After two decades of a headlong rush to single stream recycling collection programs across the US, are they still the best positioned to take us into the new recycling future we’re in the process of designing? Or do other approaches such as dual stream collection offer some important advantages?… Read More
Website developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency provide an important series of resources that document the success of bottom-up recycling initiatives that can transform municipal waste programs, re-localize control of recycling, and end the stagnation caused by Big Waste and Big Soda… Read More
In a new opinion piece published in Waste Dive on July 8, ILSR’s Neil Seldman argues that Europe and the U.S. “live in different recycling and wasting landscapes” and that the European model may not be applicable to the US. … Read More
In an op/ed published in Baltimore Brew on July 6, ILSR’s Neil Seldman urges Baltimore city officials to put a windfall of new funding towards a better approach to its existing recycling system, rather than investing in new carts while retaining its current “outmoded and inefficient” system.… Read More
The following is a round-up of recycling legislation in Maine, Colorado, Washington, and other states that have recently considered innovative new legislative approaches to recycling.
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The FTC recently released a long-anticipated report to Congress examining the repair restrictions facing consumers, along with a summary of arguments for and against those restrictions. Its conclusion was stark: There’s “scant evidence” to support manufacturers’ justifications for restricting repair, while the solutions repair advocates have proposed are “well supported” by their testimonials.… Read More
When widespread rollbacks in recycling programs throughout Hawaii led to renewed calls for waste-to-energy, Recycle Hawaii commissioned ILSR to analyze the status of technologies promoted as environmentally friendly. This memorandum highlights the findings of that analysis, which drew on the expertise of specialists familiar with pyrolysis and gasification technologies and also reviewed relevant trends as a means to create a context for Hawaii-based policy makers. ILSR found that both gasification and pyrolysis have failed to live up to the promise of a cost effective and nonpolluting technology.… Read More
The goal of needed infrastructure investment in recycling can be accomplished without undermining local control. “Municipal Stewardship EPR” is a clear option for making progress toward Zero Waste.… Read More
In a new article published in Waste360, Neil Seldman notes that, when it comes to recycling and waste management, bigger isn’t better. To make a comeback, we need to “relocalize the recycling system in the U.S.”… Read More
