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Toxic Trash Exposed: Coal Ash Pollution in Michigan
Water defines, and is central, to Michigan’s economy. Major tourism, agriculture, and fishing industries depend on the health of rivers, lakes, and streams. The Great Lakes contain over 20% of the world’s usable fresh surface water . Unfortunately unmitigated coal ash pollution is a major threat to the health of the state’s water and economy.
Comments on Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category - 09-20-2013 (Sign On Letter 1)
Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0819
Comments on Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category
The undersigned organizations appreciate the opportunity to comment on EPA’s proposed Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category. Our organizations urge EPA to select Option 5 for the final rule. Option 5 would eliminate almost all toxic discharges from power plants, reducing pollution by more than 5 billion pounds a year. Strong rules are urgently needed because
Closing the Floodgates
Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of toxic water pollution in the United States, dumping billions of pounds of pollution into America’s rivers, lakes, and streams each year. These pollutants, including lead and mercury, are dangerous to humans and wreak havoc in our watersheds even in very small amounts. It’s time for power plants to stop using our rivers, lakes and streams as open sewers to dump their waste!
Kids Help Monitor Newark's Dirty Diesel Near Their School
In December member groups of the Coalition for Healthy Ports (CHPs, which NJEF chairs) and dozens of environmentalists, community activists, port drivers, and students conducted a truck count at various locations in the East and South Wards of Newark where port trucks first hit the local streets.
The Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) did a great job organizing truck counting in front of the Hawkins Street School and other neighborhood locations in Newark. Additional truck counting was conducted in the South Ward by the graduates of NJEF's Newark-based Urban Environmental Institute.
Ballast Coffee
Café owner Paolo Araneta, every bit as bold as the Barako coffee he serves in San Francisco, deployed a new reusable jar system for Ballast’s daily grab-and-go treats and eliminated single-use disposable containers. Jar deposits are refunded upon return of the jar, or can be applied to the next purchase. After two months of implementation, staff reported a return rate of 75% and didn’t need to restock their jar supply.
Business Profile:
Nestled in San Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood, Ballast Coffee is known to be the only café serving Barako coffee in the city of San Francisco. Grown only in the Philippines and small parts of Malaysia and Vietnam, coffee beans are shipped green to the café and are roasted locally.
Packaging practices prior to ReThink Disposable:
- Three sizes of polylactic acid (PLA) plastic containers for grab-and-go snacks (24-ounce for salads, 16-ounce for overnight oats, and 9-ounce for chia pudding and yogurt cups)
- Single-use forks, spoons, and knives
Recommendations Implemented:
- Replaced three varieties of PLA containers with returnable wide-mouth glass canning jars with lids (32-ounce, 16-ounce, and 8-ounce)
- Replaced single-use utensils with stainless steel flatware
- Placed signage next to napkins encouraging customers to “take only what they need”
Before & After
Document
Business Information:
329 W Portal Ave
San Francisco, CA 94127
United States
The Bottom Line
$1,263
Annual cost savings
12,369 pieces
Of single-use packaging eliminated
245 pounds
Of waste prevented
Reusables [are] the only way small businesses like Ballast should move forward. We all need to do our part in contributing to a sustainable future. Small things add up fast. If we all do our part, what a difference we all can make.
Reducing Single-Use Food Packaging
ReThink Disposable works with local governments, businesses and institutions, and consumers of single use food packaging to inspire a cultural shift away from single-use "throwaway" lifestyle.