Free Republic

A report claims that the outlook for President Joe Biden’s (D) reelection hopes is not good. However, his campaign has pushed back on the idea that it is recycling its 2020 strategy, the news coming as Biden goes head to head with former President Donald Trump. Fox News on Monday cited a recent Time article about the situation, noting some are worried Biden is on the road to a massive defeat. The Fox report continued: Biden is “indeed in trouble,” Time correspondent Charlotte Alter wrote in the piece published Thursday, detailing his low approval ratings, how he trails or ties...

In the heart of Oakland, where rising crime rates are turning the city into a battleground, there’s a curious twist in the tale. While law enforcement struggles to keep up with surging robberies, burglaries, and motor vehicle theft, Oakland is channeling resources into an unexpected venture – recycling inspectors. In a recent initiative, Oakland workers hit the streets to inspect trash cans, ensuring residents adhere to the meticulous sorting required by SB 1383, California’s short-lived climate pollution reduction act. The law mandates three-streamed sorting for trash, compost, and recycling. Rebecca Parnes, a senior recycling specialist with the City of Oakland,...

A massive fire broke out at a French industrial site used for recycling hybrid and electric car batteries on Saturday, sending thick clouds of smoke into the air. The town of Viviez in the department of Aveyron in Southern France was shrouded by black clouds of smoke after a fire broke out at a warehouse used to hold hybrid and electric car lithium batteries. Overall, the site held an estimated 900 tonnes of lithium batteries, however, officials claimed that the cause of the fire has still not been determined, Le Figaro reports.

Plastic producers should ‘pay for the damage they’ve caused’ after decades of deception, the report's authors say. Recycling has been promoted as a solution to plastic waste management for more than 50 years. But big oil companies and the plastics industry have known for decades that it’s not a technically or economically viable solution, a new report reveals. Combining existing research and recently revealed internal documents, the report by the Center for Climate Integrity Research (CCI) could form the foundation for legal action, its authors say. “When corporations and trade groups know that their products pose grave risks to society,...

Massive explosions from a possible factory fire rocked Columbus, GA this evening. The development comes in a long string of infrastructure, and factory fires/explosions over the last year across the United States. The Biden administration has been silent on this issue. The fires in California/Canada/Maui have also been very suspicious. The Georgia Record will work to find answers and has a reporter on the ground in Columbus this evening. UPDATE: The explosions seems to be located near 712 Tenth Ave, Columbus, GA. UPDATE: The event appears to be at Radius Recycling, reports WRBL. Large flames and smoke can be seen...

Here’s something many of you probably suspected, but now there’s even more scientific data to back it up. A new study from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland has determined that recycling is not only failing to “save the planet” as we’ve long been promised, but it’s arguably producing a net harmful effect on both the environment and human health. In case that still comes as a surprise to you, the primary culprit in all of this is our old friend plastic. The ubiquitous use of various types of plastics in nearly everything humans manufacture or use is producing cumulative...

Even Greenpeace has finally acknowledged the truth: Recycling plastic makes no sense. This has been obvious for decades to anyone who crunched the numbers, but the fantasy of recycling plastic proved irresistible to generations of environmentalists and politicians. They preached it to children, mandated it for adults and bludgeoned municipalities and virtue-signaling corporations into wasting vast sums — probably hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide — on an enterprise that has been harmful to the environment as well as to humanity. Now Greenpeace has seen the light or at least a glimmer of rationality. The group has issued a report...

Even Greenpeace now admits the obvious: recycling doesn’t work ... Even Greenpeace has finally acknowledged the truth: recycling plastic makes no sense. This has been obvious for decades to anyone who crunched the numbers, but the fantasy of recycling plastic proved irresistible to generations of environmentalists and politicians. They preached it to children, mandated it for adults, and bludgeoned municipalities and virtue-signaling corporations into wasting vast sums—probably hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide—on an enterprise that has been harmful to the environment as well as to humanity. Now Greenpeace has seen the light, or at least a glimmer of rationality....

A new report by the environmental nonprofit Greenpeace released on Monday finds that the vast majority of plastic waste produced by U.S. households is not recycled. Lisa Ramsden, a senior plastics campaigner at Greenpeace USA and one of the authors of the report, spoke with host Brad Mielke on ABC News’ “Start Here” podcast about the biggest takeaways from the report, the state of the recycling industry in the U.S. at large and what consumers should know about recycling. START HERE: Can you describe this new report you guys have because it freaked me out. Like, am I not…should I...

Sprite is retiring its green plastic bottles after more than 60 years. Coca-Cola said Wednesday it's changing the packaging from green to clear plastic beginning August 1 as part of broader efforts to become more environmentally responsible. Sprite's current plastic contains green polyethylene terephthalate (PET), an additive that can't be recycled into new bottles, a key initiative for the company as it looks to reduce plastic waste. "Taking colors out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material," Julian Ochoa, CEO of R3CYCLE, a plastic group helping Coca-Cola improve its recycling, said in a statement. "When recycled, clear PET...

California .. the bill is coming due. ... no comprehensive plan to dispose of them. Now, panels purchased under those programs are nearing the end of their typical 25-to-30-year life cycle. Many are already winding up in .. contaminate groundwater with toxic heavy metals such as lead, selenium and cadmium. Sam Vanderhoof, a solar industry expert and chief executive of Recycle PV Solar, says that only 1 in 10 panels are actually recycled ... The looming challenge over how to handle truckloads of waste... “The industry is supposed to be green,” Vanderhoof said. “But in reality, it’s all about the...

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Starting July 1, people who live in the Town of Perinton will have to pay for their recycling to be picked up. For years, as part of a deal with the landfill in their backyard, residents were able to get their recycling picked up for free by Waste Management weekly but that deal was recently renegotiated and not everyone is happy about it. Recently, the Town of Perinton entered into a new host agreement with Waste Management.

It's time to debunk this urban legend.There are many contentious debates when it comes to pizza. Cheese or pepperoni? New York- or Chicago-style? Pro- or anti-pineapple? While all of these arguments may never be resolved, we're here to discuss one that should have a definite answer: Should you put used pizza boxes in the recycling bin or the trash? One of the reasons for this cardboard confusion is that the answer may vary based on where you live. Recycling centers across the country each have their own guidelines for what you can recycle. In New York City, for example, you're...

Police have discovered a mountain of stolen bikes in a man's back garden so big it could be seen - on Google Earth. The pile of bicycles visible via satellite were discovered at a property in Oxford, England. Police officers visited the house on Giles Road, Littlemore - and found what looked like hundreds of bikes. ..."Cracks me up no one spotted it sooner. Surely you'd think it suspicious to have a garden overflowing with bikes?" Many agreed with this sentiment, wondering "Did the neighbors not think it strange...?"

Used lithium-ion batteries taken from carmaker Audi’s electric vehicles (EVs) have been repurposed into a ‘second-life’ stationary energy storage system by energy company RWE at a project in Herdecke, Germany. RWE has deployed the system, which has a capacity of around 4.5MWh, at the site of its pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant at Hengsteysee reservoir in the North-Rhine Westphalia region of north-west Germany. The decommissioned batteries are taken from development models of Audi’s e-tron EVs, which have a maximum range of 252 miles when used for transport. They still had about 80% of their residual capacity remaining when taken...

Scott Davidson, the CEO of Indianapolis-based insurance company OneAmerica, said last week that the death rate in Indiana is up a stunning 40% from pre-pandemic levels among working-age people. The shocking admission by Davidson was made during an online news conference that was organized by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, reports TheCenterSquare. According to Davidson, the increase in deaths represents “huge, huge numbers,” and the deaths are not in the old, but in “primarily working-age people 18 to 64”. “Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a one-in-200-year catastrophe would be a 10%...

.....The Senate Finance Committee is weighing the idea of a tax on the sale of virgin plastic resin — the base materials used to make single-use plastics — as one potential way to pay for the mammoth spending bill, according to a document released earlier this month. But the proposal has garnered fierce opposition from the plastics division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), a trade group representing 28 companies including oil giants such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell as well as major chemical manufacturers such as DuPont and Dow Chemical.... ...“Plastic goes into a variety of applications, not just...

PHELPS — Over the last week or so, people who take their returnables to Coon’s Cans locations in Phelps and Geneva have likely been disappointed — or perhaps angry — to drive in and see a closed sign on the door. The owner of both sites understands her customers’ frustration. However, she believes that anger should be directed at a different company, TOMRA, which has a contract to pick up cans and bottles regularly from her sites and other area redemption centers — but has not been doing so. “Both of my stores have been closed temporarily due to TOMRA’s...

Microbe communities found in the stomach of cows can break down plastic, potentially offering a sustainable way to help reduce litter, a study has found. Specifically, the organisms come from the rumen — the first and largest of the four compartments that make up the bovine stomach.... ...The team found that the microbes from the cows' rumens were capable of breaking down all three plastics — PET, PBAT, PEF — with the powdered versions, with their greater surface areas to attack, unsurprisingly breaking down faster than the films. Moreover — compared to the results of similar studies conducted using single...

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A new law that takes effect on Jan. 1, 2022, will dramatically change what you can and can't recycle in the state of California. According to SB 1383, any person or business that creates garbage will have to recycle all their organic food waste. "It really brings a lot of material under the umbrella of what must be recycled," says Ken Prue, the City of San Diego's Deputy Director of Environmental Services. Prue says people will no longer be allowed to throw away food scraps or other organic material. Instead, they'll have to go into the...