NewsBits

A fire in the storage yard of Catalyst Paper's Snowflake, Arizona mill destroyed approximately 15,000 tons of recovered paper and has restarted production after temporarily shutting down the facility.

San Francisco residents and businesses have composted more than 907,000 tons of food scrap and plants since the city's organic waste program began in 1996.

A new book by Susan Frienkel, "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story", tells the story of our love affair with plastics through eight household objects: a comb, chair, Frisbee, IV bag, disposable lighter, grocery bag, soda bottle, and a credit card. The author suggests that we need to rethink our relationship with the material in this interview on NPR's "Fresh Air".

Microsoft Corp. will be switching to 100 percent post-consumer recycled printing paper in all its facilities in Puget Sound, including its headquarters in Redmond. The new paper will be supplied by Grays Harbor Paper.

A new recycling-related reality TV show, "Dare to Go Zero" challenges four families to reduce all their household waste to zero in five weeks.

Over 10,000 tons of paper were collected as part of AbitibiBowater's community paper-recycling program, Paper Retriever. The program's monthlong national paper drive raised more than $175,000 in March for participating communities.

Earth911 has launched its iRecycle mobile application that provides information on more than 800,000 recycling resources for more than 240 materials and also streams articles on product stewardship.

Sprint's new Samsung Replenish Android smartphone is made from 34.6 percent post-consumer recycled plastic content, 82 percent can be recycled when the consumer is done using it. The device also comes with a postage-paid envelope to return it.

Solo Cup Company has partnered with TerraCycle to create the Solo Cup Brigade. Made up of individuals, schools and non-profits, the brigade will collect used cups that will be used by TerraCycle to make playground equipment, park benches and outdoor furniture.

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