In case you missed it: Thoughtful, newsworthy comments from industry professionals, consumers, and legislators.
"It’s well demonstrated that at every stage of the municipal waste stream you can save far more energy by recycling than you can ever generate by burning it up."
— Environmentalist Alan Muller to Midwest Energy News on efforts to shut down Minnesota's Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC). While Sierra Club, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, and Minnesota Public Interest Research Group push for the closures, Minnesota continues to show its commitment to waste-to-energy.
"Consumers don’t change overnight...We need to encourage people to recycle, to explain why they should do it, and show them how."
— Brian Miller of Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee on teaching consumers to dispose of single-serve coffee pods properly. The company's coffee pod can be taken apart so each part can be tossed into the correct bin according to its material.
"By taking our waste away from us so efficiently, it makes us more inclined to dispose more."
— Joshua Reno, an assistant professor of anthropology at Binghamton University, on the global waste production crisis. Reno explained to the Los Angeles Times that because trash is collected fairly efficiently in the United States, most Americans don't understand the magnitude of how much waste is produced.
"While we don’t have control over private waste haulers, we know the commercial sector can and wants to do better — and that’s why the city has been actively working to gain the regulatory tools to achieve these goals."
—A spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio on the city's private hauling system. A recent study from Transform Don't Trash NYC found the city's commercial recycling rate is 19%—sharply contrasting to the national average of 34%.
"Through the current weight-based accounting system, all methods of recovery are equal [when it comes to cutting emissions]. All materials are equal. All markets are equal."
— David Allaway, senior policy analyst for Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality, on the current method of tracking waste disposal. Allaway and the Oregon DEQ are working to adopt a life cycle analysis to better leverage recovery methods throughout the state.
"We strongly believe that behavior change starts with education."
—Recyclebank CEO Javier Flaim to Waste360 on the company's new partnership with Disney. Through collaboration, Recyclebank and Disney will launch a three-month campaign, The Magic of Conservation, to engage the public on how to recycle through interactive teaching moments.