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Everything from banana peels and used coffee grounds to yard waste and soiled paper products like pizza boxes counts as organic waste. In Southern California, the nation’s largest facility to convert food waste into biogas has filed for bankruptcy because it’s not getting enough of the organic material. About three-quarters of communities are currently collecting organic waste from homes, said Rachel Machi Wagoner, CalRecycle’s director. CalRecycle hasn't tallied data yet on how much organic waste was diverted from landfills in 2023. Jurisdictions reported diverting 11.2 million tons (10.1 million metric tons) of organics at the end of 2022, up from 9.9 million tons (8.9 million metric tons) the prior year, Wagoner said.

Persons: it’s, ”, Coby Skye, Rachel Machi Wagoner, “, CalRecycle hasn't, Wagoner, Gabe Gonzales, Manuel Medrano, Medrano, Cody Cain, Agromin, we'll, Cain, Yaniv Scherson, Heidi Sanborn, “ We're, We're, Sanborn Organizations: Los Angeles County Public, “, Anaergia Inc, Sanitation & Environment, Stewardship Action Locations: CHULA VISTA, Calif, California, Southern California, Los, America, Otay, Chula Vista, San Diego County, Rialto, Angeles

☆ California Tried to Ban Plastic Grocery Bags. It Didn’t Work.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Hiroko Tabuchi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Almost a decade ago, California became the first state in the United States to ban single-use plastic bags in an effort to tackle an intractable plastic waste problem. Then came the reusable, heavy-duty plastic bags, offered to shoppers for ten cents. Designed to withstand dozens of uses, and technically recyclable, many retailers treated them as exempt from the ban. But because they didn’t look much different from the flimsy bags they replaced, lots of people didn’t actually reuse them. The unhappy result: Last year, Californians threw away more plastic bags, by weight, than when the law first passed, according to figures from CalRecycle, California’s recycling agency.

Locations: California, United States, CalRecycle

☆ Fashion Faces Recycling Fees Similar to Other Industries
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Electronics and packaging companies have banded together to help pay for recycling programs under government rules. EPR programs charge producers tiny fees—often a fraction of a penny—on individual items to fund waste collection and recycling. The fees from the relevant products, such as packaging, electronics or clothing, then fund recycling, including infrastructure, collection, sorting and public communications. Recycling successEPR programs can significantly boost recycling rates, according to a study published this month from the Recycling Partnership, a nonprofit group. It is expanding its textile recycling beyond its customer network, which includes Levi Strauss & Co. and VF Corp. -owned The North Face.

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☆ California invested an enormous amount of money into getting EVs on the road, but practically nothing when it comes to dealing with the waste: 'It's totally like the Wild West.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

"It's totally like the Wild West," said Zora Chung, co-founder of ReJoule, Inc., a startup project based in Signal Hill that is exploring repurposing used batteries from EVs. However, there are no EV battery recycling plants that exist in California, nor tried-and-true recycling programs in place to deal with the fallout. Currently, the company has used batteries deployed at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, where solar panels feed electricity into the used battery storage units. Charging station for electric and hybrid cars using solar panels to generate electricity to charge car batteries. "Imagine if it just took you one full work week to qualify one used battery," Chung said.

Search resuls for: "CalRecycle"

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