Waste Management

Can Cities Master Their Garbage With Better Design?

A band of architects and city planners insist that trash shouldn’t be a permanent feature of urban topography.

  • By Jessica Leigh Hester, CityLab

Can Cities Master Their Garbage With Better Design?

A band of architects and city planners insist that trash shouldn’t be a permanent feature of urban topography.

  • By Jessica Leigh Hester, CityLab

Radioactive Sludge Disposal Heats Up Oil and Gas Politics in Colorado

A “glitch” in state law has caused major heartburn for regulators.

  • By John Tomasic, Special to Route Fifty
Inside the Southeast Treatment Plant in San Francisco. Inside the Southeast Treatment Plant in San Francisco.

The Tech That Helps San Francisco Process Its Wastewater

PHOTOS: Treating raw sewage and stormwater involves a maze of pipes and plenty of data analytics, too.

  • By Michael Grass

Possible Source of ‘Gooey Nightmare’ That Overwhelmed Montana Wastewater System ID’d

It’s an enemy that many water infrastructure managers are familiar with.

  • By Route Fifty Staff
A bear looks up from rifling through the garbage in the front yard of a home in Juneau, Alaska, on Sunday, July 6, 2014. A bear looks up from rifling through the garbage in the front yard of a home in Juneau, Alaska, on Sunday, July 6, 2014.

How Some Alaska Cities Try to Outsmart Bears

In Juneau, garbage management has to take hungry animals into account.

  • By Michael Grass

Navigator Award Finalists: Stephanie Scafa and Team, City of Eugene, Ore.

The Love Food Not Waste program is gaining traction and serves as a good model for how to build community partnerships to help divert unnecessary food waste from landfills.

  • By Michael Grass

How San José Reduced Illegal Dumping With Behavioral Insights

A pilot project aimed to find ways to make a free, large-item pickup program more effective.

  • By Dave Nyczepir

Kansas City’s Garbage Apology; Miami Beach Reminded of Its Precarious Position

Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: LAPD outreach to families of those killed by officers; gas utility under scrutiny in Vermont; and Great Lakes mayors question water agreement.

  • By Route Fifty Staff

Big Fight Over a Major Texas Landfill Project; Tourism Worries in Miami Due to Zika

Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: Nursing home deaths in Pennsylvania; police body camera transparency in Wyo.; and Cape Cod water concerns.

  • By Route Fifty Staff
Trash piles up outside a building in New York City. Trash piles up outside a building in New York City.

Safety of Workers in New York City Commercial Waste Operations Questioned

“We have people that are losing limbs, losing fingers, dying,” says the chairman of the New York City Council’s Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste.

  • By Bill Lucia
Seattle Waste Management digs through a resident's trash looking for food scraps that should've been placed with other compostable material instead. Seattle Waste Management digs through a resident's trash looking for food scraps that should've been placed with other compostable material instead.

Judge: Seattle’s Garbage Checks Are Unconstitutional; S.C. Gov. Slams Detainee Relocation Plan

Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: NCAA affirms inclusivity for event host cities; Ala. impeachment moves forward; and Wyo. governor wants coal “moon shot.”

  • By Dave Nyczepir and Bill Lucia

Philly's In-Sink Disposal Plan to Generate Biogas

The city will save $3 million a year on waste management in the process.

  • By Laura Bliss, CityLab
Downtown Phoenix, Arizona Downtown Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix Takes First Steps Toward Circular Waste Economy

An organics capture system is the first big undertaking for the new Resource Innovation and Solution Network.

  • By Dave Nyczepir

California’s Great Leap Forward on Food Waste; Springfield Revisits Residency Rules

Also: Tacoma considers budgetary impacts of a looming minimum wage increase.

  • By Michael Grass
A warning sticker on a Seattle resident's garbage bin. A warning sticker on a Seattle resident's garbage bin.

Does Seattle’s Trash Monitoring Violate Privacy Rights?

The city’s ban on the disposal of food scraps and other compostables with garbage is met with a lawsuit.

  • By Bill Lucia
Rodney Watkins of Seattle Public Utilities on the job in southeast Seattle. Rodney Watkins of Seattle Public Utilities on the job in southeast Seattle.

'It's Not Garbage Anymore': Seattle Sees Uptick in Organic Waste Collections Under New Rules

Residents face mandates to divert their food waste from landfills, but enforcement isn’t easy.

  • By Bill Lucia

Check Out the Resource Innovation Campus in Phoenix

The city’s Reimagine Phoenix initiative is turning garbage into a valuable resource.

  • By Dave Nyczepir
Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman speaks at a local elementary school this week. Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman speaks at a local elementary school this week.

How One County Government Diverts Food Waste to Generate Revenue

“[F]ood scrap collection demonstrates that simple ideas can produce big results,” says one county executive in Maryland.

  • By Michael Grass