Materials and Waste

New Maine law to get manufacturers, retailers using less packaging – Portland Press Herald

|

The Recycle Bin: New Maine law to get manufacturers, retailers using less packaging – Portland Press Herald

What the law does is require manufacturers and large retailers to pay for the recycling of their packaging. The less packaging they produce, and the more readily and easily it is to recycle what they do produce, the less the companies will pay to the state to cover the costs of that recycling. The monies the state collects from the program are to be passed down to the cities and towns to defray the local recycling program costs.

Maine Will Make Companies Pay for Recycling. Here’s How It Works. – The New York Times

|

Maine Will Make Companies Pay for Recycling. Here’s How It Works. – The New York Times

In Maine, packaging products covered by the law make up as much as 40 percent of the waste stream.

In both states, one important benefit of the program is that it will make recycling more uniform statewide. Today, recycling is a patchwork, with variations between cities about what can be thrown in the recycling bin.

These programs exist on a spectrum from producer-run and producer-controlled, to government-run. In Maine, the government is taking the lead, having the final say on how the program will be run, including setting the fees. In Oregon, the producer responsibility organization is expected to involve manufacturers to a larger degree, including them on an advisory council.

In another key difference, Maine is also requiring producers to cover 100 percent of its municipalities’ recycling costs. Oregon, by contrast, will require producers to cover around 28 percent of the costs of recycling, with municipalities continuing to cover the rest.

The Wastemakers and Recycling

|

Vance Packard’s The Wastemakers from 1961 remind us what recycling ♻ is all about. Especially the kind so gleefully promotes by “socially responsible” corporations pushing their PFOA soaked clothing, their styrofoam plates and tetrapacks.

Conveniently located throughout the mart are receptacles where the people can dispose of the old-fashioned products they bought on a previous shopping trip. In the jewelry section, for example, a playfully designed sign by a receptacle reads: “Throw your old watches here!”

Been chewing over whether I should go paperless for pay stubs 📄

|

Been chewing over whether I should go paperless for pay stubs 📄

I got my paper pay stub in the mail today. It seems like senseless trash, trees chopped down and mixed with chemicals, looked at briefly, tossed in the garbage and ultimately burnt up. Seems like money wasted by the state, even though they don’t currently charge me for the paper pay stubs.

But I sure like the dopamine hit each time the pay stub comes in and I can see how much I’ve earned so far for the year and how much has gone towards deferred compensation. After a rough, stressful day at work, it’s nice to come home and see that little surprise in the mail as I envision my future and a better tomorrow.

Plus, sometimes you need a paper pay stub to prove residency or for other purposes. Printed bills not on official purposes don’t count. So maybe I shouldn’t go paperless when I’m not currently charged for paper. But also it would be good to have online access to pay stubs to compare and look back at where I was a few years back on my earnings.

Life Kit : NPR

|

Single-Use Plastic Is Everywhere. Here’s How To Use Less Plastic : Life Kit : NPR

The only argument I with this article is this section:

Look at the items on your plastic inventory list and ask yourself, "What can I replace the plastic with?" Chhotray is a big fan of going reusable, and her backpack is proof: "I carry my reusable water bottle, my reusable tumbler because I'm a tea addict. I have bamboo cutlery." She says some days she also carries chopsticks and a reusable straw. "My family sort of makes fun of me because my backpacks are starting to get bigger and bigger every year."

Arellano swapped bath products that came in plastic bottles for ones that come as bars — a shampoo bar and a bar of soap.

I don't think the way to reduce your trash is buy more trash. Seriously, do you need to go out and buy more sustainable products, when you probably already have too much junk? Just go into your cupboard and grab your drinking water bottle or metal silverware. No need to buy a special wood fork, you are going throw away when you can get one from your kitchen. Metal is easier to wash and keep clean, and it's not like metal silverware is real expensive.

NPR

|

Cutting Landfill Methane To Fight Climate Change : NPR

A single flip-flop. An empty Chick-fil-A sandwich bag. A mattress. A sneaker, navy with a white sole. A little orange bouncy ball.

Garbage is strewn among thigh-high drifts of dirt, used to bury the filthy, weather-worn items at the Orange County Landfill in Florida and prevent the intrusion of insects, rats and pigs. Bulldozers smooth the dirt into place while tractor-trailers deliver ever more trash. Vultures and seagulls circle above. A bald eagle lands nearby.

"Anything you will see out in the real world you'll see it here," said David Gregory, manager of the solid waste division of the Orange County Utilities Department. "Because when people throw things away, this is where it comes."

A Good Thing

|

Poison Control Centers: A Good Thing

6/29/21 by iHeartRadio

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/125070575
Episode: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/chtbl.com/track/5899E/traffic.megaphone.fm/HSW4463211272.mp3?updated=1624895023

Poison control centers are one of those things you don’t think about until you need it. With all the poisons in our homes you very well may someday. When you do there is a cadre of toxicological specialists ready to oversee the process of saving your life.