everydaytrash

Happy first day of Spring!

This week in trash news:

• As punishment for throwing her cell phone at her maid, Naomi Campbell must spend the week working for the department of sanitation;
• Also in New York, Polytechnic U develops ‘bioplastic’;
• The U.S.-Canadian trash war continues as a potential new law regulating Canuck dumping in Michegan clears committee; and
• South Africa opens its first rubbish-powered plant.

Thanks to all the authors who participated in Literary Trash, a week of garbage lit Q & A’s. I’m pleased as punch that five bonafide trash writers agreed to take part and especially proud that I was able to find such a varied crowd. What started as an idea to 1)beef up the original content on my blog and 2) expand the everyday trash network, turned into a fun and educational week dedicated to testing the bounds of the great trash debate.

On Monday, journalist Elizabeth Royte caught us up on her environmental reporting since the release of her book Garbage Land, listed some cities with admirable trash policy initiatives and tipped us off on how to vote trash-positive;

On Tuesday, British artist Andy Hughes described his transition from casual surfer to trash-hunting photographer;

On Wednesday, celebrated rat journalist Robert Sullivan compared trash bags to puff pastries and explained the political capital potential of rats;

On Thursday, children’s book author and illustrator Loreen Leedy shared educational trash project ideas and told us why big fat hippos make comical mayors; and

On Friday, sociologist David Naguib Pellow shed light on some of the race and class issues embedded in trash politics and alerted us to activist efforts around the world fighting for environmental justice.

Check back soon for more interviews with trash personalities–and by all means, please suggest interview subjects for future posts!

  This week in trash news:

• Rich people in Brunei make messes via servants;
• Residents of Des Plains, IL, are worried about wheeling out the trash; 
• Michigan slaps it to Canada with a NIMBY trash bill;
• Solid waste forges post-colonial ties in Mozambique;
• New Canaanites reveal that even the politically correct upper-crust need to do a better job recycling; and
• Corrupt bosses may be allowing some Namibian garbage men to convert vacation days into cash.

This week in trash news:

TOP STORY: Bombs in trash cans ruin New Years Eve in Bangkok;

• Tiruvottiyur, India makes a New Years resolution to separate biodegradable trash;
• A county in Virginia cracks down on trailer park trash (literally);
• The British develop an energy-saving magnetic fridge; and
• Guyana prepares to host the 2007 Cricket World Cup and braces itself for the extra garbage the event will bring.

In trash news this week:

• Chicagoans fail to understand/participate in blue bag program, city shuts it down;
• Kenyan eco-activist Wangari Maathai releases autobiography;
• Mystery medical waste found burried in a Pennsylvania mine;
• Vietnamese hospital caught burning and burrying waste as well; and
• Bilateral pact may open the door for Japan to dump trash in the Philippines’ back yard.

This week in trash news:

• A cost-benefit analysis of state requirements to recycle electronics finds that the four states with such programs are making money for all involved, suggesting that a national plan would make megabucks.
• DSNY offers New Yorkers unlimited free compost made from the leaves collected by the city last year.
• The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act turns thirty.
• Bhutan gets $24.6 million from the Asia Development Bank to improve it’s solid waste and water treatment infrastructure.
• Filipino President calls for a greener country.
• An Indiana town council proposes “sniff tests” before stinky mega-farms can be built in their county.