Virginia Trash Fee Plan Drawing Opposition
Opposition is mounting to Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner's proposed trash-tax increase, which would tack an additional $5 fee on every ton of trash dumped in Virginia landfills. Trash industry officials hope to build opposition among lawmakers by mounting a public relations campaign against the proposal. Warner says the fee increase would raise an extra $76 million a year. Much of the money would help pay for programs designed to improve water quality and preserve open spaces. About a third of the new money would go to localities as grants to close old landfills or cleaning leaking trash pits...Read More »
European Union Will Force Collection, Recycling of Appliances
The European Union Parliament has voted to force companies to pay for the collection and recycling of appliances and electronic products. The rules still must be approved by E.U. governments and are scheduled to be phased in by 2006. Cleaning up old equipment will cost around EUR40 billion, while disposing of new equipment will cost an annual EUR7.5 billion, according to industry estimates. Another EUR15 billion will be necessary to install environment-friendly production techniques. The European Union Commission estimates old appliances account for some 6 million tons of waste across Europe, and expects quantities to double over the next decade...Read More »
Waste Holdings Hires Harry M. Habets as VP
Waste Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: WWIN) has announced the hiring of Harry M. Habets as Vice President of Operations. As Vice President of Operations, Habets, a former executive with Waste Management Inc., will direct and coordinate the activities of all company operations. Waste Holdings, Inc. is a solid waste services company that provides collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services to commercial, industrial and residential customer locations in the southeastern United States...Read More »
RecycleNet Acquires Global Recycling Network
RecycleNet Corporation (OTC: GARM) has acquired Global Recycling Network allowing RecycleNet to offer more targeted resources and Internet services for Municipal Solid Waste managers, company executives noted. The GRN website will also become an information hub for waste exchanges. The acquisition of GRN should assist in achieving the milestone of 1 million unique web site visitors per month, the company said. RecycleNet markets and distributes the Rhodium WebWeaver turnkey e-commerce platform, a dynamic application that specializes in the delivery of e-commerce portals. The Rhodium WebWeaver Turnkey E-commerce System allows anyone anywhere to launch a fully functional online exchange, typically within 5 business days...Read More »
Judge Permits Transfer of EPA Ombudsman's Office
A federal judge has refused to block the Bush administration's plan to transfer the Environmental Protection Agency's hazardous waste ombudsman to another office. U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts ruled that Robert Martin had not exhausted all administrative remedies before going to court. Martin, who handles citizen complaints on waste and Superfund matters, had asked the court to block EPA Administrator Christie Whitman from moving his office to the EPA Inspector General's Office. Martin and his supporters, including members of Congress, say the transfer from the Superfund section is a retaliatory act that would weaken his independence...Read More »
Bush Administration Could Reimpose Superfund Polluter Tax
The Bush administration could ask Congress to reimpose the polluter's tax to pay for cleaning up Superfund sites in the 2004. EPA officials said the White House is reconsidering its opposition to the tax, which expired in 1995. At issue is the Superfund trust fund, created in 1980 to hold revenue from a special tax on the oil and chemical industries and other businesses that process or use toxic substances. The trust fund's revenues have fallen from $3.6 billion in 1996 to a projected $28 million at the end of 2003. In his 2003 budget plan, President Bush proposed spending $1.3 billion on the Superfund program, the same as the current year...Read More »
Computer Sciences Wins EPA Contract for Environmental Data
Computer Sciences plans to work with the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a database that will serve as a central repository for environmental data under a 7-year contract with a potential value of $285 million. The Central Data Exchange will serve as a single point of entry for federal, state and local environmental agencies, as well as businesses, to report environmental data, officials said. The EPA has already been running a pilot version of CDX, which can currently accept data for certain air, water, waste and toxics programs. The goal is to support all EPA environmental reporting by 2004...Read More »
Bush Administration Supports Toxic Chemical Treaty, with Restrictions
The Bush administration has asked Congress to support a global treaty phasing out a dozen highly toxic chemicals, but without a means for adding more pollutants to the elimination list. The treaty includes a provision anticipating more pollutants being added for removal in the future based on international scientific review. Environmentalists noted that most of the pollutants among the group commonly known as the "dirty dozen" - PCBs, dioxins and furans, along with DDT and other pesticides - already are no longer used in industrial countries such as the United States. Thus, they said it is essential to include the provision for extending the list to more pollutants that have been shown to contribute to developmental defects, cancer and other problems in humans and animals...Read More »
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