This Week in Waste: Top Stories from June 10 - June 14, 2024

What Causes Compost Fires: Knowing the ConditionsBy Arlene Karidis
Fires, especially small fires—and more so in mulch facilities than commercial compost facilities— are not uncommon. The trick is to manage those fires before they become larger. A better strategy yet is to prevent them in the first place, which begins with knowing the conditions that can lead to these events
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NextWave Grows Ocean-bound Plastics Supply Chain
By Arlene Karidis
NextWave members—brands, recyclers, converters, and other plastic supply chain stakeholders—have collectively diverted 20,479 metric tons of plastic since 2017. That’s equal to 2.27 billion single-use water bottles. The figure places NextWave at over 80 percent of its 2025 goal to divert 25,000 metric tons of ocean-bound plastic—which is typically defined as trash that’s within 50 kilometers (or 31 miles) from a water body.
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Illinois Passes Portable Battery Stewardship ActThe National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) celebrates the passage of the Illinois Portable Battery Stewardship Act, a landmark piece of legislation that marks a significant step toward improving the collection, recycling and environmentally responsible disposal of lithium-ion batteries along with other types of portable batteries throughout the state of Illinois.
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Tetra Tech’s Lee Daigle Talks About Landfill Emissions, Career Experience
By Willona Sloan
At Tetra Tech, Lee Diagle, client manager and marketing director, balances providing client services with driving marketing and advertising initiatives. Tetra Tech is a global provider of consulting and engineering services. In Madison, WI, Daigle’s unit, Solid Waste East, focuses on tackling complex issues and providing solid waste solutions.
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Glass Half Full's Trautmann Eyes Enhanced Glass Recycling Initiatives in the Southeast
By Arlene Karidis
As she sits in her 40,000-square foot warehouse today, Trautmann, a 40 Under 40 Award recipient,  tells why in those early college days she didn’t listen to people who told her recycling glass “wasn’t worth it.”
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