EBay, Computer Manufacturers Work to Recycle Computers
Online auction house eBay Inc. is joining personal computer makers and environmentalists seeking to recycle more of the 400 million electronic products that are dumped each year. Together with Intel Corp., eBay has signed up major PC makers and computer distributors, such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Apple, and Gateway, along with the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, the Texas Campaign for the Environment, and other environmentalists. Many parties said that eBay's offer to serve as a go-between made the arrangement plausible and workable. Only 10 percent of unwanted PCs are recycled, according to the Grass Roots Recycling Network...Read More »
Transtech Enters Consent Decree for New Jersey Landfill
Transtech Industries has entered into consent decrees to resolve claims brought against it by the federal EPA, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund over the Kin-Buc Landfill in Piscataway, N.J. The landfill shut down in 1977 and is now undergoing remediation. The EPA sought payment of $4.2 million for past response costs and $18.1 in penalties for alleged delays in completing cleanup work, and the state agencies sought undisclosed penalties. Waste Management was also involved in some of the allegations of violations. Waste Management paid $2.6 million plus interest for response costs, and Waste Management and Transtech paid a total of $100,000 plus interest for the penalties. In addition, the companies granted the EPA a conservation easement and 74 other acres near Kin-Buc to the EPA...Read More »
NAIMA Releases Survey of Members' Recycling
The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association has released results of a survey indicating that its members used over 1.6 billion pounds of recycled post-consumer glass and blast furnace slag in the manufacture of thermal and acoustical insulation. In the last decade, NAIMA members have used nearly 21 billion pounds of recycled material...Read More »
Ace Will Increase Insurance Reserves for Environmental Claims
Ace Ltd., a Bermuda-based property-casualty insurer, has announced it will take a $298 million charge in its fourth quarter to increase reserves for asbestos and other environmental claims. Ace took on asbestos liabilities in June 1999 when it paid $3.45 billion for Cigna Corp. of Philadelphia's property casualty insurance business. In September, Ace had $3.74 billion in reserves to pay asbestos and environmental claims...Read More »
Versar Wins $3M Army Corps Contract
Versar Inc. has received an up to $3 million Army contract to provide architecture, engineering, and environmental support services. The order from the Norfolk District of the Army Corps of Engineers has an initial base year and two option years. Versar has worked with the Corps for 20 years, and posted fiscal 2004 revenues of $60.5 million...Read More »
Illinois Gov. Shuts Down Landfill Run by Distant Relative
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has ordered the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to shut down a Will County landfill which was run by a distant relative of his wife. Land Reclamation Services Incorporated's operator had allegedly told customers he did not need permits because of his family connections. But Blagojevich said in a statement that no landfills receive special treatment, and after a two-week investigation, the IEPA closed the 45-acre Joliet landfill because of violations including dumping of waste without a permit...Read More »
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