trash

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Big Stink: Great Garbage Patch's Size Exaggerated

Think 1% the size of Texas, not twice as big

(Newser) - The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is often said to be twice the size of Texas—but that and other scary-sounding claims are “grossly exaggerated,” some scientists are now insisting. A new study shows the plastic waste patch is actually 200 times smaller than previously claimed when comparing...

Hong Kong Is No. 1 in Trash
 Hong Kong Is No. 1 in Trash 

Hong Kong Is No. 1 in Trash

City produces 2,000 pounds per person per year

(Newser) - Hong Kong is now the trash capital of the world, producing more waste per capita than any other place, reports Time . The 7 million residents produce 6.45 million tons per year for the honor. The city's waste-heavy ways include a dependence on take-out food, along with all those plastic...

Mystery Swirls Around Atlantic Garbage Patch

It's just not growing, say scientists

(Newser) - Though you may be more familiar with its more famous cousin, the Texas-size Great Pacific Garbage Patch, there does indeed exist a mass of tiny plastic pieces in the Atlantic. But the North Atlantic Gyre is turning out to be the more mysterious of the two: A two-decades-long study released...

Indian Tribe Doesn't Want US Trash on Sacred Land

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...

Burning Trash Made Us Sick: Troops

Hundreds sue contractors running burn pits

(Newser) - Hundreds of service members and employees of Kellogg Brown & Root have filed lawsuits against the contractor, which burns vast amounts of trash on US bases in Afghanistan and Iraq, saying the thick smoke from the burn pits has made them sick. KBR operates more than two dozen of the...

Plastic Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic
 Plastic Garbage Patch 
 Found in Atlantic 
in case you missed it

Plastic Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic

Covers thousands of square miles, endangers fish

(Newser) - If you’re planning on taking a cruise, hopefully your ship won’t travel through the “great Atlantic garbage patch” that covers thousands of square miles between Bermuda and the Azores islands. The plastic debris is so small that some pieces are almost invisible, and the floating trash heap—...

Lea & Perrins Original Recipe Discovered

Find sheds light on Worcestershire's long-secret flavors

(Newser) - What looks to be the original and long-secret recipe for Lea and Perrins legendary Worcestershire Sauce has been found. A woman in England discovered it among her late father's leather-bound notebooks. He worked as an accountant for Lea and Perrins and found the 19th-century document in the trash at the...

Don't Hate Me: I'm Just Here to Clean Up
 Don't Hate Me: 
 I'm Just Here 
 to Clean Up 
FORECLOSURE FRONTLINES

Don't Hate Me: I'm Just Here to Clean Up

Clearing the detritus of owners' dreams from bank-owned homes

(Newser) - Cindy Reid doesn’t want you to think she and her boss—and boyfriend—are the “bad guys.” But it is difficult when her man is the one “you never want to see pull up to your house. He has eyes that go flat when you offer ...

Egypt Kills All Pigs— But Pigs Eat All Trash

With no swine to eat garbage, waste piles up on city streets

(Newser) - When the Egyptian government decided to kill all of Cairo’s pigs last spring in a pre-emptive measure to combat swine flu, they apparently forgot that the pigs performed a vital function in a city with poor public services: eating trash, the New York Times reports. The zabaleen, Cairo’s...

America's Worst Recycling Cities

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
...

McAuliffe Tack: Virginia Is for Garbage Lovers

He's leading Dem race for governor with new zeal for solid waste

(Newser) - For Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic party chief turned Virginia gubernatorial candidate, the way to Old Dominion’s heart runs through trash. “I love trash," he tells Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. "I love chicken litter, cow manure, garbage. This is the kind of thing that...

Recession Harbinger: Less Trash

(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...

Time to Clean Up Space Trash
 Time to Clean Up Space Trash 
OPINION

Time to Clean Up Space Trash

(Newser) - Space trash is becoming a serious problem, and it's long past time for housekeeping, writes the Economist. Of the 18,000 objects orbiting earth that are bigger than 4 inches across, only 900 are functioning satellites. The rest is debris, from old rocket parts and dead satellites to tools and...

Junk We've Lost in Outer Space

(Newser) - In the wake of two satellites colliding this week—and debris apparently falling on several states—Wired runs down a list of objects we've lost in outer space:
  • A spatula: Used to apply heat-shield repair goo, the implement's loss was a blow to one astronaut. "That was my favorite
...

Colo. Resort Town Mulls 'Pay as You Throw' Trash Plan

Vail program would encourage recycling

(Newser) - A Colorado resort town is trying out a newer, greener trash collection program, the Denver Post reports. The new “pay-as-you-throw” system would charge residents of Vail based on how much junk they throw away each week, but provide curbside recycling for free.

After Historic Day, Historic Cleanup

Trash-bin shortage caused tons of litter to pile up

(Newser) - Crews working into the wee hours hauled away at least 130 tons of garbage after America’s largest, and messiest, outdoor bash Tuesday, the Washington Post reports. With trashcans removed for security precautions, inauguration attendees littered the National Mall, leaving it looking like a rendition of Disney's Wall-E. Obama gear,...

Recession Has US Recycling Industry in Dumpster

Scrap fetching a fraction of the price it used to—if it's not cheaper to send it to landfills

(Newser) - With the economy tanking, recyclable material is selling like, well, trash. Mixed paper, which sold for $105 per ton as recently as October, now fetches $20-$25, the New York Times reports. “It’s awful,” said one recycling rep, who says her yard is packed with refuse that can’...

Backstage Tour Lays Bare Springer Nation

Campy disasters inspire schadenfreude

(Newser) - A backstage tour of The Jerry Springer Show reveals "fundamental truths about the human condition," Kevin Pang writes in the Chicago Tribune. Philanderers and home-wreckers vetted by the show receive star treatment for a day, and insist their tales are true—for the most part. It's "all...

Britons: New Trash Laws Are Rubbish

Controversial UK measures get tough on waste

(Newser) - In the midst of a garbage overload, the UK is cracking down on trash with strict new rules, sparking a backlash among Britons, the New York Times reports. Many areas now pick up trash only biweekly, and accept only regulation amounts. Some reject recycling bins tainted with garbage. In response,...

Trash Fires Blaze Across Naples
 Trash Fires Blaze Across Naples 

Trash Fires Blaze Across Naples

Firefighters working overtime as angry residents burn excess garbage

(Newser) - The prolonged garbage impasse in Naples has taken a new turn as angry residents began setting fire to thousands of tons of waste littering city streets. Firefighters were at work all night battling at least 90 burns across the city, AFP reports. “Every six to seven minutes, one of...

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