Both candidates favor producer responsibility in principle; Murray endorsed shifting waste costs to producers and cited local health impacts, while Palumbo said he cosponsored a version but warned the bill as drafted would be too expensive for retailers and consumers.

Clay County Commissioner Paul Grama said the county secured $2,000,000 of a statewide $8,000,000 MPCA organics grant and will add local match to create a $2.5 million composting project targeting institutional producers and eventually public drop sites, with an initial year-one goal of about 750 tons.

An audit of a sample from Townsend’s purple-bag curbside program found 60 lb of contamination in a 380-lb sample (15.8%), higher than comparable towns; the board agreed to expand outreach, consider QR-coded flyers and ask Casella about semiannual follow-up audits.

Commissioners pressed staff on shipping costs, Agency of Transportation specifications, and whether state policy changes (bottle bill or source separation) could reduce contamination and expenses for glass recycling.

At its Sept. 23 meeting the Chittenden Solid Waste District board heard a staff presentation on processed glass aggregate (PGA), including production at the MRF, volumes, local uses, and UVM testing that could expand municipal reuse.

MassDEP described a two‑stage expansion of the food‑waste disposal ban—first bringing commercial and institutional generators to a near‑zero threshold, then later extending to residential waste—while emphasizing capacity and multi‑year implementation.

The Rico Land Collaborative told trustees it submitted a recycling grant and will report results in October; a town survey collected about 76 responses and showed support for recycling, with drop-off options and education emphasized as priorities.

Staff said Bailey Payne is leading solid-waste coordination; Community Development will finalize an RFP to hire a consultant to develop a solid-waste management plan and a steering committee to consider alternatives as Cotton Butte approaches closure.

A local deconstruction group said it ran a paid internship program this summer, completed a deconstruction of an 1870 house and is starting a reclaimed‑materials housing project in Rockland; presenters offered to help the Todd project explore salvage.

Stantec consultants told the board MPCA draft rules (published July 2025) would require composite liners, leachate management and methane monitoring and could force unlined demolition landfills to change operations or close; the District 4 plan models three scenarios and recommends regional coordination, transfer infrastructure and legislative funding.

Staff briefed the authority on SB 54 implementation and producer responsibility arrangements, recommended the county pursue a rural exemption for certain covered materials and explore a pilot reusable foodware program with the school district; board expressed general consensus to proceed with the recommended steps and directed staff to return with written recommendations.

The committee voted to advance CIP/SIP proposals for electrifying the city fleet, a zero-waste plan, a municipal solar rollout, and a multimodal transit project, delegating drafting to subgroups to meet the mid-September citizen submission deadline.

In central California’s city of San Carlos, recycling plastics is a family affair. Nick Schick and his parents, David and Andrea, work exclusively with products made from hard-to-recycle plastic polymers called thermoplastics. Unlike water bottles and tote bags, thermoplastics lack conventional recycling methods. In order to stop them from reaching the landfills where they will […] The post Team Sequesters Plastic and Makes New Products Before it Breaks Down in Environment appeared first on Good News Network.

Discover effective waste reduction strategies to enhance project implementation in our latest blog post. Learn practical tips and innovative approaches to minimise waste, boost efficiency, and promote...

Board members discussed town goals to reduce single-use plastics, consider bans on gas-powered leaf blowers and string trimmers, strengthen environmental education, review water-rate structure to encourage conservation, and advance green-energy production and building efficiency tied to a $5,000,000 warrant article.

DeKalb County9s new chief resilience officer, Liza Milagro, presented the Resilient DeKalb 2040 master plan, promising net-zero county operations by 2040, building audits of 152 sites and pilots including a 500-household compost beta and a countywide EV charging network.

Staff presented options for residential composting and cost scenarios; commissioners directed outreach to secure a minimum of roughly 300 subscribers and agreed to use savings from reduced recycling pickups to offset early program costs while further evaluating pilots and operations.

Scott Lukasch of Apex told the council Colorado's Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rollout will deliver blue‑lidded recycling carts, with curbside collection expected to begin in Sept–Oct, billing handled at no cost to residents in the initial residential phase.

Colorado Medicaid described its deployment of an Olivia platform (FWA Finder) to generate statistical leads for fraud, waste and abuse; staff said 82 new leads were produced and four providers placed on prepayment review generated about $200,000 in six weeks. Officials emphasized that humans review and open any investigations.

Workgroup presenters said 162 of 351 Massachusetts municipalities have adopted PAYT (about 46%), with average trash tonnage reductions around 32% and ranges reported from 25% to 50% depending on baseline conditions.

MassDEP staff told the Pay As You Throw working group that a 'unit' should be about 35 gallons and that the agency expects the first unit to be capped at 35 gallons for a program to qualify for PAYT funding, noting the standard aligns with historical container sizes and resident behavior.

MassDEP staff opened a six-session working series to help municipalities design and implement Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) programs, saying the group will combine practical technical assistance with peer learning and grant guidance.