NewsBits

Add anti-incineration activists to the litany of environmental and anti-poverty organizations that have panned the final text produced by the recently concluded Rio+20 conference held in Brazil. The final text, titled "Future We Want," contains a line that supports increasing waste to energy projects, prompting anti-incineration activists to release a statement expressing disappointment in the document.

In the wake of Seattle's plastic bag ban, www.seattlepi.com has a detailed slide show on what it means for consumers.

Efforts to get a bottle bill passed in Nevada have failed, again, reports the Las Vegas Sun. The paper reports that the legislation, which is modeled after the 10 states that have bottle bills, ran into opposition from familiar opponents of container deposits.

New Jersey increased its recycling rate for municipal solid waste to 40 percent in 2010, a rise from the previous year's 37 percent, but still short of the 50 percent goal established by the Mandatory Recycling Act signed into law in 1987. That jump was the result of an extra 364,000 tons of paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and other materials being recycled in 2010, rather than being disposed in landfills or incinerators, resulting in $26 million in savings from avoided solid waste disposal costs and another $45.5 million in revenues

The New York Times takes a look at the progress West Coast cities have made in reducing waste and the challenges involved with driving recycling rates even higher.

Two asphalt shingle recycling companies operating in Denton County, Texas have been fined more than $34,000 for violating state environmental rules, reports the Denton Record-Chronicle.

Catalog Choice, a free service to help cut down on junk mail, has released the results of a survey showing that most consumers would be okay with reduced mail delivery.

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