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RMDZ

California’s Recycling Market Development Program Pays Businesses | Waste360

California is enticing recycling and remanufacturing businesses to locate and expand across regions through a program that’s decades old but is ramping up and transforming. Run and funded by CalRecycle, the Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ) program has divvied out 219 low-interest loans totaling $206M since 1994, allocating $41.2M of it in the past three years alone as the circular economy push grows stronger.

Source: California’s Recycling Market Development Program Pays Businesses | Waste360

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RMDZ

What materials will make the cut under EPR? It’s complicated

What materials will make the cut under EPR? It’s complicated

States with extended producer responsibility programs are starting to grapple with a tricky question: How do we establish a list of materials covered by the system? 

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The post What materials will make the cut under EPR? It’s complicated appeared first on Resource Recycling News.

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RMDZ

California’s Food Label Legislation Sees More Movement

California’s AB 660, which is aiming to mandate specific terminology around date labels on food packaging, took another step forward May 18, 2023 as it passed through the House Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Source: California’s Food Label Legislation Sees More Movement

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RMDZ

EPA opts to maintain existing pyrolysis air rules

EPA opts to maintain existing pyrolysis air rules

Ample time and staff resources are needed to study and gain a technical and regulatory understanding of the air quality impacts of pyrolysis. In the meantime, the process should remain subject to more stringent regulatory requirements, the U.S. EPA decided. 

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The post EPA opts to maintain existing pyrolysis air rules appeared first on Plastics Recycling Update.

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RMDZ

Google Seeks Sustainable Packaging Options to Eliminate Single-Use Plastics

Google recently launched the Single-Use Plastics Challenge to help the company reduce plastic waste.

The Challenge calls on “visionary companies” with reusable and sustainable packaging options that will replace single-use plastics, according to a video from Google.

Finalists will have the chance to pitch their products to Google and leading global food operators. The goal is to bring innovative solutions to Google U.S.-based kitchens and cafes to help the company reduce, and ultimately eliminate, single-use plastics from on-site food operations.

Google prefers candidates working with reusable serviceware or packaging, but will also consider bulk packaging or dispensing options, edible packaging, post-consumer recycled materials, or unlined serviceware and packaging. While glass and aluminum are acceptable, the company will not consider single-use plastics, or packaging that is bio-based, compostable, multi-layer, or PFAS-lined.

The deadline for applications is May 30, 2023. To learn more about the Challenge and for additional details on how to apply, click here.

In 2021 alone, the world generated 139 million metric tons of single-use plastic waste, according to the Plastic Waste Makers Index. And research published in Science Advances estimates that more than 90 percent of discarded plastic is never recycled.

“To realize a more sustainable world, we must accelerate the transition to a circular economy — one that keeps materials, products and services in circulation for as long as possible,” write Mike Werner, Head of Circular Economy for Google’s Global Sustainability Team, and Matt Hood, Senior Director of the Google Food Program. “The progress we’ve seen continues to motivate us to do our part and build a more sustainable future for all, and we hope others will join us to take on this challenge.”

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo Courtesy of Nick Fewings, Unsplash

The post Google Seeks Sustainable Packaging Options to Eliminate Single-Use Plastics appeared first on Food Tank.

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RMDZ

Why The Right To Repair Agricultural Equipment is Crucial To Food Security

A version of this piece was featured in Food Tank’s newsletter, released weekly on Thursdays. To make sure it lands straight in your inbox and to be among the first to receive it, subscribe now by clicking here.

If your tractor breaks, it seems like a no-brainer that you should be allowed to fix it—right?

Not always. In fact, agriculture machinery manufacturers are making it difficult for farmers or independent repair shops to address issues with equipment. From proprietary tools and parts to specific software, corporations create these barriers in order to retain the exclusive ability to service equipment—and to make more money.

The right to repair movement is fighting to give consumers control over the products they own.

Despite having vast know-how, farmers may be physically barred from making repairs and improvements to their equipment. If a tractor breaks, a farmer might have to wait weeks or months to pay someone else to fix it—and all the while, they’re losing crops and losing money.

“We’re trying to maintain our consumer rights, which means we still have to be able to repair and modify our tractors just like dad, grandpa, and great-grandpa did years ago,” Kevin Kenney, a Nebraska right-to-repair advocate, told Food Tank.

And thanks to advocate groups including The Repair Association, the topic is gaining momentum. A recent op-ed in the Washington Post says the right to repair could be “the next big political movement.” Currently, right to repair legislation is being proposed or enacted in more than half of all U.S. state governments—in ways that have the potential to be widely bipartisan.

Most of the progress toward right-to-repair has involved consumer devices, but luckily, some states are expanding right-to-repair to farm equipment, too. Proposals in 28 states will require electronics companies to make tools, parts, and vital information available for either individuals or independent repair shops. In April, Colorado became the first state to pass legislation ensuring consumers can fix their own tractors, and a similar bill is moving through Vermont’s state government, too.

Opponents of right-to-repair legislation say it would jeopardize consumer safety if repairs weren’t limited to corporate-authorized service providers—and they argue that the bills would also violate intellectual property protections and expose trade secrets if companies shared information.

But this simply is not true. A 2021 report from the Federal Trade Commission analyzed both corporations’ and advocates’ claims and found “scant evidence to support manufacturers’ justifications for repair restrictions.”

“We are a whole generation away from when everything was capable of being modified, improved upon—‘on-farm ingenuity,’ we used to call it,” Kevin Kenney told Food Tank from Nebraska. “We’re trying to bring that back through the same way we lost it, and that’s through open-source software. That’s the only way that’s going to work.”

When companies block farmers from making immediate fixes to their own equipment that might be necessary to harvest crops, they’re not only putting farmers’ livelihoods at risk—they’re putting food security at risk.

And they may be jeopardizing the environment, too. From Kenney’s perspective, right-to-repair is a way for farmers to embrace urgent regenerative practices without having to wait for major industries to catch up.

“We certainly think we should have the ability to make our equipment better and more economical and more ecologically sound on the farm,” he told Food Tank. “And take advantage of more renewable energy sources on the farm.”

At its core, the right to repair is about who really holds the power in our agricultural system. Farmers are some of the smartest people I know, and the right to repair is critical to building a food system that honors the time-honored skills of producers.

Let’s talk about the right to repair in your community. If your state, province, city, or local government is considering legislation on the subject, you can make a difference by speaking up. Email me at [email protected], and let’s talk about how Food Tank can help amplify your voice.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Dietmar Reichle, Unsplash

The post Why The Right To Repair Agricultural Equipment is Crucial To Food Security appeared first on Food Tank.

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RMDZ

Anaergia Signs Contract to Build State-of-the-Art Food Waste and Wastewater Sludge Co-Digestion Facility

BURLINGTON, Ontario –Anaergia Inc. (TSX: ANRG), today announced it will provide technologies that will enable Monterey One Water, the wastewater utility of northern Monterey County, California, to make renewable energy from food waste as well a
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RMDZ

Mattress retailer penalized $68,916 for recycling violations

Office of Public Affairs For Immediate Release: August 16, 2022 News Release #2023-01 Media Contact: Melanie Turner 916-341-6763 | [email protected] SACRAMENTO – Los Angeles retailer 101 Design Furniture and Mattress faces $68,916 in penalties after failing to collect and submit consumer mattress recycling charges used to recycle old mattresses and reduce illegal dumping.

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RMDZ

Study: Recycling, reusing plastics pose chemical risk

Study: Recycling, reusing plastics pose chemical risk

A recent analysis by Switzerland-based Food Packaging Forum reviewed hundreds of scientific studies and concluded that recycled and reused food-contact plastics can accumulate and release chemicals of concern. 

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The post Study: Recycling, reusing plastics pose chemical risk appeared first on Plastics Recycling Update.

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RMDZ

California commission recommends a pause on SB 1383 organics law, industry disagrees

The Little Hoover Commission, a bipartisan group appointed by state officials, found that California is “poised to miss” its 2025 organic waste reduction targets. Companies such as Republic Services said it’s too late to turn back.