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American consumers are throwing away a record 100 billion beverage bottles and cans a year. Litter and waste problems have prompted legislators in 15 states and Puerto Rico to propose refundable deposits on a wide range of beverages, from soft drinks and beer to the increasingly popular bottled waters, juices, …

Reuters reports that German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin was quoted on Friday as saying the country aimed to widen a deposit system to encourage recycling of drinks cans from January 1, 2003. “I have proposed to the chancellery that we introduce the obligatory deposits on January 1, 2003. We want …

The Plastics Recycling Council have just launched a project to generate a range of standards for the plastics recycling industry. The BPF Recycling Council Ltd is the not-for-profit company that represents the UK plastics recycling industry. This industry converts over 400,000 tonnes of waste plastic into new products every year. …

Waste made work for more than 30,500 people across Canada in 2000 OTTAWA (CP) – Waste made work for more than 30,500 people across the country in the year 2000, says Statistics Canada. More than 23,400 were employed by waste management industries disposing of municipal, construction and demolition waste. Those …

Rosy future for EU’s flower Ecolabel The profile of the European Union’s flower ecolabel could grow dramatically under a three year promotional initiative to be published shortly by the European Commission. The plan – formally a commission decision – was adopted by commissioners at the end of December after being …

Solar ovens from PET bottles NAPCOR – the National Association for PET Container Resources (the trade association for the PET plastic industry in the United States and Canada) has worked with the Solar Oven Society, a project of the non-profit organization Persons Helping People, to manufacture low-cost, durable, effective solar …

Recycling used items not a waste of time and saves money – China Daily The Chinese Government recently hatched a plan to recycle industrial and family waste and, in the process, yield 55 billion yuan (US$6.62 billion) a year within five years. The State Economic and Trade Commission’s plan would …

Antarctic waste disposal exercise succeeds A project to help clear Antarctica of junk has overcome a final hurdle, with the unloading of a shipment of 1,000 tonnes of scrap metal. Three years after it began, the British-based Mission Antarctica project has cleared the scrap from Russia’s Bellingshausen base. It also …

Pepsi quietly announces plan to use 10% recycled plastic by 2005 (Feb. 22) — Pepsi-Cola Co. now plans to use 10 percent recycled content in its PET bottles by 2005, a significant step that comes after its archrival, Coca-Cola Co., announced similar plans last year. The plan, announced quietly to …

Hewlett-Packard recycles 70% of inkjet material with mail-in program DETROIT (Feb. 22) — About 70 percent of the material in used inkjet cartridges returned to Hewlett-Packard Co. in the United States ends up being recycled into new products. The waste generated by consumers — the used cartridges — is returned …