On March 29th, 2018, the District of Columbia made an important step toward rolling out its own home composting program, when the Committee on Transportation and the Environment unanimously voted to recommend for approval Bill B22-0501 – Home Composting Incentives Amendment Act of 2018 to the full Council. … Read More
On Friday, November 4th the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Composting for Community Initiative Project Manager Linda Bilsens and IREX fellow Santa Krastina attended an event sponsored by the D.C. Department of Public Works, Compost Cab, and the E.W. Stokes Public Charter School on the value of rescuing and composting pumpkins instead of throwing them in the … Read More
Gina Schaefer, the founder and owner of several local hardware stores in Washington, D.C., joins us to talk about starting and growing a neighborhood business and how her stores are faring in the age of Amazon.… Read More
The history of solid waste and recycling in the District of Columbia is long and diverse. In the early years of the 20th Century low-income girls and women were hired to pick through garbage on sorting tables to recover materials. In the more recent past, recycling of newspapers and metals was a key fundraising tool for … Read More
There is not much information about private sector recycling in US cities. Recycling studies and statistics typically focus on household recycling while the commercial recycling levels are mostly educated guesses. The US EPA estimates that 35% of commercial and household municipal waste is recycled. Cities in the last decade have adopted single stream recycling at the … Read More
Letter submitted to Washington D.C. Council Member Mary Cheh: May 4, 2017 Dear Council Member Mary Cheh, Unfortunately I was not available to testify in person on the fiscal budget for 2018 budget for recycling. I hope you will consider my comments on the recycling component of that budget. ILSR is opposed to the Mayor’s proposed … Read More
After visiting D.C.-area schools, Mrs. Obama visited the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Waste to Wealth initiative Project Manager Linda Bilsens at her home to laud the community garden they have cultivated in their yard.… Read More
Exelon, a monopoly electric utility and the nation’s largest nuclear power generator, made a $6.8 billion offer to purchase Pepco, Washington D.C.’s electric utility in April of 2014. Since then, they have swarmed across Pepco’s service area, getting the approval of federal regulators, state utility commissions, and shareholders. Washington D.C.’s Public Service Commission has, however, halted Exelon in its … Read More
This week in Democratic Energy: Solar advocates win big victories in Nevada and Colorado and keep net metering policies intact. Michigan solar energy fight garners unusual advocates for distributed generation. Clean Power Plan drawing criticism from utility-funded reports. Exellon-Pepco merger thwarted by grassroots efforts. Featured Stories: 5 Reasons Utilities Are Hating On Their Solar-Producing Customers … Read More
