Our plastic pollution crisis is too big for recycling to fix | Annie Leonard | Opinion | The Guardian
"Recycling alone will never stem the flow of plastics into our ocean. We must address the problem at the source"
Materials and Waste
The Chemical Industry Scores a Big Win at the E.P.A. – The New York Times
"The agency has decided that it will not look at air, water or ground contaminants when it determines the health and safety risks of potentially toxic chemicals."
Need Junk? Scrap-Metal Dealers Hunting Users After China Ban
"Americans produce more junk than any other country, providing a good living for metals dealers like Mark Lewon who specialize in old copper wire, pipe and parts. Most of the stuff fed voracious demand in China, where for years it was recycled and used to build office towers, cars and appliances. Not anymore."
"In early May, China implemented a 30-day ban on all scrap-copper imports, part of wider limits on all sorts of imported waste like paper, plastic and scuttled ships. The government wants to clean up decades of pollution from heavy industry and jump start domestic recycling. But without the worldβs biggest buyer, U.S. prices dropped and inventories ballooned. Scrap dealers are offering discounts to spark sales at home and lure new buyers in places like Turkey, India, Japan and Malaysia."
The Journey of a Plastic Bottle After You Drop It Into a Recycle Bin – The Atlantic
"What happens after you toss it into the bin?"
TeflonΓ’ΒΒs Sticky Pollution Problem | Fortune
"Chemical giant Chemours is facing off against residents of North Carolina in a battle over a potentially harmful compound used to make nonstick pans."
DEC ignores most hazardous local sites
"State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos is quoted in "Dump catches state's eye" (March 25) that he became concerned about the giant landfill in Rensselaer, which he can see from his office window, after he saw a cloud of dust over the dump a few months ago. Seggos apparently never noticed the many thousands of trucks that drive through downtown Rensselaer each year to and from the dump. DEC has been ignoring evidence right under its nose for decades. Not until two years ago did DEC pretend to notice that the air in Albany's South End is dangerously polluted, particularly in the Ezra Prentice Homes neighborhood through which many hundreds of trucks pass daily. DEC pretends the Colonie landfill is not an environmental or health hazard despite immense evidence to the contrary including that it sits atop an unlined hazardous waste dump on the edge of the Mohawk River. Why is DEC ignoring requests made 18 months ago by the towns of Waterford and Halfmoon and others to conduct a formal adjudicatory hearing on the landfill expansion application? As the TU reported March 22, DEC is assisting Colonie with its application. DEC commissioners sometimes remind me of the Sgt. Schultz character on the 1960s television sitcom "Hogan's Heroes," who, when he saw the prisoners plotting their schemes, responded with "I see nothing" or "I know nothing.
Sierra Club joins effort against Rensselaer dump – Times Union
"Rensselaer The local arm of a national environmental group is teaming up with Rensselaer residents opposed to the state's largest construction and demolition debris dump. The Hudson Mohawk chapter of the Sierra Club is looking into how the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a 2012..."