San Francisco has proposed fining businesses and residents that do no sort compostables, recyclables and trash. John Cote writes for the San Francisco Chronicle that the measure is intended to increase the City's diversion rates by decreasing contamination:

The plan to require proper sorting of refuse would be the nation's first mandatory recycling and composting law. It would direct garbage collectors to inspect the trash to make sure it is put into the right blue, black or green bin, according to a draft of the legislation prepared by the city's Department of the Environment.

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The self-destructing DVD is trying to make a comeback and the idea is just as bad as it was a few years ago when David Tynan of PC World rated it one of the worst tech products of all time. Amazingly enough, a German Firm is rolling out the technology again with the same premise and the same problems: The adhesive reacts with oxygen when a consumer unseals the package, starting a chemical reaction that renders the disk unreadable after 48 hours, after which the disk is thrown away.

Earlier attempts to market this product have failed due partially to vocal opposition from environmental groups including CAW:

Self-destruct DVDs are not a new idea. In 2003 Flexplay,
an Atlanta, Georgia technology company, introduced disposable DVDs
using its own self-destruct technology, dubbed ED-D. This was met with
fierce criticism from environmental groups, who slammed the notion of
throwaway DVDs.

The idea that you build obsolescence directly into an otherwise durable product is wasteful and irresponsible. Beyond images of landfills piling up with spent disks, the problem with this is the idea that you are mining precious virgin resources to create a product that is essentially permanent, yet only has an effective lifespan of hours. Furthermore, consumers can already avoid the "inconvenience" of returning a rental to the store through on-demand and digital download services that are already cheaper and more convenient.

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A measure was passed in the European Union to set recycling targets for 2020 in order to reduce the amount of waste that is incinerated and landfilled. Pete Harrison of Reuters reports:

The European Parliament voted for the goal of recycling or re-using half of the main types of EU household waste by 2020 and 70 percent of all waste from building and demolition.

Over 1.8 billion tonnes of waste are generated each year in Europe, equating to 3.5 tonnes per person, of which less than a third is recycled.

A section of the agreement lays out a waste reduction measure hierarchy that starts with the three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The fourth tier would be to try to extract energy from waste. The final measure would be landfilling if all other options were exhausted.

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What You Can Do

• Learn more about methods of waste reduction here>>

Recycling and composting expected to be mandatory by year's end

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is proposing a law that would make Recycling and Composting mandatory within the city. San Francisco already has the highest diversion rate in the country at 70% and city officials say that this law would be neccessary in order for it to reach their goal of 75%. Jacoba Charles of Plenty Magazine reports:

“We’ve already reached the people who know it’s the right thing to do,” says Thea Hillman with the San Francisco Department of the Environment. “Now we’re at the folks who need not so much the carrot but more of the stick.”

Although mandatory recycling ordinances are already in place in some U.S. cities, San Francisco would be the first to mandate composting.

A major area this law would address is the lower diversion rate for multi-family units. Apartment owners don't always supply recycling & composting bins for their tenants. The enactment of the ordinance would require landlords to provide these bins. This would have a significant impact on the rate since a majority of San Francisco residents are renters.

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CAW and Recycling/Composting: