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As the new recycling bins start to rumble into dense downtown streets, the city has authorized a trial project to allow households to make alternate use of the same bin for garbage and recycling. The Toronto Star reports that the city‘‘s plan is to deliver a new blue bin, with …

Bike Off Co., a Japanese motorcycle dealer, opened a website called "Ecochari.com" on October 1, 2007, to start its free bicycle rental service for college students, making use of illegally parked or abandoned bicycles that are removed from various places. Japan for Sustainability reports that the costs for removing and …

ReCellular processed a record 6 million used cell phones in 2007, solidifying the company‘‘s position as the world‘‘s foremost collector, refurbisher, and recycler of wireless phones. PRWeb reported that in 2007, ReCellular: § employed 240 people at facilities in Michigan, Texas, Hong Kong, and Brazil § collected 6 million used …

The city of Naples, Italy‘‘s third biggest, the capital of the south, is caught in a trap of its own devising. And if you drive to the suburb of Pianura where police have been fighting with residents this week, you can get a good idea of the cruelty and fatality …

The New York Times reports that the City Council has passed a bill requiring large stores and retail chains to collect and recycle plastic bags they give to shoppers. New York is by far the largest American city to enact so broad a measure to limit the environmental impact of …

America‘‘s leading cell phone makers, service providers, and retailers have teamed up with the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to answer America‘‘s call for easy cell phone recycling. The EPA reports that, as part of its Plug-In to eCycling programme, partners supporting the cell phone recycling campaign include AT&T …

The challenges posed by biodegradable packaging to Ontario‘‘s blue box and organics systems have been highlighted at a number of events recently. The Association of Municipal Recycling Coordinators (AMRC) reports that in October, the AMRC Materials Quality Workshop heard how products-particularly bottles-made from corn-based materials like polylactic acid (PLA) are …

The Naples garbage crisis has not only spilled into surrounding areas and other Italian cities, it has managed to make it into Germany. However, the garbage has been officially received, albeit grudgingly. Deutsche Welle report that Germany has stepped in to help resolve the Naples rubbish crisis by accepting 30,000 …

Scotland‘‘s Government is being warned that Scotland could fail to meet a vital target to stem the growth in waste – but that burning large amounts in big incinerators is not the solution. Instead, the Scottish government is being urged by its environmental advisers to reduce the mountains of rubbish …

An answer to the Explainer’s 2007 Question of the Year Link to full article