Pinellas approves $450 million contract for new managers of waste-to-energy plant “Despite a pending lawsuit, the Pinellas County Commission on Monday awarded a $450 million contract to Covanta Projects to run the county's waste-to-energy plant in north St. Petersburg. The board heeded its staff's advice, voting 6-1 to approve a 10-year contract that will pay Covanta $19.49 for every ton of garbage processed at the plant on 114th Avenue N. The contract calls for a minimum of 810,000 tons of garbage to be processed each year, making that part of the contract worth at least $158 million.” (Tampa Bay Times)

Blaze at tire recycling plant expected to last up to two days “Officials say a fire that broke out at a tire recycling plant in Valley Station Monday morning will likely burn for two days, but is not expected to pose any significant health hazard to area residents. The was reported just after 10 a.m. at Liberty Tire Recycling in the 14000 block of Bohannon Drive. Officials now believe that fire is contained.”

E.T. landfill documentary Atari: Game Over is out this November “Atari: Game Over, the documentary that chronicles the demise of Atari as a video game publisher and how the E.T. video game had a hand in it. The documentary is produced by Xbox Entertainment Studios, which Microsoft has shut down recently, but thankfully the E.T. documentary was among the surviving shows.” (VG247.com)

Bicyclist struck, killed by waste removal truck in Miami Beach “A bicyclist was struck and killed by a garbage removal truck Friday in Miami Beach. The accident occurred near the entrance to South Pointe Park. Local 10 News reporter Glenna Milberg said the man was riding his bike when he was apparently struck by a Pronto Waste Service truck.” (Local10.com)

Immigrant Recycling Workers Win Strike, Union Drive in East Bay “Within days of each other last week, two groups of Northern California recycling workers declared they'd had enough of what they see as regimes of indignity and discrimination. One group voted to unionize, and another, already union members, walked out on strike.” (In These Times)

Colton files appeal in Bensonhurst trash plant case “Assemblymember William Colton said he’s not going to give up his fight against the city’s plan to build a trash processing plant on the Bensonhurst waterfront, despite the fact that the project appears to be all systems go. Having lost his battle in court, Colton said he filed an appeal on Oct. 22 in the hope of overturning Hon. Bert Bunyan’s decision in which the New York State Supreme Court justice ruled that the city could go ahead and construct the facility.” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

Orbital Sciences agrees to $99,715 penalty for waste problems “The aerospace company Orbital Sciences Corp. has agreed to pay a penalty of nearly $100,000 for state waste violations at its satellite design and manufacturing site in Northern Virginia, officials said Friday. The case is not related to the Tuesday explosion of one of the company's unmanned rockets at Wallops Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore. ‘This [waste case] is completely coincidental,’ said Sarah Baker, enforcement manager for the state Department of Environmental Quality's Northern Virginia regional office.” (The Daily Progress)

Container recycling lags in Metro Vancouver “Metro Vancouver residents are recycling laggards when it comes to taking back their empty bottles and other deposit containers. And those in Surrey and Vancouver appear to be the worst of all. So says Encorp Pacific, the non-profit agency that oversees the Return-It network of depots on behalf of member companies.” (The Leader)

City of Abilene ready to negotiate curbside recycling program “Abilene City Council is preparing to negotiate a citywide curbside recycling program. According to this week's council agenda, council members will vote on whether to give Interim City Manager David A. Vela authority to negotiate a curbside recycling contract with Republic Services for an automated curbside recycling program.” (KTXS.com)

Waste collection penalties to be ‘last resort’, pledges PSD “After the department unveiled its plans to charge householders £2 to throw away a black bin sack, and 50p per recycling bag, the department has said it will shortly be meeting with douzaines to decide on how best to police the new system. ‘Education and persuasion should be the first recourse, with a penalty being the last resort after other methods have failed,’ said a PSD spokesman.” (Guernsey Press)