THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE INDUSTRY

No Cat Do

Cats may be many things, but they are not joiners. So it is little surprise that one finicky feline effectively sabotaged her owners' attempt to set an environmental example. Oregon residents Amy and Adam Korst had the best of intentions: Live for a year by sending no more than five pounds of waste to the landfill. They found ways to recycle everything from toothbrushes to stereo components and sacrificed foods that came in packaging that could not be recycled or reused (their efforts are documented at www.greengarbageproject.com). The endeavor was going swimmingly — until the Korsts' eight-year-old cat Lexy decided her part of the arrangement simply would not fly.

Lexy had grown accustomed to her environmentally-unfriendly kitty litter and flatly refused to use the biodegradable substitute. Eventually, the Korsts excused Lexy from having to participate in the project, conceding to The Guardian newspaper that they “do not have a green cat.”
SOURCE: guardian.co.uk

The Dukes of Hazardous Waste

The owners of Central Landfill in Johnston, R.I., had a problem: Local all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and dirt bike enthusiasts were illegally trespassing on the 1,200-acre property and using the landfill and surrounding woods for off-road riding.

The solution? Fight four-wheelers with four-wheelers. Using $17,000 in federal Homeland Security funding, two Johnston police officers were furnished with ATVs of their own (complete with shotgun holsters) and put on patrol to take down those no-good, dump-jumping motorheads.

The plan has helped curb the municipal waste motocross. Since instituting the patrols, half as many illegal off-roading incidents have been reported. One suspects those riders are too busy applying for jobs with the Johnston Police Department.
SOURCE: The Providence Journal