the switch is likely to happen before the end of the fiscal year – June 30, 2015. He was responding to a similar comment by John Dempsey, the chairman of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, who was being interviewed by the Selectmen to stay on the committee.” (Wicked Local Brookline)