Curiosidades

In terms of litter on the city‘‘s streets, chewing gum is public enemy number one. It accounts for an astonishing 39 percent of all small litter citywide. Of litter emblazoned with a brand name, the top repeat offender is packaging from McDonalds. These are just two of the findings in …

Toronto city council has approved a new pay-as-you-throw garbage collection system that will charge Torontonians based on the amount of trash they produce. Residents will be required to purchase one of four bins ranging in cost from C$209 to C$360 annually once the system takes effect in the late summer …

San Francisco Mayor Newsom issues executive directive to permanently phase-out the purchase of bottled water by the city and county of San Francisco. Over the last decade, San Franciscans have responded to marketing campaigns to purchase bottled water and record amounts of bottled water have been purchased by San Francisco …

An army of ‘‘solar powered trash mashers‘‘ – dustbins that compress rubbish – have been installed all over Torbay in Devon. The ‘‘Big belly bins‘‘ use solar energy to activate a crusher that can reduce the volume of rubbish deposited inside it by up to five times. This cuts down …

In Kenya‘‘s 2007 national budget, the FInance Minister announced that partly to protect the environment from further degradation, he proposed to impose an excise duty of 120% on plastic bags. He further proposed to impose a ban on very thin plastic bags. These measures are expected to encourage industry players …

On July 1, California will become America‘‘s first state to initiate a mandatory recycling programme to cut down on its mounds of plastic bags. The Sacramento Bee reports that under legislation – Assembly Bill 2449 – and signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year, supermarkets, pharmacies and other …

A Brazilian petrochemical company declares it has made a plastic commonly used in flexible packaging that is based on ethanol derived from sugar cane. RedHerring reports that São Paulo, Brazil-based Braskem, a large maker of conventional plastics, said the ethanol-based, high density polyethylene plastic is made up entirely of materials …

People who waste more will have to pay more and every household will have to start separating recyclable items from other waste. These are two of the implications of the Solid Waste Management and Public Clean-Up Bill, which the Housing and Local Government Ministry expects to table in parliament in …

Rogue operators who illegally dump waste in Northern Ireland could go to jail for five years under tough new laws being introduced. The legislation will also increase the maximum fine and force offenders to pay the clean up and enforcement costs. Ulster TV reports that it has emerged that government …

Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle has rolled out an ambitious plan to further reduce the amount of garbage being sent to landfills, increase recycling and to rebuild the city‘‘s two aging transfer stations. He is also eyeing up the prospects for banning plastic bags and styrofoam. Under the agreement – …