Reassembling Rubbish

GLOW Region Solid Waste director worries about cost of e-waste

BATAVIA — What will happen to electronics being thrown out?<p>That was Peggy Grayson’s biggest concern as the cost to taxpayers has doubled not even 10 …

'If we thought it was bad, it's worse:' Alberta methane releases underestimated

'A lot of eyes are going to be really wide when they see the comparison'<p>New research suggests industry and government are badly underestimating …

Tiangong-1: Chinese space station will crash to Earth within months

Pieces weighing up to 100kg could make it to the surface, says expert, when out-of-control 8.5-tonne laboratory breaks apart in the atmosphere<p>An 8.5-tonne Chinese space station has accelerated its out-of-control descent towards Earth and is expected to crash to the surface within a few months.<p>The …

'The war on coal is over:' Trump administration to terminate Obama's climate plan

New EPA rule to override Obama-era Clean Power Plan<p>The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that he will sign a new rule …

Dirty birds show just how catastrophic air pollution used to be

Soot on birds' bellies tell a story of air pollution more than a century in the making. Two graduate students at the University of Chicago measured black carbon that clung to birds kept in Rust Belt museum collections and found a striking record of filthy air.<p>Over the course of 135 years, the …

Polar Pollution: Massive Clean-up in the Russian Arctic

NSW to approve coalmine blocked by courts for polluting Sydney's drinking water

State energy minister Don Harwin says mine that supplies Lithgow’s Mount Piper power station is ‘vital for energy security and affordability’<p>The New South Wales government will introduce legislation to approve an underground coalmine that was blocked by the courts because it was polluting Sydney’s …

Why Japan Wants Your Junk

There's treasure to be found in the world's trash.<p>For 30 years China has recycled more cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and old computers than any other nation. By doing so, it's saved millions of tons of resources and indirectly funded thousands of recycling programs and companies globally. But …

Inuit call for halt on satellite launch over rocket's toxic fuel fears

Rocket stage to land in North Water Polynya, a vital food source for Inuit<p>Inuit are calling on the Canadian and Danish governments to step in and …

Vintage photos taken by the EPA reveal what America looked like before pollution was regulated

The Trump administration plans to kill the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration's main initiative to fight climate change by lowering emissions, the Environmental Protection Agency's administrator, Scott Pruitt, said Monday.<p>The Clean Power Plan aimed to help the US reach the goals set in the …

Inuit say ‘nyet’ to toxic splash from Russian rockets

Inuit in Canada and Greenland are calling on Ottawa and Copenhagen to demand the postponement of a Russian rocket launch scheduled to deliver a …

Media Expose: Samsung, In Effect, Bribes Cluster Victims’ Lawyer

Park Sang-hoon regularly receives expensive gifts from Samsung although he represents five victims of the company’s occupational disease cluster. …

Mining the motherboards

Vancouver-based EnviroLeach Technologies is building a processing plant that it says will be an environmentally friendly solution to recover precious …

When polluting is in a company's rational self-interest

This week, Harris County announced its intention to sue the French multinational chemical producer Arkema after volatile organic compounds exploded …

This Fungus Discovered In A Pakistani Landfill Likes To Eat Plastic

Polyester polyurethane makes a delicious meal for the Aspergillus tubingensis fungus, offering a potential solution to some of our insane plastic problem.<p>Out of all the plastic ever made–an estimated 8.3 billion metric tons–most of it still exists as waste in some form, whether that’s in a landfill …

Debris from 2011 tsunami carried invasive species to North America

The 2011 Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami washed massive amounts of debris into the sea. Boats, docks and parts of houses circulated in the …

Sadiq Khan triggers alert for high air pollution in London

Capital is given emergency warning as polluted air from the continent combines with toxic air at home<p>The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has triggered the capital’s emergency air quality alert as polluted air from the continent combines with toxic air in London to create dangerous levels of …

China ban on waste imports leads to piles of paper abroad, surging prices in China

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Huge mountains of old newspapers, cardboard and office scrap paper are piling up on Hong Kong's docks and its waste-paper collection sites are at bursting point. A flotilla of cargo ships laden with paper meant for recycling has been stuck for weeks in local waters.<p>The city's …

EPA removes waste at Texas toxic sites, won't say from where

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says it has recovered 517 containers of "unidentified, potentially hazardous material" from highly contaminated toxic waste sites in Texas that flooded last month during Hurricane Harvey.<p>The agency has not provided details about which Superfund …

How did that get there? Plastic chunks on Arctic ice show how far pollution has spread

Discovery by UK scientists prompts fear that melting ice will allow more plastic to be released into the central Arctic Ocean – with huge effects on wildlife<p>A British-led expedition has discovered sizeable chunks of polystyrene lying on remote frozen ice floes in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.<p>The …

Microsoft-Facebook Finish Super-Speed Subsea Cable

A 4,000-mile long subsea cable running from Virginia Beach to Bilbao, Spain is finally complete.<p>Called Marea, the Spanish word for tide, Microsoft …

The lives of bitcoin miners digging for digital gold in Inner Mongolia

Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China<p>A decade ago, after a speculative coal boom fizzled, the once-thriving desert city of Ordos, in Inner Mongolia, became China’s largest ghost town, littered with unfinished or empty buildings and desperate for another way to make money. Blessed like most of China with …

Your old phone is wrecking the planet - BBC Three

Declan Cashin15 September 2017<p>As new phones are launched, some people will ditch their existing phones to upgrade to the latest model.<p>But what happens to our disused smartphones - and our laptops, TVs, and other appliances - once we’ve moved onto the next version? They’re sent away to be recycled, …

London's Sewers Are Clogged With Massive Globs of Fat. Here’s Why It’s Hard to Get Rid of Them

“Fatbergs,” these vast bundles of congealed grease, are becoming the stuff of urban legend—but preventing their formation can be complex.<p>If there’s an urban problem more disgusting than the fatberg, I don’t want to hear about it. Vast, monster lumps of congealed fat stuck together with a structure …

The iPhone Is Guaranteed to Last Only One Year, Apple Argues in Court

Apple says it makes the "most durable devices," but an iPhone 6 design flaw and the ensuing court proceeding shows you can legally expect it to last for just one year.<p>As Apple readies its annual reminder that the expensive smartphone in our pocket is now obsolete, you are, no doubt, wondering if …

Sea salt around the world is contaminated by plastic, studies show

Exclusive: New studies find microplastics in salt from the US, Europe and China, adding to evidence that plastic pollution is pervasive in the environment<p>We are living on a plastic planet. What does that mean for our health?<p>Sea salt around the world has been contaminated by plastic pollution, …

Strategies for Successful Collective Negotiations

Chris Bonner Mon Jan 16, 2017<p>Share:<p>Informal worker organizations need solidarity, clarity and accountability to record bargaining wins<p>It might be …

Global E-waste Management Market to Witness Growth Through 2021, Owing to Rising Environmental Concerns: Technavio

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The <b>global e-waste management market</b> is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 4% during the forecast period, according to …