Plasma May Zap City's Garbage Crisis

It's fighting a plan to ship Hawaii garbage to Washington state

(NEWSER) - Hawaii's landfill space is in such short supply, the state decided to transport thousands of tons of trash 2,600 miles to Washington. Making the journey even more bizarre: The waste would travel over the Yakama Indians' sacred hunting grounds to get to its destination, and the tribe is none too happy about that. "This whole dispute leads us to believe the federal government doesn't want to honor its commitments" to Native Americans, says the tribal chairman. More»

(NEWSER) - The current recession was fairly clear to a certain segment of the population as far back as late 2007, the Washington Post reports—landfill operators. Since then, dumps and garbage collectors have seen a steep drop-off in trash—in some cases up to 30%—along with their own jobs. It's a sure sign of a drop in consumer consumption. People are fixing instead of replacing, which cuts down on all that packaging they need to throw out. More»

Cities who divert the least from landfill named and shamed

(NEWSER) - The average American city recycles about a third of its waste, but the lack of any unified national standard for trash disposal means some cities rate way, way, below average. Mother Jones lists those with the biggest trash piles:

• Oklahoma City recycles only 3% of its waste. Households have to pay a steep price to recycle, resulting in the worst recycling rate in the land.

Trash crisis in tourist mecca heats up along with weather

(NEWSER) - Mounds of smelly garbage are piling up in the streets of Naples, as a shortage of places to dump it has reached a crisis: the last landfill in Naples closed Saturday. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is pleading with politicians and citizens to save the the country's image, the Times reports. More»

Camera phone posts pictures of garbage on Facebook, encourages recycling

(AP) - Now on Facebook: Your garbage. Or at least, the garbage of five households who signed up for a Newcastle University program that posts photos of every item dumped in one garbage can on Facebook. Hoping to raise consciousness about recycling efforts, it uses a sensor and a camera phone to snap an image each time the garbage can lid shuts. The person who does that is not photographed, and households that participate will be rated on how efficiently they recycle. So far, researchers say it's working. Non-recyclable garbage has diminished in the weeks since the program began. More»