compost guys

Community composting facility starting in Brandywine Hundred

Ken MammarellaCulture, Headlines

Plastic Free Delaware, a group that formed a decade ago to get rid of environmentally unfriendly single-use bags, is now tackling something that forms a quarter of municipal waste: Food scraps. It is creating its first community composting facility in Talley Day Park, behind the Brandywine Hundred Library, and prominently located right across a parking area from the playground. The …

Wilmington has told a dozen build that they don't qualify for city trash collection. (Shane Rounce photo from Pexels)

Wilmington drops trash collection for a dozen buildings

Ken MammarellaGovernment, Headlines

Bureaucracy moves slowly, sometimes taking years to act. Online complaints, on the other hand, take just minutes or days to raise a ruckus. Both trends came together when Wilmington recently told the owners of about a dozen buildings that the city would no longer collect their trash or their recycling. City code, as revised in 2014, limits trash collection to …

Recycle your Christmas tree at any of Delaware's 25 yard waste sites.

How to recycle your Christmas tree into rich soil

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Culture

Stay in the holiday spirit this last week of 2022 and help conserve and improve Delaware’s soil by recycling your Christmas tree.  The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) is asking First Staters to give their real trees to a yard waste recycling site rather than dumping them off in landfills.  According to DNREC, 176,000 tons of grass, …

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Newark to conduct recycling audits beginning Feb. 24

Charles MegginsonGovernment, Headlines

Newark will begin conducting “recycling audits” during regularly scheduled recycling pickups, the city announced Tuesday. In a press release, city officials said audits are necessary in order to improve the city’s compliance with Delaware Solid Waste Authority guidelines relating to recycling contamination.  “Delivering clean recyclable materials to the Recycle Center allows the city to avoid costly penalties imposed by DSWA …

Vactor 2100i

NCCo touts upgraded sewer cleaning trucks

Ken MammarellaGovernment, Headlines

The Vactor 2100i recycles water while it cleans sewer lines. (New Castle County)   Two new sewer cleaning trucks promise to save water, energy and time by recycling cleaning water, New Castle County says in a flyer accompanying its annual sewer bills. The new vehicles use hydraulic jets to dislodge debris, and they vacuum up debris and liquid from the …

DNREC is surveying consumers on Delaware's ban on single-use plastic bags. (DNREC) user interface

Bill would toughen, widen ban on single-use plastic bags

Betsy PriceBusiness, Government

DNREC is surveying consumers on Delaware’s ban on single-use plastic bags. (DNREC) Delaware’s ban on single-use plastic bags might become tougher, if a new bill becomes law. HB 212, introduced Thursday, goes for multiple measures: • The ban would expand to all stores as of July 1, 2022. • Reusable bags would have to be even thicker. • Reusable bags …