Vintage videogame found in New Mexico landfill sent to Smithsonian “A copy of a vintage ET Atari videogame extracted from a New Mexico landfill where hundreds of the cartridges were dumped after the game flopped in the 1980s has made its way to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The games were found earlier this year near Alamogordo, about 200 miles (320 km) southeast of Albuquerque. The mystery behind who dumped them, and why, inspired a documentary film by Microsoft Corp's Xbox Entertainment Studios.” (Reuters)

'Ambitious' zero-waste plan draws fire “With Marylanders throwing away far more trash per person than the average American, the O'Malley administration released a long-range plan Monday to virtually eliminate placing waste in state landfills in the next 25 years. The plan is drawing mixed reaction, however, as environmentalists criticize the blueprint's embrace of burning debris to generate energy.” (Baltimore Sun)

Arkansas DEQ urges consumers to be careful with E-waste “The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is encouraging consumers to recycle electronics they no longer use. Officials say valuable resources wind up lost in landfills when old electronics are simply thrown away. Some of the more than 40 elements that make up a mobile phone are copper, tin, cobalt, indium, antimony, silver, gold and palladium.” (The Associated Press)

AG settles with landowner charged with polluting NYC reservoir “After a Putnam County landowner's illegal landfill polluted a New York City drinking water reservoir, he will now, under a new settlement, be required to clean up the site and pay $245,000 in penalties. The settlement with landowner Gary Prato was announced by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd on Monday.” (The Legislative Gazette)

Annapolis Seeks Proposals For Renewable Energy Park On Landfill “The City of Annapolis, Md., is accepting sealed proposals from prospective developers or development teams for the development and operation of a renewable energy park. The competitive proposals shall be for a public-private partnership with a proposed developer or development team for a land-lease of the property containing the closed city landfill. To be considered, the proposals must be for privately financed project development and operation of the facility.” (Solar Industry)

Madison County to use waste to power businesses “Madison County is hoping to turn environmental stewardship into jobs. At least one business is putting up  shop near the county’s landfill, with the intent to use energy captured from decaying trash. Johnson Brothers Lumber, a third generation company out of Cazenovia, is taking their sustainability initiative to the next level. They’re building a kiln that will dry wood next door to the Madison County’s Gas-to-Energy facility in Wampsville, according to company vice president Mike Johnson.” (WRVO.org)

Polk City OKs solid waste contract “The City Commission worked Monday on what it considers the city's most important contracts — those for solid waste services and water treatment facilities. While it unanimously approved a contract for solid waste services, it wasn't sure what to do with a proposed contract for its water treatment facilities and ultimately tabled it.” (NewsChief.com)

City’s tragic waste site story “The city roughly sends around 2,700 tonnes of recyclable, reusable dry waste to the dumping grounds of Deonar and Mulund where no mechanism to process and the waste has been put in place. Now, consider this: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) pays around Rs29 lakh of the taxpayers’ money daily to the contractor who runs the dumping ground for each tonne of waste that is brought in (also called tipping fees).” (HindustanTimes.com)

Dutch recycler upgrades ZenRobotics system “The Finnish equipment company ZenRobotics Ltd. has confirmed that the Dutch waste management and recycling company Baetsen has purchased two Next Generation ZenRobotics Recycler (ZRR) units. The new systems will replace an earlier ZRR Fast Picker unit that has been in operation at Baetsen’s Veldhoven, Netherlands, recycling plant since March 2013. In addition, a second ZRR unit will be installed to increase the sorting line’s automation.” (Recycling Today)

Chicago scrap dealer pleads guilty to federal charges “The United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) has announced that Tri State Metal Co., a Chicago-based scrap metal company, has agreed to plead guilty to federal tax and currency transaction charges alleging that it engaged in cash transactions that resulted in underreporting its corporate income and underpaying its payroll taxes.” (Construction & Demolition Recycling)