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The 2010 explosion and fire at the 'Pick Your Part' junkyard in Wilmington, CA took more than 30 hours to extinguish, releasing particulate matter, dioxins and heavy metals across neighboring communities.
(Photo courtesy of Jesse Marquez)
Article October 21, 2014

Scrapping the Recycling Industry’s Green Image

Not all recycling is as green as it may seem.

Press Release September 23, 2021

Report Sheds New Light on Ongoing Health Risks from Glass-Recycling Plant

Modeling reveals high levels of asthma-causing pollution from Owens-Brockway plant

Press Release July 7, 2006

EPA Allows More Pollution from Large Waste Combustors, Avoids Recycling Requirement

Trash burning already accounts for over 13 tons of mercury pollution alone each year

In the News: Grist October 5, 2021

EPA might finally regulate the plastic industry’s favorite kind of ‘recycling’

Jim Pew, Attorney, Washington, D.C., Office, Earthjustice: “It’s quite simple. If you want to burn municipal waste, meet the Clean Air Act standards for municipal waste incinerators. If you want to burn industrial waste, meet the Clean Air Act standards for industrial waste.”

Document April 27, 2021

New York: Comments on Proposed Part 350 – Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law

Food waste is a top contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. When food waste rots in landfills, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its global warming strength. According to New York State’s inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, in 2014, landfill emissions made up about 58% of the State’s methane emissions and about 5% of its total greenhouse gas emissions.

Document February 4, 2020

Comments on the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Proposed Part 351, “Plastic Bag Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling”

New York's legislature passed a strong law banning single-use plastic bags, however, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation proposed regulations that would allow thicker bags to be used, undermining the law. The loophole ultimately increases the lifecycle impacts from plastic bags, from the fossil fuel extraction, to harmful chemical additives, to the bags ending up on streets and oceans, or to later be burned or added to the landfills.

Workers breakdown a ship. The "Ghost Fleet" vessels contained 100 tons of persistent and toxic PCBs.
(Photo courtesy of Naquib Hossain)
case: Victory October 20, 2001

Recycling A Toxic Fleet Of Ghost Ships

The Bush administration’s plans to export nine ex-naval “Ghost Fleet” vessels from the James River in Virginia to Teesside, England, for scrapping has itself been finally scrapped, according to the Able UK company. The 13 ships are in serious states of deterioration with several of them already having leaked oil into the James River. According…

Roger Garbey and Andres Hernandez (L-R), from the Goldin Solar company, install a solar panel system on the roof of a home in Palmetto Bay, Florida. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
Article March 23, 2023

Creating a Sustainable Clean Energy Transition

Transitioning to 100% clean energy is a huge opportunity to power our economy and create good jobs without sacrificing our communities or the climate. Here’s how we do it.

Press Release December 29, 2010

EPA Coal Ash Analysis Flawed

Overstates value of coal ash recycling by more than 20 times

Article February 3, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: Coal Numbers Don’t Add Up

The American Coal Ash Association is trying with might to mislead us. In a recent press release, they exaggerated the impact the Environmental Protection Agency’s rulemaking process is having on coal ash recycling, claiming a decrease in the recycling of combustion waste from coal plants since the EPA started work on a coal ash rule.The…

From the Experts June 28, 2021

To Create a Clean Energy Future, Mining Reform Must Be Front and Center

We are advocating for four solutions that together can ensure a sustainable supply chain for critical minerals.

Article January 19, 2012

Friday Finds: Meatless Mondays Go Mainstream

Ag industry takes beef with Americans eating less meat Americans are eating less meat, which means the U.S. obsession with double-bacon cheeseburgers and chicken-fried sandwiches may one day be a thing of the past, reports Grist. According to the USDA, beef, chicken and pork sales are all down, prompting the meat industry to accuse the…

The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in 2008 flooded the Emory and Clinch Rivers with toxic ash.
(Tennessee Valley Authority Photo)
Article September 12, 2014

Industry's Coal Ash Claims are Bogus

Polluter arguments against coal ash regulations are disproved by their own data

Since 1982, hazardous waste recycling has polluted more than 200 sites, including many on the Superfund National Priority List.
(Brandon Bourdages / Shutterstock)
Press Release June 26, 2014

Public Interest Groups Call on Obama to Cease Delays and Finalize Hazardous Waste Requirements

A large coalition of environmental justice, public health and green organizations in a letter Thursday called on President Obama to fulfill a consent decree by finalizing a proposed rule that would strengthen safeguards governing billions of pounds of hazardous waste that were excluded from regulation in 2008. “The undersigned individuals and organizations … are committed to…

Press Release January 29, 2009

Groups Petition New Admininstration to Undo Midnight Change to Hazardous Waste Rules

Bush administration favor to industry deregulated 1.5 million tons of toxic waste

Press Release June 30, 2009

Environmental Justice Advocates Testify: Repeal Bush-Era Hazardous Waste Loophole

Rule deregulates 1.5 million tons of toxic waste, puts low-income and communities of color at increased risk