When most people toss something into their recycling bin, chances are, they don't consider the murky and complex market forces at work that dictate where that item will go and what it's worth after it's picked up at the curb.
PROVIDENCE — The City Council has taken a step closer to enacting a bag ban after a subcommittee recently endorsed the proposal.
It only took three years for New York City, with a population of 8.5 million, to launch a comprehensive composting program for homes, businesses, and schools.
Rhode Island, however, is the only New England state without a municipal food-scrap collection program.
This report is a look at the waste-diversion practices at nine Rhode Island institutions. It focuses on the strategies and approaches that colleges and universities have found most helpful in reducing waste.
JOHNSTON, R.I. — Rhode Island’s first commercial-scale anaerobic digester still isn’t ready, but company officials say it's getting closer to completion. And when it’s operational, New England's largest digester may be a test case for similar facilities in neighboring states with food-diversion laws.
The disposal of syringes, bandages, sharps containers, dialyzers and other potentially infectious material known as medical waste is expensive, risky and a major source of pollution.
JOHNSTON, R.I. — It's been considered a political third rail for years, but on July 1, Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, the operator of the state's Central Landfill, will be raising tipping fees for the first time since 1992.
JOHNSTON, R.I. — Rhode Island is on the verge of opening its first industrial anaerobic digester, offering another option in the long process to reduce waste and find a better use for the millions of pounds of food scrap wasted each year.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently issued a report which found that the state’s commercial food waste ban has created more than 900 jobs and stimulated $175 million in economic activity during its first two years.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, food scrap accounts for 21.6 percent of all trash, the most of any item in the country's waste stream.
A new advocacy group is trying an innovative solution to address an age-old problem: trash.
JOHNSTON, R.I. — Cardboard and compostables are two of the most common categories of waste filling up Rhode Island's Central Landfill, according to a recently published study by the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation. The study aimed to identify materials that could be diverted from the landfill, presently or in the future, to recycling facilities or for reuse.
To help cities and towns throughout Massachusetts increase the quality of their residential recycling stream, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is offering municipalities an IQ test kit.