US states take recycling lead

United States – California’s Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill that commits the US state to a 75% recycling rate by 2020 – the same as the target set by Florida in 2010. According to the California state government, the law requires commercial businesses, institutions and apartment buildings to implement recycling programmes for the first time.

Meanwhile, California’s northern neighbour claims to be making steady progress on recycling: Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) says the state recycled or recovered 50% of its waste in 2010, with 2.1 million tonnes of materials recycled for an increase of 1.7% over the 2009 figure. Some 39% of the materials recovered were classified as organics, followed by paper (29%), metals (19%), glass (5%), plastics (2%) and electronics (1%). ‘The size of Oregon’s waste pile remained nearly constant, but recovery of materials rose while disposal fell,’ comments DEQ solid waste specialist Mary Lou Perry.

According to a DEQ report, energy savings from recycling and recovery reached 32 trillion BTU last year – equivalent to around 3% of the state’s total energy use – while greenhouse gas emission reductions amounted to some 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents.