Your drawer full of old tech could have a new life — or start a fire.

How to upcycle and recycle your old gadgets and smartphones By Chris Velazco Washington Post, September 28, 2021 (excerpt) If your home is anything like mine, there’s a forlorn drawer somewhere that’s full of old batteries, zip-ties, cables and gadgets you haven’t touched in years. That stuff might look like junk,…

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Oregon enacts US’s second packaging EPR law

by Megan Quinn, Cole Rosengren June 30, 2021 • Updated Aug. 9 2021, Waste Dive Gov. Kate Brown signed SB 582 into law on Friday, making Oregon the second state to pass an extended producer responsibility (EPR) law for packaging. Maine’s governor signed the first EPR law in July.  Under the law, most producers will need…

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Maine enacts first packaging EPR law in US

By Janelle Nanos, Boston Globe  July 19, 2021 After a quarter-century, a Boston-based nonprofit scores big win with nation’s first law making companies pay to recycle the waste they produce. In the 90s, Cassel ran Massachusetts’ recycling and waste management programs, and one day local recycling officials began calling him…

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Pandemic brings more trash to South Shore curbs

Mary Whitfill, The Patriot Ledger 4/22/2021 QUINCY – Every cleaning product, bottle of hand sanitizer and package of masks ordered online for the last 13 months has come with packing material, cardboard boxes and more work for local trash collectors. Since the start of the pandemic, hundreds of tons of additional household waste…

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Massachusetts’ Recycle Smart Tackles Contamination With Education

Arlene Karidis | Waste360, Aug 03, 2020 Several years ago, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) convened a series of stakeholder meetings to discuss contamination of waste—ithad become apparent that levels were rising to concerning levels, especially in single stream recycling. The goal was to identify the main materials that were…

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Ranked: the environmental impact of five different soft drink containers

beverage containers

by Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science, University of Southampton and Alice Brock, PhD Candidate in Environmental Science, University of SouthamptonRepublished from The Conversation, November 17, 2020 People are increasingly aware of the harm plastic waste causes to wildlife, and many would avoid buying single-use plastics if they could…

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Health Experts affirm safety of reusables during COVID-19

Washington, DC – Over 115 health experts – virologists, epidemiologists, emergency room doctors, and specialists in public health and food packaging safety – signed onto a statement addressing the safety of reusable bags and containers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement assures retailers and consumers that reusable systems can be…

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Regional Household Hazardous Waste day keeps south shore water safe

Released June 15, 2020 by Claire Galkowski, South Shore Recycling Cooperative South Shore Recycling Cooperative Member Towns had planned seven household hazardous waste collections this spring.  Like most everything else, SARS Cov2 changed those plans. Residents were nearly left holding their old gasoline, pool chemicals and pesticides, but for the…

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Hey you! Your bad recycling is costing all of us money!

Boston Globe Magazine, March 29, 2020, Amy Sutherland People around Greater Boston are dumping trash in their recycling bins, and it’s wrecking city budgets. More than a decade into single-stream recycling — putting all our recyclables together in one bin — we’ve turned into recycling slobs. In my Boston neighborhood, I’ve seen blue recycling…

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