Posts Tagged: recycling
Opinion
OPINION – California’s ambitious program to reduce the amount of methane gas produced by organic waste is a powerful example of how individuals, local governments, and business can work together to protect the planet for our children and grandchildren, all while creating jobs and investment in our communities.
Opinion
When it comes to supporting the circular economy, improving plastic recycling, and reducing waste, do we want to help the environment or regulate more?
News
California recently approved three sweeping environmental laws: SB 54, SB 343, and AB 1201. Hopefully, this game-changing legislation will shape national policy about recycling, composting, plastic pollution, and human health. We have many people to thank for the recent measures to reduce plastic pollution and increase plastic recycling, but we citizens rarely know who. Heidi Sanborn is one of those people.
News
By expanding California’s existing legal definitions of compostability and biodegradability to cover more products than plastics, and by creating more specific, safer definitions, the single-use disposable products that companies label as “compostable” will now actually biodegrade into safe, usable organic matter. This package of environmental legislation transforms the rules around environmental marketing claims and continues California’s move toward a truly sustainable economy.
News
Approximately 85% of single-use plastics in California never get recycled. By standardizing and clarifying the labeling of recyclable waste, California’s new law aims to align manufacturing standards with state regulations in order to increase the amount of plastic material that actually gets recycled.
Opinion
OPINION: California is flush with cash and staring down a thirsty future. According to the EPA Needs Survey and Assessment, our state needs $50 billion in infrastructure improvements to ensure safe drinking water for everyone. Our unprecedented state budget surplus and drought-induced water use restrictions make it clear: Now is our chance to modernize our water systems, and we must act with urgency.
Opinion
OPINION: The recent push by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to adopt “emergency” regulations to impose “hazardous waste” rules on the state’s metal-recycling plants would have the potential to shut down a vibrant recycling industry.
Opinion
OPINION: The California Legislature is considering a bill by State Senator Ben Allen that would prohibit a broad spectrum of packaging and consumer products from being labeled with the familiar “chasing arrows” recycling symbol or any other information deeming it recyclable, based on stringent criteria.
Opinion
OPINION: The state is at it again. This time, the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is attempting, in an end-run around the normal regulatory process, to impose “emergency” harsh and unjustified new rules on the metal-recycling industry — the one aspect of California’s troubled recycling sector that is still going strong. Why? Because they believe they can, I guess.
Opinion
OPINION: Every year during the end-of-session debates in the Legislature, bills that had previously stalled suddenly get new life. Sometimes, it’s the result of a grand bargain struck to advance long-held policy objectives. Other times, it’s the result of public pressure created by an emerging crisis.