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Smashing (& Composting) Pumpkins
One day pumpkin composting will be as common as Christmas tree recycling. Check out these pro tips to keep your pumpkins out of landfills and incinerators.… Read More
ILSR Convenes the 7th National Cultivating Community Composting Forum
In collaboration with the US Composting Council (USCC), the Institute for Local Self-Reliance announces a forum and field day for community composters to be held in conjunction with USCC’s International Conference and Trade Show, COMPOST2023, in Ontario, CA.… Read More
Single-Stream Recycling Doesn’t Work




…material reuse through for-profit and nonprofit operations is a mechanism for the redistribution of material wealth. The businesses also have a positive impact on job creation, community development and the environment.
“Reuse is the highest form of recycling because finished products are revived and their productive purpose is extended,” said Dan Knapp, who founded Urban Ore in 1980 and continues to helm the operation.… Read More
Waste Dive: Surveying the corporate-controlled EPR landscape in 2022
Neil Seldman, co-founder of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and director of the Waste to Wealth Initiative is published at Waste Dive detailing how corporate dominance over municipal recycling has proven to be a recipe for disaster.… Read More
The 2022 REBUILD Act: Building Deconstruction and the Revitalization of Baltimore Communities




Stephanie Compton and Dante Swinton, Energy Justice Network, a national organization based in Philadelphia with a long record of work in Baltimore, are working to extend the impact of deconstruction on Baltimore as an extension of EJN’s efforts to close the downtown garbage incinerator, increase recycling through block leader programs and coordinate community efforts toward Zero Waste.… Read More
The Highest Form of Recycling
…material reuse through for-profit and nonprofit operations is a mechanism for the redistribution of material wealth. The businesses also have a positive impact on job creation, community development and the environment.
“Reuse is the highest form of recycling because finished products are revived and their productive purpose is extended,” said Dan Knapp, who founded Urban Ore in 1980 and continues to helm the operation.… Read More
Baltimore’s Zero Waste Future




ILSR has been assisting grass roots organizations in Baltimore to fend off new incinerators and shut down an existing aging and polluting garbage incinerator in Downtown Baltimore, planning for and implementing Zero Waste practices. These practices would also help the city and communities address other pressing problems in the city; including the need for more good jobs, reduced recidivism, elimination of the ‘digital divide’, and creation of new small businesses, community based food production and environmental education.
The following article makes suggestions for transforming the current recycling system, and an update on community based activity in the context of rapidly changing markets, technology and entrepreneurial opportunities.… Read More
Busting Trust: Can You Trust the Petroleum/Plastic Industry?
The contending approaches to Extended Producer Responsibility can be boiled down to one question: Can you trust the petroleum/plastic industry?… Read More
In New York and Oregon, Canning Reduces Waste and Changes Lives — Episode 150 of Building Local Power
In this episode of Building Local Power, Jess Del Fiacco and Neil Seldman are joined by several guests who are involved in the canning community. Canners, also called waste pickers or scrappers, collect recyclable materials such as cans and bottles from the streets and redeem them at recycling centers. … Read More
Momentum Building, Dual Stream Recycling Communities




Recent momentum has seen a reversion to dual stream recycling in assorted communities across the United States. This update provides detailed information on three towns in Long Island that have recently reverted to dual stream recycling. Additional updates on dual stream efforts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida are also included. … Read More
The End of the Hartford Trash-to-Energy Plant Nears
Closing the Hartford incinerator has been a long term goal of recyclers and environmental activists in the region. … Read More
Missed Opportunity: Plastic Rebate Failed to Pass in Texas Legislature




A proposal to a free market plastic buyback program in Texas failed to advance during the Spring 2021 Legislative Session.… Read More
Californians Will Vote on Packaging Tax to Reduce Waste




The California Plastic Waste Reduction Regulations Initiative has the potential to send ripples through the world’s fifth largest economy as the state aims to lead on waste reduction. … Read More
Mattresses, Textiles, and Organics Banned from Landfills in Massachusetts
Waste Dive reports on bans that will help preserve the state’s landfill capacity.… Read More
Repair, Reuse, and Economic Growth in America




Where there is civilization, there is salvage! US history is a case in point. These remarks were prepared by Neil Seldman for a Warren County webinar on reuse and economic growth. … Read More