The name Stanford Ovshinsky suddenly seems to be popping up everywhere. The 84-year-old alternative-energy researcher and inventor was profiled last week in our sister publication Crain's Detroit Business (you can read it here) and yesterday on Page 1 of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ subscribers can read that piece here).

 

I've never been one to toot my own horn or those of my employers or co-workers, because I think doing good work is its own reward and if the results are worthy, they will find their audience. In this case, though, I think a modest little beep is warranted: Waste News beat both of those newspapers to the punch by more than a year with this piece written by our managing editor, Brennan Lafferty.

 

Another of our sister pubs, Crain's Chicago Business, reports that the U.S. medical waste giant Stericycle Inc. is running into antitrust opposition in the U.K. related to its $131 million purchase of an Irish company, Sterile Technologies Group Ltd., in February.

 

A European court's decision is expected next month, and a negative judgment could force Stericycle to divest most of the Irish firm, which would throw a big kink into Stericycle's plan to storm Europe through acquisitions as it has done in America.

 

The Overwhelming-Urge-To-Buy-Useless-Stuff Season is upon us, and with it the usual flood of stories packed with ideas for reining in that urge, plus ingenious ways to recycle and reuse the things we amass. Here is a pretty interesting article on that subject, from the Hayward [Calif.] Daily Review by way of InsideBayArea.com.

 

Feel free to send links to similar stories my way, and I'll cite as many good ones here as I have the time and space for.

 

Since we're on the subject of compulsive consumerism and the delusional joys of agglomeration, let's close today with this wry meditation from the New York Times op-ed page, written by professional funnyman Rick Moranis.

 

Maybe the Dark Ages weren't so terrible after all.

 

Pete Fehrenbach is assistant managing editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

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