State budget provision stymies local plastic reduction efforts in North Carolina

by Will Atwater September 26, 2023 NC Health News

Environmental advocates across the state were shocked last week by the insertion of a provision in House Bill 259, now part of the 2023-24 state budget, that blocks local municipalities from establishing ordinances to reduce single-use plastic use. - You can’t make this stuff up!

“Plastic waste is a scourge on our society on many levels,” said Wil Weldon, board chair of Don’t Waste Durham, a nonprofit organization working to eliminate waste by establishing a so-called circular economy, a system designed to “keep materials, products and services in circulation for as long as possible” to slow climate change, according to the EPA. If fewer single-use materials, such as plastics, are produced, it lowers CO2 emissions from fossil fuels used to make plastics, and it reduces emissions from plastic waste decomposition. READ MORE…

How ESG can help businesses grow

https://resource-recycling.com/e-scrap

Published: October 11, 2023
Updated: October 11, 2023
by Marissa Heffernan

Recycling companies big and small can benefit from publicly sharing their environmental, social and governance strategies, no matter how complicated the process might seem at first. 

At the 2023 E-Scrap and E-Reuse Conference held in New Orleans Sept. 18-20, industry experts gave advice on how to get started with environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports and why they matter for everyone. 

The Sept. 19 session, “Leveraging Your ESG Expertise,” brought together as panelists Natalie Betts, assistant vice president of sustainability for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI); Curt Greeno, president of Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations; and Naomi Manahan, senior operations program manager for Reverse Logistics Group Americas. Corey Dehmey, executive director of Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI), moderated. 

The idea of making ESG plans has been taking hold in the industry, the speakers agreed, and requests for such plans will only continue to rise.  READ MORE…

Proof of ESG viability is how those initiatives improve economic well-being

By Connie Gentry – Freelance Writer, Triangle Business Journal

Aug 12, 2022

In what has become the summer of discontent across the stock market, Nasdaq finally recorded a success: On July 26, the stock exchange announced its ESG rating had risen from a mediocre BBB to an impressive AA, placing Nasdaq firmly in the leadership category within its industry for environmental, social and governance (ESG) resiliency.

The ratings are awarded by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), which evaluates more than 8,500 companies based on their ability to manage financially material ESG risks relative to peers in their specific industry. While MSCI has been assessing and measuring ESG performance for over 40 years, the principals of ESG have only recently gained solid purchase in the marketplace. READ MORE…