NewsBits

San Jose, California has become the largest city in the U.S. to ban plastic bags. The 10-1 vote by the city council on December 14th bars retailers from distributing plastic bags at checkout and institutes a fee for paper bags. The ban will not go into effect until January 1, 2012 … The Toronto Star reports that newly elected Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is considering altering or ending the city's five-cent plastic bag fee. Mayor Ford, who campaigned on an anti-tax platform, said he plans on reviewing the bag fee in 2011, which is technically not a tax, since retailers keep the proceeds … New Mexico-based P&M Signs, Inc. is planning a new production facility in Klamath Falls, Oregon for its rHDPE and wood waste composite signs. If all goes as planned, the $7 million facility is expected to employ 50 local workers when completed … Researchers at the UK's University of Warwick have developed a new method of processing 100 percent of plastic Christmas wrapping. The method uses pyrolysis to break down scrap plastic into its original monomers … Every month, Resource Recycling features a column on the most interesting recycled products on the market and, just in time for your last-minute holiday buying, we put together a list of consumer products containing recycled content. Click here for the column, or if you want to nominate a product that contains recycled content, click here.