Key Takeaways - What Happened? On May 21, 2024, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed the Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act (the Act). Minnesota is the fifth state to enact laws implementing packaging EPR rules,...more
Massachusetts residents and businesses dispose of enough trash yearly to fill up about 31 Fenway Parks. Despite decades of government policies to reduce waste, we continue throwing away about six million tons of waste each...more
A bill amending the Alabama Solid Wastes and Recyclable Materials Management Act by specifying when local approval of solid waste disposal permit modifications is necessary has passed both houses of the Alabama Legislature...more
What's Happening? The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) published proposed regulations to amend the Recycling and Disposal Reporting System (RDRS) to increase the specificity of waste...more
Just before the start of the year, the European Commission introduced a Proposal for a Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste (PPWR) which will repeal the existing Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) and...more
The United States District Court for the District of Texas (“Court”) addressed in an August 4th Opinion issues arising out of a solid waste storage and recycling facility/shingle pile in Dallas, Texas. See Marsha Jackson v....more
Governor Signs SB 619 Into Law - Local jurisdictions (cities, counties and special districts) that fail to adopt enforceable mechanisms to divert organic waste from landfills in accordance with SB 1383 regulations before...more
I undertook an Arkansas Environmental Federation webinar held by the organization’s Land and Sustainability Committee on May 20th titled: Solid and Hazardous Waste/Recycling Administrative/Judicial Developments: 2020-2021...more
Summary - The Pennsylvania legislature is close to enacting House Bill 1808. Already approved by the Pennsylvania House, the measure could benefit an emerging industry known as Advanced Recycling that diverts single-use...more
Even though Oregon is considered the third greenest state in the United States, and a national leader when it comes to recycling, Oregon’s waste-management programs are not actually recovering all of the state’s recyclable...more
CalRecycle Issues Guidance to Local Agencies The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery released guidance for how a city, county or a regional agency responsible for meeting Integrated Waste Management...more
The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment – Division of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) has issued a new edition (January 2020) of its quarterly newsletter. DEQ describes the newsletter as providing...more
WCA Waste Corporation (“WCA”) announced in a January 14th news release it acquired the Little Rock Division of Central Arkansas Recycling and Disposal Services, LLC (“CARDS”). WCA describes itself as a vertically...more
The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery issued proposed regulations to reduce organic waste in landfills as required by Senate Bill 1383. The bill directed CalRecycle to adopt regulations to reduce...more
The Solid Waste Environmental Excellence Protocol (“SWEEP”) issued a December 14th document titled: The SWEEP Municipal Standard (“Municipal Standard”) - Municipal Standard is characterized as evaluating the...more
The Association of Plastic Recyclers and American Chemistry Council (collectively “ACC”) announced on December 17th the issuance of a report titled: 2017 United States National Postconsumer Plastic Bottle Recycling Report...more
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (“ISRI”) submitted comments on the National Trade Estimate (“NTE”) to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. See Docket No. USTR-2018-0029. ISRI describes its trade...more
The Solid Waste Association of North America (“SWANA”) announced a technical policy citing the need for entities to measure recycling progress and encourage the development of a consistent methodology. The document is...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has issued a report titled: Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2015 Fact Sheet (“Report”)... ...more
The Solid Waste Association of North America and National Waste & Recycling Association (collectively “SWANA”) announced an amendment/update to the document they drafted in 2015 titled: Joint Advisory on Designing...more
The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (“SWACO”) announced the issuance of a report titled: Economic Impact of Central Ohio's Recycling, Reuse and Remanufacturing Industry (“Report”)...more
The Situation: The European Circular Economy Package ("CEP") was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on June 14, 2018. The Result: According to the European Commission, the CEP should "help European...more
I undertook a presentation at the Arkansas Environmental Federation Regulated Waste Seminar titled: Solid and Hazardous Waste/Recycling Developments: 2017-2018 (“Presentation”) ...more