Cassandra Profita
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Oregon will be the second state to pass an economywide system to regulate carbon emissions. Critics say a similar program in California has not had much impact.
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Oregon wants to reduce carbon emissions by adopting a cap-and-trade system, which would raise the cost of fossil fuels. But critics complain that the idea is poorly conceived.
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The expanded program includes more types of containers and benefits from a cleaner mix of recyclable materials, which is easier to sell than the mishmash of waste that ends up in curbside bins.
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Beyond straw bans, there's mounting pressure on companies to not use plastic packaging. That's creating a budding market for alternative products.
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The new beer bottles can be refilled up to 40 times and are designed to be easily separated from the rest of the glass in the deposit system, ensuring that they get refilled instead of recycled.
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The U.S. ships a big chunk of its recycled goods to China. But China doesn't want them anymore, and that's leaving the recycling industry in turmoil.
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The U.S. solar industry is bracing for possible tariffs or quotas on imported solar panels. Such action could have very different consequences on different parts of the industry.
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Global sturgeon populations are collapsing — most notably in Russia, where caviar is known as black gold. That's fueling a market for illegal caviar and driving poachers to the Columbia River.
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An Oregon company has developed a high-tech process for turning sewage into pure drinking water. Now it's asking the state for permission to give its recycled water to a group of home brewers.