To Avoid A Plastic Future, New York Must Update The Bottle Bill | Opinion
USA Today | January 7, 2022 | State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul can take action to modernize New York’s successful beverage container deposit law, known as the Bottle Bill, which turns 40 next year.
New York City Banned Foam Containers. Now The Rest Of The State Will, Too.
Three years ago, New York City banned single-use food containers and packing peanuts made out of polystyrene foam. Some suburban counties like Westchester and Nassau soon followed. Now, the rest of the state is going to give it a try.
Scraping a Living
On a Brooklyn street, Laurentino Marin doesn’t stop to admire the Halloween decorations. Like every morning, the Mexican is busy filling a shopping cart with used cans and plastic bottles, which he will exchange for a few dollars. Marin, who is 80, is one of New York’s estimated 10,000 “canners”, mostly older migrants from Latin America and China who scrape a living sorting and recycling plastics and aluminium.
New York debates what really is, or isn't, recyclable
Lawmakers worry that state bureaucracy is easing off policing recycling claims.
One Planet: How To Fix The Worsening Plastic Waste & Recycling Crisis
On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, we're discussing how to fix the recycling system and plastic pollution crisis in the US.
California Aims to Ban Recycling Symbols on Things That Aren’t Recyclable
The well-known three-arrows symbol doesn’t necessarily mean that a product is actually recyclable. A new bill would limit the products allowed to feature the mark.
Plastic Bag Ban Violators Getting Away with Breaking Law as Enforcers Check Out
State regulators charged with overseeing the ban on single-use plastic shopping bags are overwhelmed by complaints, with more than 300 reported violators yet to be checked on, data obtained by THE CITY shows.
Remove waste burning from Tonko’s clean-energy bill
The bill’s definition of the kinds of “clean energy” that would qualify for federal subsidies includes fossil fuels and the incineration of “post-recycled municipal waste,” food waste, lawn trimmings, and construction debris.
Chemical recycling bill sets stage for industry’s battle with environmentalists
New technology employs a thermal process to convert industrial, commercial, agricultural or domestic plastic waste into additives for other products.
Turning plastic into fuel doesn’t solve the plastic problem | Editorial
A New Jersey bill aims to advance chemical recycling, giving petrochemical companies a free pass on New Jersey’s environmental laws.
Plastic bag ban isn't turning out as lawmakers envisioned
Democratic lawmakers in Delaware are complaining that grocery stores and other retailers are exploiting a "loophole" in a new law prohibiting the use of certain plastic bags when the businesses are actually doing exactly what the law requires.
Premature or precautionary? California is first to tackle microplastics in drinking water
Huge gaps exist in scientific knowledge, but California is about to set the world’s first health guidelines for microplastics in drinking water. Yet no one agrees how to test water for the tiny bits of plastic, or how dangerous they are.
Activists Raise Concerns About Proposed Amendments To Coeymans Clean Air Law
Activists are sounding an alarm after the Coeymans Town Board proposed amendments to the 2019 Coeymans Clean Air Law which limits tire-burning at the Lafarge/Holcim Cement Plant, which is situated across the street from the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School on Route 9W.
California Eyeing Biden Resolution to Dozens of Trump Lawsuits
It’s no secret California and the Trump administration are often at odds—which many times has led to the courtroom. The Golden State has sued the president and his agencies 106 times over the past four years, more than any other state.
With President-elect Joe Biden (D) set to take over the White House in January, California is looking over its lingering cases.
Plastic bags banned in N.J. as Murphy signs new law
Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday signed a new law banning businesses from handing out single-use plastic bags, polystyrene food containers, plastic straws and paper bags in New Jersey.
The House just passed another “Save Our Seas” act. Here’s why it won’t.
Outside of Congress, the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act has faced steeper scrutiny from environmentalists who see it as an extension of decades’ worth of failed policies that assume the plastics crisis can be solved by innovating recycling and waste management…
New Jersey Legislature Passes ‘Most Comprehensive’ Plastics Ban in the Nation
New Jersey is one step closer to passing what environmental advocates say is the strongest anti-plastic legislation in the nation.
New York to begin enforcing plastic bag ban on Oct. 19, 2020
New York state’s environmental agency will begin enforcing a ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery stores and other retailers on Oct. 19, more than seven months after the law took effect.
NJ Legislature passes nation's toughest ban on plastic and paper bags. Here's what it does
The state Legislature passed a sweeping measure Thursday that would ban plastic bags from stores and restaurants and single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam, The New York Times reported.