In case you missed it: Thoughtful, newsworthy comments from industry professionals, consumers, and legislators.
"Tonight is like stepping back into some time warp."
—Nuclear activist Kay Drey in a meeting to discuss putting a cap on the West Lake Landfill to contain radioactive waste. The cap was first proposed in 2008, and Drey feels that other options have since surfaced that would better solve the issue in Bridgeton, MO.
"You start getting some momentum on a local level like this and you create a ripple … that’s the goal for the legislation."
—Russell Long, president of nonprofit Sustainable San Francisco, to the San Francisco Chronicle. Long hopes that San Francisco's proposed ban on Styrofoam will be a step toward propelling California into a statewide ban.
"It's hard to have a ban itself be a primary motivator for getting new locations to sign up for recycling service."
—Fort Collins, CO environmental planner Caroline Mitchell on the city's landfill ban on cardboard, as reported in Resource Recycling. Mitchell noted that, while the ban has resulted in an increase in recycling rates and collection subscriptions, it has been supported by education and enforcement—two key components of implementing a landfill ban.
"We feel that this is something everybody kind of needs now that the city can't make it happen."
—Houston-area resident David Krohn to KHOU News on the glass recycling service he started with his girlfriend's younger brother, Pan. Despite only being in the third grade, Pan was upset that the city of Houston and Waste Management could not work out a glass recycling deal—so he took matters into his own hands.
"It’s not always just one person. We’re laying off families."
—EnviroSolutions Inc (ESI) General Manager Jerry Ross to the Independent regarding the end of trash trains at Kentucky's Big Run Landfill. By ceasing the importation of out-of-state waste to the landfill, ESI must lay off 40-50 employees.
"Making coffee wasn’t something that needed to be reinvented."
—Darby Hoover, senior resource specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, to The New York Times when discussing Keurig's push to streamline recyclable K-Cups. While some applaud the efforts put forth by Keurig and other single-service coffee companies, many environmentalists believe that single-serve coffee pods have always been, and will always be, an environmental issue.