Latest News

In Hong Kong's bustling streets, elderly scavengers — many in their 70s or older — navigate crowded sidewalks with trolleys piled high with discarded cardboard. These aging workers haul tens of kilograms of cardboard for meager earnings, painting a striking portrait of poverty and resilience in one of the world's wealthiest cities.

RI House OKs legalizing human composting, water cremation. Toggle header content. Genre. House lawmakers approved legislation Thursday that would ...

SB 54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, was signed into law on June 30, 2022. Its goal is to create a framework that shifts waste management costs from the local government onto producers. To that end, SB 54 requires producers to (1) reduce the use of Covered Materials; and (2) ensure that all Covered Materials are recyclable or compostable by 2032. The definition of a producer is not 100% straightforward. You are considered a producer if you are the person who manufactures a product that uses covered material and who owns or is the licensee of the brand or trademark under which the product is used in a commercial enterprise, sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state. [1] However, if no such person is located in California, the producer of the covered material is the owner or, if the owner is not in the state, the exclusive licensee of a brand or trademark under which the product using the covered material is used in a commercial enterprise, sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state. [2] But if there is no such person in California either, the producer is the person who sells, offers for sale, or distributes the product that uses the covered material in or into the state. [3] To the extent you are a producer, the final regulations implementing SB 54 which went into effect May 1, 2026 have set near-term milestones with which you must comply. First, by June 1, 2026, all producers (subject to very limited exceptions) must either (1) participate in an approved Producer Responsibility Organization ( PRO ), or (2) decide to comply individually and register with CalRecycle. Depending on which path a producer decides to follow, it will also be subject to subsequent deadlines. Producers who plan to participate in an approved PRO must have a producer responsibility plan in place by June 15, 2026. If you choose to comply individually and register with CalRecycle, they must approve you, and once...

By converting waste biomass into hydrochar, farmers and land managers may be able to improve soil quality while contributing to carbon management.

The analysis finds that, under an enabling policy framework, the country’s organic waste sector could unlock a market opportunity of nearly $51 billion and generate 26 lakh direct jobs.

Compost tea is easy to make and can add a huge boost to your garden - Shutterstock Gardeners spend fortunes on fertilizers every spring, yet some of the best plant boosters already sit in compost bins and worm buckets right at home. Compost tea and worm castings tea pack gardens with beneficial microbes, gentle nutrients, and natural soil-building power that synthetic fertilizers simply cannot match. Tomato plants grow fuller, herbs smell stronger, and vegetable beds often produce better harvests after regular applications of these homemade brews. Backyard gardeners love these teas because they cost very little and recycle materials that might otherwise head to the trash. A bubbling bucket of compost tea may not look glamorous, but many experienced gardeners swear by the dramatic difference it makes in tired soil. Worm castings tea delivers many of the same benefits but often contains even higher concentrations of beneficial microbes and plant-friendly nutrients. Worm castings come from composting worms digesting organic matter, and gardeners frequently call the material “black gold” because of its rich texture and incredible gardening results. The tea created from worm castings can help seedlings establish roots faster and recover more quickly after transplanting. Many gardeners spray diluted worm tea directly onto leaves because the microbes may help plants resist common fungal problems. Roses, peppers, cucumbers, and leafy greens especially seem to respond enthusiastically to regular applications. A good batch of compost tea does not require fancy equipment, expensive gadgets, or a chemistry degree. Most gardeners only need a five-gallon bucket, non-chlorinated water, mature compost or worm castings, and an aquarium air pump with tubing to keep the brew oxygenated. Oxygen matters because beneficial microbes flourish in aerated conditions, while harmful bacteria can multiply inside stagnant water. Some gardeners also add unsulfured molasses because the sugars ...

THE Recycle Organics Program has signed a partnership with the Lautoka City Council on organic waste management. Speaking at the signing on Thursday, consultant Wayne Fuakilau said many countries around the world are facing an urgent need to reduce emissions and find innovative solutions that deliver impact quickly. Fiji, our country, and many like it, and here in Lautoka also face significant waste management challenges due to limited land availability for landfill and dumpsite expansion, he said. And the difficulty of finding new sites for future development. He said the Recycle Organics Program is dedicated to addressing these challenges through international co-operation. Having built a platform across the Global South since 2017 that brings together governments, NGOs, the private sector, and communities across more than 25 countries. The program promotes opportunities to invest in the valorisation of organic waste and reduce the amount of material going to final disposal. Mr Fuakilau said Fiji and Samoa were the first Pacific countries, for this project. And for the municipality three councils were selected based on interest to partner and pilot this program. Savusavu Town Council, Nausori Town Council and Lautoka City Council, and we thank the Fijian Government through the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, for submitting this project as a cabinet paper endorsed by our leaders in Parliament.

The legislation divided major recyclers, organics recyclers and trade groups over mass balance accounting, plastics in compost and more. The California legislature crosses a key deadline Friday for bills to have a shot at becoming law in the second half of its session, which runs through Aug. 31. Multiple packaging-related bills cracking down on recycled content and compostable labeling advanced. “AB 2253 helps ensure honesty and accountability in the marketplace while protecting consumers and supporting real sustainability efforts,” said Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, who sponsored the Protecting Consumers Against Greenwashing Act. The California Product Stewardship Council, Californians Against Waste and other advocacy groups were among the supporters. “California has a chance to lead again by making recycled-content claims mean what people think they mean,” Nick Lapis, CAW’s director of advocacy, said in a statement. The bill was also supported by recyclers such as Republic Services, PureCycle and the Ecology Center. Opposition as of April included Ameripen, the American Beverage Association, American Chemistry Council, Glass Packaging Institute, Plastics Industry Association and others. The bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, would prohibit the sale of “compostable” or “home compostable” products that are made entirely or partially of plastic come 2027. Packaging groups have worried that such a move could limit solutions during a time when California is also trying to implement extended producer responsibility and source reduction law SB 54 and organics separation mandate SB 1383. “At its core, AB 1812 treats all compostable polymers as inherently problematic rather than distinguishing between applications that create operational challenges and those that directly advance state environmental goals,” CAW previously said, wishing instead for legislation with tailored exemptions, potentially for food scrap bin liners, compostable coatings...

The gold may be hidden in household items that many people treat as junk, such as old cell phones, routers, modems, motherboards, televisions, and even unused appliances. The metal appears in small but valuable quantities in the internal circuits of these devices.

The virtually indestructible Pfas waste puts largely low-income neighborhoods at risk, public health advocates say The nation’s garbage incinerators are largely failing to eliminate Pfas “forever chemicals” air pollution, and are putting people in largely low-income neighborhoods at risk, public health advocates and independent experts warn. The powerful waste management industry is increasingly pushing incinerators as a solution to virtually indestructible Pfas waste, and a new industry trade group report alleges Minnesota’s incinerators are reducing their forever chemical emissions by 99.6%. Other incinerator operators have made similar reduction claims. The report also comes amid fights to shut down incinerators in Miami, Philadelphia and Baltimore, and a lawsuit filed against the Environmental Protection Agency over what it characterizes as a weak update to its emissions standards for the facilities, which do not include Pfas. Nearly 100 municipal or hazardous waste incinerators operate nationally, including seven in Minnesota. The new Minnesota report is full of bad assumptions, incomplete data, misleading language, and fails to conduct proper testing, according to an analysis by the Zero Burn Coalition advocacy group and reviews by independent incineration experts. Instead, advocates say, Minnesota’s facilities are probably poisoning the surrounding neighborhoods with Pfas and a cocktail of other dangerous pollutants that garbage incineration often emits. The report “deceives the public into thinking [incineration] is safe”, said Nazir Khan, executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table. “This trash becomes the problem of the poor and marginalized to deal with in their bodies,” he added. In a statement, the Minnesota Resources Recovery Association (MRRA) industry trade group that authored the report said Zero Burn’s analysis raised some valid points, but “does not support the conclusion that Pfas emissions from [Minnesota incinerators...