If you attended a solid waste or recycling conference two decades ago, the chances were good that Bill Rathje was the keynote speaker. Bill was an archaeology professor at the University of Arizona who first made his name with his insights into...

Recently I was cleaning out some old files when I came across the press release for “Solid Waste Management at the Crossroads,” a 1997 report that predicted what recycling and waste management would be like in 2010. Franklin Associates, EPA’s...

Free recycling. What a wonderful concept! Isn’t it great to know that the trucks and the crews that come by your house and collect your recyclables and the workers and equipment that process them are doing all of this for free? Altruism is alive...

In last month’s column, I apologized for an error in my January column, when I may have created an inaccurate recycling rate for printed paper. I explained where I may have gone wrong and looked at how EPA has changed the way it reports on...

I have an apology to make. In my January column, “Five Myths of Recycling,” I estimated a printed paper recycling rate of 72 percent. After looking at more data, I don’t think I got that number right, although I do think I’m relatively close...

For the second year in a row, state and federal legislators showed little interest in solid waste and recycling issues. When they did act, most of the bills they passed tinkered with existing laws. For the most part, this was due to the pressure...

Every Sunday, the Washington Post Outlook section includes a feature called “Five Myths,” which seeks to dismantle myths and clarify common misconceptions. To start the New Year off with a bang, I thought I’d confront five persistent recycling...

That recycling creates more jobs than disposal is a no-brainer. After all, recycling gives materials a chance for a new life while disposal is final. How many jobs recycling creates, and the impact of those jobs on our economy, however, are the...

Earlier this year I was asked to be on a product stewardship panel at the Fall Workshop of the American Bar Association’s Section on Energy, Environment and Resources. Product stewardship is the idea that manufacturers should be responsible for...

Something about garbage seems to attract “magic bullets” — the belief that if we just adopt one technology or idea, our trash problems will go away. Sometimes this manifests itself as a miraculous machine that can convert all garbage into energy...