NewsBits

By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling

Organizers of the London Summer Olympics have promised that this year's games will be the most sustainable ever. Earth911 has put together a slideshow highlighting what organizers have accomplished so far, and GreenBiz has a rundown of how the games will be greener.

Honest Tea, a maker of organic bottled tea, is bringing "The Great Recycle" initiative, a promotional event that invites the public to use a 30-foot-tall recycling bin to recycle their empties in exchange for free tea and other items, to Seattle, Washington and Rochester, New York. First launched in New York City's Times Square, the recycling bin collected 15,000 beverage containers in about 10 hours.

The drawn-out battle to expand Massachusetts bottle bill appears to be over — for now. Although the bottle bill expansion passed the state Senate as an amendment to a jobs and economic development bill, it appears to have died in committee, reports LexingtonPatch.

The biggest blaze to hit Chattooga County, Georgia in almost three decades has broken out at a plastics recycling facility, reports the Chattanooga Times Free Press. More than 400 firefighters and emergency personnel from 50 agencies have responded to fire which, so far, has required 1 million gallons of water to put out, the paper reports.

About 1,300 homes in the Vale Royal area in England will be part of a pilot project aimed at recycling diapers, reports the BBC. Families have been given special sacks to collect the diapers that will be recycled into roof tiles and plastic bins.

The Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center, Inc. has formed a new business partnership with WellSpring Environmental Services, LLC and Ultra-Poly Corporation to collect and recycle plastic well pad liners from gas drilling sites in the Marcellus Shale region. The new venture is expected to bring in at least 20 million pounds of plastic well pad liner material.

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