Green of the Week!

           Considering this blog has been a bit neglected in the past few weeks, we thought the best way to give it a little kick-start would be to start weekly themed pieces.  So, every Friday, make sure to check out our U-M Recycling's "Green of the Week" piece, where we pick out what we thought to be the major recycling news of the week, interesting and new green product development, innovative recycling ideas, and much more!  We would love for suggestions, commentary, and criticisms on what we at the Waste Reduction and Recycling Office are doing, so please let us know!  If you have any ideas for weekly installments that YOU want us to feature, either send us a tweet @UmichRecycling or an email at recycle@umich.edu.

          This week's Green of the Week comes from Resource Recycling in their coverage of the potential legislation to improve how the EPA collects recycling information - more specifically, "the types of materials recovered, how they're recovered and what end use they are directed to".  While some in Congress see this legislation as something that stands to "accomplish very little", other legislators and companies are optimistic that this will help recover data to ultimately keep the industry competitive internationally by what Charles Johnson highlights as "contributing to private-sector green jobs, energy efficiency, and industry waste-reduction goals.  Currently, recycling rates need to be improved to take into account contaminants that divert some, otherwise recyclable, materials to landfill, as well as, quantifying the re-use of materials into the rates.  Overall, the legislation is being pushed in what Rep. Henry Waxman of California calls "the most anti-environment House of Representatives in the nation's history".  Despite the challenges within Congress, the push for legislation is necessary and backed by multiple facets of corporations within the recycling industry.

For the full article, you can follow the link below:
http://resource-recycling.com/node/2886