The Environmental Protection Agency is introducing its most ambitious clean air rules in decades, though it is making some concessions to election-minded Republicans who oppose them.

The Clean Development Mechanism’s flagship waste management project in India is turning into a multi-faceted disaster, revealing flaws in both the carbon credit mechanism as well as the corporate-driven, technology-focused approached to climate change mitigation.

At the 16th Conference of Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), under way in the Mexican resort city of Cancún, the recyclers are voicing opposition to the CDM projects being implemented at garbage dumps to capture greenhouse-effect gases.

Burning wood to generate electricity can be worse for global warming than burning coal, according to a Massachusetts-sponsored study released yesterday. That surprising conclusion immediately prompted state officials to reconsider substantial financial incentives provided to wood-burning plants.

According to a recently released New Economics Foundation (NEF) report entitled A Bit Rich: Calculating the real value to society of different professions waste recycling workers produce a far better social return than do bankers or advertising executives.

Industry is pushing to have many false solutions -- including waste-to-energy -- to be categorized as "renewable." Billions of dollars, and the planet's climate, are at stake.

One of the most comprehensive pieces of energy and climate legislation ever drafted by members of the U.S. Congress has finally seen the light of day. But it includes subsidies for waste incineration, biomass, and polluting industries.

The Frederick County Commissioners are suspending deliberations on a proposed trash incinerator, and will focus instead on alternative disposal options. The commissioners accepted bids on the project earlier this year, and appeared to have narrowed those down to a preferred site and contractor to build and run the incinerator.

San Francisco, diverting 70% of waste from incinerators and landfills, keeps on pushing to divert more! Read about the city's programs in this great article.

The new report released by As You Sow titled "Waste and Opportunity: U.S. Beverage Container Recycling Scorecard and Report", discusses the billions of waste containers that go wasted each year. Here you can read an article from Waste News discussing the publication and find a link to the report itself on As You Sow's website.

This Wall Street Journal article discusses many of the problems with the current CDM credit trading system. Under this credit trading scheme, practices like capturing landfill-released methane gas are awarded credits which can be traded to other polluters. Landfill owners that were capturing methane before this policy was instituted are being rewarded for doing nothing new, and now trading their credits for a profit, allowing others to pollute more with their credits. This policy effectively raises the cap on carbon emissions and allows for even more pollution.

12 September 2008. The separate collection and recycling of PET bottles is much more environmentally friendly than sending it to energy recovery with the household waste.

WASTING OF WASTES Letter to the Editor, Daily DAWN (http://Dawn.com) August 29, 2008 This refers to the news “Garbage Sale Deal Sparks Controversy,” regarding the city (Karachi) government’s decision to sell garbage to a private sector cement firm for production of electricity …. (National, Dawn, Islamabad, August 22, 2008). I wish to draw the attention of your readers and concerned EPA/CDA/E&IP department officials to the following:

In an effort to galvanise public opinion, the UK Without Incineration Network (UK WIN) has released a map showing where the planned incinerators would be located. Activists say each incinerator would cost millions of pounds, burn thousands of tones of valuable resources and emit large quantities of greenhouse gases.

Heavy metals, unburned toxic chemicals, new pollutants such as dioxins and furans, fugitive emissions, incinerator ash – a motley crew that causes controversy when waste to energy and incinerators are brought to the table.

To cut energy use, save money and, while you're at it, live a greener life, you can turn down the air conditioning, back off the accelerator, hop on a bike. But when it comes to your personal energy tally, there's another big but largely unseen source: The stuff you buy. Every product, from televisions to teapots, takes energy to get to the shopping bag -- energy to mine raw materials, make the product and ship it.

BBC News discusses the many problems with the CDM credit trading system.