EnviroPolitics Blog

Where does Princeton University’s food waste go?

From the Daily Princetonian

Every day, Princeton students eat food in dining halls, dutifully scrape their leftovers into metal chutes labeled “Food Waste & Napkins,” and move on with their days. What journey does this food waste take?

“A food scrap actually has a lot of value when you return it to the earth in a responsible way,” Food Systems Project Specialist Gina Talt ’15 emphasized.

According to Talt, the University sent an average of 70–75 tons of wasted food per month to their off-site energy waste facility, Trenton Biogas, during the Fall 2022 semester; that’s almost one pound of food per meal swipe.

On campus, she manages the composting program at Princeton’s S.C.R.A.P. (Sustainable Composting Research at Princeton) Lab. The lab, affectionately known as “Scrappy,” launched in 2018 through a grant secured by the Office of Sustainability. The project operates year-round, using small-scale composting technology to process food and turn it into nutrient-dense soil to be used as fertilizer on Princeton’s grounds.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the composting team was forced to temporarily pause the project in early 2020. For over two years, all of Princeton’s leftovers were sent to Trenton Biogas, until the S.C.R.A.P. Lab reopened last fall. Now, food waste is taken from the Frist Campus Center, campus retail cafés, and both Coffee Club locations and sent to its new location at 300 Washington Road.

Today, 15 percent of overall wasted food at Princeton is processed by the S.C.R.A.P. Lab. Every week, it accepts 200–300 pounds of coffee grounds from Coffee Club and 2000 pounds of food from Frist, according to Talt.

Because the Lab is a small-scale operation with a stated capacity of 5000 pounds per week, the remaining 85 percent of wasted food at Princeton, which comes from dining halls, is sent to Trenton Biogas.

Trenton Biogas General Manager Brian Blair broke down the journey taken by food waste once it leaves the dining halls:

Read the full story here

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The mail Must Go Through. apparently, for Amazon, too

BY LI COHEN, CBS News

An Amazon driver has gone viral for his exceptional – and dangerous – delivery skills. A recent video posted to TikTok shows the driver pulling up to a cul-de-sac swarmed by police vehicles and walking through armed officers to drop off a package.

“Amazon hard at work,” the person who recorded the video can be heard saying. “In the midst of a standoff, he’s going to deliver his package.”

In the video, posted on March 18, the Amazon worker is seen toting a small box up to the driveway where the apparent standoff is taking place, taking officers by surprise. As soon as they see him, they tell him to stop and take the package off his hands before he calmly walks back to his car – after taking a quick picture of the scene.

More than half a dozen Raleigh, North Carolina, police cars were visible at the scene when the drop-off was made. The circumstances surrounding the standoff are unclear.

The video has amassed more than 7 million views.

See the full story here

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As budget deadline looms, New York debates EPR and a bottle bill

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Senate have proposed EPR for packaging policies in their draft budgets. The Assembly, plus environmental and packaging groups, prefer separate legislation

By Megan Quinn, Waste Dive

The process of getting either an extended producer responsibility plan or bottle bill update into the New York state budget is expected to face numerous hurdles as an April 1 deadline draws closer.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has once again included an EPR for the packaging proposal in her version of the budget. Hochul said the Waste Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act will increase recycling rates and save local governments money. It’s the second year Hochul has announced such legislation in the budget. Meanwhile, two bills in the New York legislature this year propose similar EPR for packaging programs.

This year’s draft state Senate budget adds to Hochul’s EPR plan and also proposes to expand the state bottle bill. The state Assembly did not include EPR or bottle bill updates in its draft budget, saying the document should focus on finances, not policy matters. Hochul did not include mentions of a bottle bill expansion in her budget.

In 2022, efforts to pass EPR through the state budget failed. This year, the policy faces similar struggles, especially from stakeholders that disagree with the details of the program or believe it needs to be hammered out in separate legislation. Though the state’s final budget is expected in early April, some observers expect delays similar to last year, when lawmakers struggled to reach a consensus on key issues.

Here is a breakdown of the competing proposals:

Read the full story here

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Do look up. See five planets traverse the Western sky

The alignment — led by the star cluster Messier 35 from the left, followed by Mars, the moon, Uranus, Venus, Jupiter and Mars — starts about 20 minutes after sunset. (Shutterstock / Vadim Sadovski)

By Michelle Rotuno-Johnson, Patch Staff

NEW JERSEY — Grab a pair of binoculars and make it a point to be outside around sunset Monday and for a few days after. With a favorable weather forecast in New Jersey, we’ll see a rare celestial parade of five planets, a crescent moon, and a star cluster in the western sky.

The alignment — led by the star cluster Messier 35 from the left, followed by Mars, the moon, Uranus, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars — starts about 20 minutes after sunset. Monday and Tuesday are the best nights to see it.

Sunset is about 7:15 p.m. Monday and 7:16 p.m. Tuesday in the far eastern NJ towns, and 7:18 and 7:19 p.m. closer to Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Right now, the forecast is “tricky” in New Jersey in terms of cloud cover or rain on Monday and Tuesday nights, according to the National Weather Service in Mount Holly. A series of storms could move through the region both Monday and Tuesday night, and AccuWeather is watching a “potential Northeast snowstorm” next week.

Timing is everything. Venus doesn’t set until about 10:15 p.m. local time, but the views of Jupiter and Mercury are fleeting. “It will be important to catch them as soon as possible before they disappear over the western horizon,” the Farmers’ Almanac wrote, adding the plants appear “to chase after the Sun.”

Read the full story

If you liked this post, you will love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation

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Older men all hail Mr. Pickles

From The Morning Brew Review

Jackelin Reyna/Houston Zoo

This munchkin is one of the three hatchlings fathered by a radiated tortoise named Mr. Pickles, who, at 90 years old, became a dad for the first time this week in Houston.

That Mr. Pickles and Mrs. Pickles (53) had little turtle babies at all surprised Houston Zoo officials because the radiated tortoise is a critically endangered species that rarely reproduces. Plus, did we mention that Mr. Pickles is 90?

The hatchlings are named Dill, Gherkin, and Jalapeño. It’s not clear which one is shown in this photo, but that sure looks like a Gherkin.

We’re always looking for stories that might interest our readers. If you come across something so interesting that it cries out to be shared, please send it to editor@enviropolitics.com If we agree, you’ll see it here soon.

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NJ sues Dow and others over 1,4-dioxane, a widespread and possible cancer-causing chemical in drinking water

Delaware River Basin Commission staff collects a Delaware River sample to monitor
for 1,4-Dioxane. Photo by DRBC.

By Scott Fallon, NorthJersey.com

New Jersey sued chemical giant Dow and other companies Thursday, saying a potentially cancer-causing chemical they’ve manufactured, promoted, and sold for decades is so prevalent in New Jersey it can be found from the mountains of Ringwood to wells in Fair Lawn and drinking water pulled from the Delaware River.

Dow, along with Ferro Corporation and Vulcan Materials Company, made or sold 1,4-dioxane knowing that it would “significantly pollute drinking water supplies, render drinking water unusable and unsafe, threaten the public health and welfare, and harm other natural resources,” the lawsuit alleges.

Rachelle Schikorra, a Dow spokeswoman, said the company is aware of the lawsuit but could not comment at this time.

“The costs of cleaning up this forever chemical should be borne by the defendants in this lawsuit, not New Jersey taxpayers,” Matthew Platkin, the state attorney general, said in a statement.

Read the full story here

f you liked this post, you will love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation

NJ sues Dow and others over 1,4-dioxane, a widespread and possible cancer-causing chemical in drinking water Read More »

Where does Princeton University’s food waste go?

The mail Must Go Through. apparently, for Amazon, too

As budget deadline looms, New York debates EPR and a bottle bill

Do look up. See five planets traverse the Western sky

Older men all hail Mr. Pickles

NJ sues Dow and others over 1,4-dioxane, a widespread and possible cancer-causing chemical in drinking water

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