Latest Waste container Stories

Survey Shows Little Support for Bag Ban ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new survey of Brownsville residents shows that nearly two to one oppose the City Commission's plan to ban plastic bags at retail stores beginning in January. Slightly more than half (51%) of the respondents in the survey would like to see the ban repealed or postponed, while only 28 percent support the ban. The remaining survey respondents were undecided. The survey was conducted August 19-21...

DETROIT, July 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) have expanded their commitment to the environment with the introduction of a new public recycling program at Detroit Metro Airport (DTW). Beginning today, nearly 70,000 travelers who pass through DTW's McNamara Terminal each day will find that the airport's trash receptacles have been augmented by new, divided waste bins to collect recyclable plastic bottles, metal cans and...

With summer travel season hard upon us, specialists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have helped create two new standards* designed to increase safety as we rush from gate to gate in crowded mass transit centers. Their efforts will help to fortify against potential bomb threats in the nation's transportation centers.Whether you travel by plane, train or bus, you're bound to pass a familiar container that makes for an attractive spot to stash a bomb: a trash can....

According to four French explorers just back from eight months at sea, the North Atlantic Ocean is looking more like a rubbish bin, with plastic and polystyrene flotsam spreading far and wide. The researchers found at least four to five pieces of trash a day once out of the Britanny port of Trinite-sur-Mer in October.  In April they found a floating dump in the Sargasso Sea around Bermuda. "In 15 minutes we saw more garbage than at any time during our journey," naval engineer...

A pro-privacy group in the United Kingdom is warning citizens that the government has placed microchips in trash receptacles to monitor how much trash people throw away, claiming it's an attempt to fine those who toss too much.According to the advocacy group Big Brother Watch, as many as 2.6 million chips have been outfitted onto household trash bins by many local government councils. The group discovered the program through a series of Freedom of Information requests, although it appeared...

Washington DC residents will now be forced to pay a five-cent levy on each plastic bag issued at the checkout line, AFP reported.The tax, which starts today, is the first such initiative in the United States.It seeks to make consumers bear the brunt of clean up costs for the bags, which currently are dispensed for free with a customer's purchases.The city says that plastic bags often end up clinging to tree branches, getting tangled in power lines, polluting rivers and clogging up storm...

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- According to experts, most of us will generate 25 percent more waste during the holidays compared with the rest of the year -- resulting in an extra 5 million tons of garbage. To encourage consumers to "trim their trash" while trimming their trees, Plastics Make it Possible(SM), an initiative sponsored by the plastics industries of the American Chemistry Council, offers this holiday "how to" guide for reusing and recycling everyday plastics. (Logo:...

ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- November 15 is America Recycles Day, the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products. The effort is working; according to a recent survey conducted by Plastics Make it Possible(SM), an initiative sponsored by the plastics industries of the American Chemistry Council, nearly 70 percent of households make an effort to recycle at home. Of those homes that make recycling a priority, more than two...

An English postmistress admitted Wednesday that she cooked the books to hide an accident -- throwing thousands of pounds in cash in the trash. Marissa Finn, 38, in an appearance in Durham Crown Court pleaded guilty to false accounting, The Daily Mail reported. She denied stealing the money. Finn, who ran the post office in Easington, a village near the coast, told the court she had taken 27,000 pounds ($45,000) to fill the ATM machine. She said she got distracted and decided to empty a bag...

A California city has approved an ordinance imposing $100 fines on those caught taking recyclables from curbside bins. Officials in Redwood City said the ordinance is a response to numerous resident complaints in recent years about people taking the recyclables from their bins to turn in for cash, the Redwood City Daily News reported Friday. Stealing recyclable materials is a misdemeanor under California state law, but the crime is rarely enforced by local prosecutors due to its minor...