In the past there was a debate over whether cloth diapers were really environmentally better than disposable diapers. The answer: not in areas where water and energy are scarce, because rewashing cloth uses more resources (water and heat) than do plastic and cellulose production and landfill disposal. Now the New York Times poses another environmental…
Tag: recycling
Renewables: Oh, the Waste!
The Biden administration is ignoring the problem of waste and pollution in its pursuit of renewable energy, writes the Institute of Energy Research (IER). “Electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines result in a massive amount of waste and pollution. China is responsible for half of the total electric vehicles in the world—a number…
Curbside Recycling Is Costly—So Make Producers Pay?
There’s a growing clamor for producers of plastic packaging to pay the costs of recycling their materials. On March 25, two Democratic congressmen from California and Oregon introduced a bill that would make such “Extended Producer Responsibility” (EPR) mandatory across the country, reports Waste Dive. That bill follows efforts within at least seven states to…
Recycling Is in a Tumult as 2020 Ends
Covid-19 is adding to the turmoil in recycling, especially curbside recycling. Curbside recycling was already struggling because of China’s 2017 prohibitions and restrictions on recycled material. Covid-19 has further reduced the ability of towns and cities to pay the costs of recycling. School closures and online classes have dried up both sources and markets for…
The Throwaway Society: Thank Goodness!
“The throwaway society is healthier, cleaner, more economical, less wasteful, less environmentally damaging—and yes, more ‘sustainable’ than the green vision of utopia.” Not many people other than John Tierney are willing to say this, as he did in the summer edition of City Journal. Nearly 25 years ago (in 1996) Tierney wrote an article for…
Audubon Cancels Audubon . . . Climate Change Could Increase Rice Yields . . .
Headlines: The National Audubon Society cancels John James Audubon. On the Audubon site . . . ‘Climate change could increase rice yields,’ say Japanese scientists writing in the Agronomy Journal. From the AAAS’s Eurekalert . . . Apple’s recycling policies offer both “a breath of fresh air and major obstacles” for electronics recyclers. Stewart McGrenary…