If I described to you a consumer product system that spurred green design, established a take-back channel, increased recycling, and was all paid for by the producers of products, would you call that extended producer responsibility?
If I described to you a consumer product system that spurred green design, established a take-back channel, increased recycling, and was all paid for by the producers of products, would you call that extended producer responsibility?
Last week’s stunning election results showed change is afoot in Washington, D.C. But to what degree will a Trump administration and continuing GOP control of Congress affect the recycling sector?
Numerous studies in 2016 pointed to the need for better recycling outreach. Continue Reading
With the COP21 gathering wrapping up last week, we’ve all heard plenty of talk about key areas of focus when it comes to slowing down the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. But are the actions being discussed really the most cost-effective strategies?
Over the past five years or so, leading solid waste and recycling organizations, communities and businesses across the country have increasingly embraced zero waste. Zero waste policies and programs establish practical ways to eliminate waste and safely reuse, recycle or compost discarded products and packaging. However, there has been confusion in the marketplace due to the many definitions of “zero” that are being used.
As we examine the challenges of the nation’s recycling landscape, it’s good to keep in mind two basic truths: There will always be a huge segment of the population that insists on opportunities to recycle. And recycling is here to stay.
Ideally, a product should find its way into the recycling stream only when it has truly reached its end-of-life. This is why reuse matters so much: Reuse gives a second life to the products we use every day by finding effective and creative ways to utilize, repurpose and distribute them.
Recycling is one of those words that remind us of the famously used phrase from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, which he used to describe his threshold test for obscenity. “I know it when I see it,” Stewart wrote in 1964.
Resource Recycling readers may be familiar with the jabs at recycling that came through several editorials distributed nationally recently. It feels like deja vu as we are reminded how these same basic attacks have been recycled over and over in the last 25 years.
Jeff Eager
There are few industries more intertwined with local government than recycling. The means, frequency and price for collecting recyclables from consumers and businesses are commonly regulated by the city or county. Continue Reading