According to Berkeleyside, the Alameda County Waste Authority voted Wednesday to ban the use of plastic bags at pharmacies and grocery stores in the county starting in 2013. The plastic bag ban will apply to 2,000 stores in the county.
Read more over at Berkeleyside.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, all nine of the Target stores in Alameda County have been involved in illegal disposal of products containing hazardous waste by collecting and crushing batteries, phones and computers in the stores’ trash compactors to avoid disposal fees. An Alameda County judge has ordered the stores, among 240 in California accused of the practice, to stop.
According to the Washington Post, the lawsuit brought by the state of California and several cities and counties contends that Target stores routinely throw hazardous items such as bleach, pesticides, paint, aerosols and electronics directly into the trash. California has laws requiring special handling of hazardous waste.
Read the entire story here and here.
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Noelle has previously addressed the need to properly disposed of e-waste as part of a post on Extended Producer Responsibility.
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The full list of night and weekend buses with service being cut has now been posted on the AC Transit website here.
Weekend lines that will continue to operate include: Lines 1, 1R, 18, 20, 22, 26, 40, 45, 51A, 51B, 57, 60, 72, 72M, 73, 76, 88, 97, 99, 210 and 217.
Lines that will be cut include: Lines 7, 11, 12, 14, 21, 25, 31, 32, 49, 52, 54, 62, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 74, 85, 86, 89, 93, 95, 98, 242, 251, 275, 332, 345, 350, 376, 386, F, NL and O.
The discontinued All-Nighter service includes Lines 802, 805, 840 and 851. Lines 800 and 801 will not be affected.
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photo credit: freefoto.com
Many residents of California don’t have water meters. According to a recent column in the San Francisco Chronicle by Peter Gleick, the recent legislation mandating water meters is needed, as the many residents of California that don’t have meters are very reluctant to install them.
But everyone should have meters. According to Ellen Hanak, a water researcher with the Public Policy Institute on California, metered cities use about 15 percent less water than unmetered cities, and cities with a tiered rate system use an additional 10 percent less (via KQED).
A few statistics from Gleick’s column:
— Sacramento only has meters in 25 percent of residences, and has no plans to meter everyone else anytime soon.
— In the San Joaquin Valley, more than half of all residents don’t have water meters.
— The city of Fresno charges all single-family households a flat rate, no matter how much water is used.
Fresno’s water rates are some of the lowest in California, and it has some of the highest water use (3 times as high as Los Angeles residents, and 5 times as high as San Francisco residents, via The California Report). There is an interesting study comparing water rates – when the study was conducted (2006), the average monthly charge was $18.52 in Fresno County, $37.55 in Alameda County, and $57.25 in Santa Cruz County.
The meters are coming. There are several laws that will require the installation of meters for all Californians (via KQED).
— All homes built after 1992 must have meters.
— Cities that receive federal water have to install meters by 2013.
— All California cities have to install meters by 2025.
Seriously, though, 2025 is a long time for a state that has major water management issues.
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Last year, there was a story from The California Report that covers the struggle to meter reluctant Fresno residents (listen to the story here).
Pictured above is the U.S. EPA 'Surf your Watershed' site’s display of the six watersheds of Alameda County.
‘Surf your Watershed’ is an excellent tool from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that helps you find basic data on all the watersheds in your county. The site includes U.S. Geologic Survey data, water quality information, and links to local citizen’s groups working on water stewarship, clean up and other issues (39 in Alameda County!)
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