Landfill Mining and Its Tremendous Potential

Good News Notes: “An average American dumps 4.4 pounds of waste a day, and it is estimated that the U.S. produces 7.6 billion tons of industrial waste every year. Additionally, for more than 100 years, the entire world’s unwanted waste has been discarded in the land. As the trash inside landfills decomposes, it releases methane…

Scientists Discover New Bacteria that Feeds on Plastic

 Good News Notes: “Researchers have identified a new bacterium that feeds on polyurethane, a kind of plastic that is difficult to recycle or destroy. Scientists say the discovery could help reduce a flood of hard-to-recycle plastics that are ending up in the world’s landfills and polluting oceans. A team from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in…

Home renovators reap rewards of reuse, recycling

Good News Notes: “Hundreds of thousands of tons of construction and demolition waste — much of it from home tear-downs and remodeling jobs — end up in Minnesota landfills every year. But some homeowners are learning it’s environmentally, and financially, rewarding when materials from such projects are reused or recycled. Kim Chapman LaFrence, of Grant,…