Flash of Ingenuity. Waste Management Inc.'s introduction of consumer recycling kits for compact fluorescent bulbs, batteries and other types of household waste is drawing a lot of interest in the online news world.

 

Waste Management's CFL recycling kit costs $15 and holds 15 10-watt bulbs. The price includes a prepaid return shipping label that enables consumers to send the package to a WM recycling plant in Minnesota.

 

Rain Robbers. Did you know that in Washington, rainwater belongs to the state, and those who collect and recycle it are, strictly speaking, breaking the law?

 

According to a report from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Washington law stipulates that rainwater is a public resource, and the state therefore has the authority to regulate its use via a complicated allocation process.

 

Though homeowners who collect rainwater in pickel barrels to irrigate their gardens are technically breaking the law, they needn't worry about the regulatory hammer coming down on them because state officials say they are concerned only with large-scale rainwater reusers -- farms, golf courses, laundry operations -- that have the potential to dry up downstream water supplies and harm fish species.

 

But the state's Department of Ecology now has a sticky quandary on its hands. Agency officials have begun crafting new rules to clarify the issue, and they need to decide where to draw the line: How much rainwater collected tips the barrel and makes an operation subject to state water-allocation guidelines?

 

Stay tuned. This debate may turn stormy.

 

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

To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.wastenews.com