Planetary Ruin

Still wondering why you should bother recycling your aluminum cans? Just ask Greg Wittbecker. He’s the director of Corporate Metal Recycling for Alcoa and a big proponent of boosting the paltry amount the U.S. recycles (52% of cans) to 75%.

Full Article

Hewlett-Packard is launching its new line of greener products with the D2545 color inkjet printer. The Energy Star qualified printer is made of 83% recycled plastic and comes with a cartridge made of recycled plastic resins.

Full Article

San Francisco’s unique plastic bag ban extended Tuesday to include pharmacies operating five or more locations in the city, according to NBC.

Full Article

After eight years of negotiation, the European Parliament has reached an agreement with member states on legislation that will force national governments to apply criminal sanctions to those causing deliberate or negligent damage to the environment.

The agreement will infuriate British Conservatives who have been fighting tooth and nail against what they called an “intrusion” into national criminal law.

Full Article

Jumping ahead of state and federal regulators, the Bay Area air quality district became the first in the nation on Wednesday to impose fees on businesses that pump some of the highest levels of carbon dioxide into the air each year.

Full Article

The practice of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is picking up steam, most notably in the information technology industry. A growing number of companies are taking on greater levels of responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products – from point of manufacturing through to end of the life recycling. E-waste recycling is taking off, but obstacles remain to its widespread practice in North America.

Full Article

Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers and Australia’s best-known global warming expert, yesterday released a new climate forecast. Since his last major forecast in 2005, he has projected a direr outcome and in turn suggests consideration of radical solutions to the global warming phenomenon, including ”˜dimming’ through sulphur.

Professor Flannery spoke at a business and sustainability conference at Parliament House in Australia on Monday.

Full Article

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Creeping out of their condo after dark carrying illicit bags of garbage was not part of the life Sarah Moser and her husband envisioned for themselves before moving to tropical Singapore.

But with recycling in its infancy on the island, such nocturnal escapades have become normal for the two academics.

Full Article

In an effort to improve electronics recycling in the United States, the U.S. Postal Service is developing a free national collection program for small electronic items.

The program, now in a pilot stage, provides courtesy envelopes with pre-paid postage for patrons to deposit their unwanted digital cameras, printer cartridges, MP3 players, cell phones, and PDAs. International recycling company Clover Technologies Group processes the devices in its U.S. and Mexican facilities and then refurbishes and resells them if possible.

Full Article

The Norwegian electric car producer TH!NK has reached across the Atlantic to establish TH!NK North America.

The new venture was announced at the 2008 FORTUNE Brainstorm Green Conference held in Pasadena, California, that brought chief executives from all over North America together to talk about the business opportunities.

Full Article