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Preventing pollution or creating more greenhouse gases? Missouri debates ‘advanced recycling’ • Missouri Independent

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Preventing pollution or creating more greenhouse gases? Missouri debates ‘advanced recycling’ • Missouri Independent


Missouri lawmakers are pushing to ease state rules on so-called “superior recycling,” a course of proponents say diverts hard-to-recycle plastics from landfills and makes them into new merchandise. 

The invoice’s sponsor hopes to convey the huge amenities into the state to create jobs whereas saving the setting from plastic. 

However the promise made by superior recycling is an empty one, critics counter, that does little to enhance the setting and makes use of large sums of vitality, usually, with out yielding new plastic.

Superior, or chemical recycling, breaks down plastics, like movies and wrappers, that may’t be processed at mechanical recycling amenities. The hope is to extend the dismal fee of plastic recycling — lower than 10% — and ease the burden on landfills. 

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Chemical business and enterprise teams say it’s a device for a extra sustainable future with much less plastic waste. However environmentalists say the business is “greenwashing” a course of that, in apply, primarily serves to create extra fossil fuels. 

“It’s simply the science isn’t fairly there,” mentioned Bridget Sanderson, state director for Surroundings Missouri. “And there’s after all plenty of greenhouse gasoline emissions…and toxics which might be popping out of those amenities as nicely.”

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Missouri legislators are weighing a invoice that may exempt superior recycling amenities from allow necessities that govern strong waste amenities and deal with the companies like producers within the hopes of coaxing them into the state. At the very least 18 different states have adopted related laws with assist from the chemical business. If adopted, it could take away “pointless hoops to leap by means of,” mentioned the invoice’s sponsor, Rep. Jeff Knight, R-Lebanon.

“And everytime you do away with a few of these rules, and this business enters your state, they…spend tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in amenities, they create new jobs, all on the identical time whereas eliminating polymers from landfills and amenities utilizing it as feedstock to supply new plastics,” Knight instructed a Senate committee earlier this month.

The invoice has already cleared the Home. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Client Safety, Power, and the Surroundings handed an amended model 5-2 on Wednesday, sending it to the Senate flooring for approval. 

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Usually, opponents say, superior recycling amenities don’t produce new plastics. As an alternative, they convert processed plastic waste into gasoline to be burned — although the American Chemistry Council mentioned that was the primary part of the know-how’s growth. The business is transitioning to plastic-to-plastic recycling, the group mentioned in an interview. 

There’s additionally little settlement relating to the extent of greenhouse gasoline emissions or danger from poisonous waste related to the method. 

Environmental teams say the method itself emits appreciable greenhouse gasses and creates fuels which might be dirtier than current gasoline whereas a paper funded by and utilizing information from the business claims precisely the other — that the ensuing fuels have a lowered environmental influence. 

One examine revealed within the journal “Power” discovered fuels created by means of superior recycling applied sciences produce extra greenhouse gasoline emissions than common diesel gasoline. 

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Scale back vs. recycle

The U.S. generates extra plastic waste every year than some other nation, and the overwhelming majority of it winds up in landfills. Most kinds of plastics aren’t simply recycled. 

“America’s plastic makers are dedicated to sustainable change,” mentioned Wes Robinson, senior director of state affairs for the American Chemistry Council. “Proper now we now have a problem as a result of roughly 90% of plastics aren’t truly recyclable.”

He instructed a Missouri Senate committee “this know-how can repair that.”

However “superior recycling,” Sanderson mentioned, is a “misnomer” for the energy-intensive course of that creates fossil fuels from processed plastic and burns it, leaving in place demand for virgin plastics.

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Throughout Home committee dialogue on the invoice, a consultant requested the Sierra Membership’s lobbyist, Michael Berg, whether or not it was higher for plastic waste to wind up in a landfill or be transformed into gasoline and burned. 

“In all probability to finish up within the landfill,” Berg mentioned. “I imply, these are unhealthy options, however as a result of it stays sequestered within the soil as a substitute of going into the environment.”

The answer to the disaster of plastic air pollution is to not use a lot plastic, Sanderson mentioned. She mentioned the chemical business has made individuals depending on plastics. She mentioned she was speaking to a gaggle of elementary faculty college students about recycling and instructed them their grandparents didn’t use plastic grocery baggage as youngsters as a result of they didn’t catch on till the Seventies.

Sanderson mentioned every bit of plastic ever made remains to be on our planet in some type. 

“Nothing we must always use — the espresso cup or something — for a couple of minutes ought to be lasting on this planet for tons of of years,” she mentioned. 

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Nothing we must always use — the espresso cup or something — for a couple of minutes ought to be lasting on this planet for tons of of years.

– Bridget Sanderson, state director for Surroundings Missouri.

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However the plastic business contends creating the plastic — most of it non-recyclable — isn’t the issue. The low degree of recycling is. 

Requested what function a reducing use of plastic ought to play in fixing the air pollution drawback, Craig Cookson, senior director of plastics sustainability for the American Chemistry Council, mentioned plastics had “led the best way” in reducing the quantity of supplies utilized in packaging. 

He cited as proof the transition from laundry detergent being routinely bought as boxed powder to a bottled liquid — after which the focus of that liquid so that every bottle carried extra product. 

“The problem is, although, that we aren’t doing an amazing job of recycling and recovering these plastics after use,” he mentioned. 

Current recycling companies have raised issues about some high-profile superior recycling amenities that by no means made it off the bottom. Trent Ford, a lobbyist representing the mid-America chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, pointed to Georgia the place public officers and a sophisticated recycling firm scrapped plans for a facility after the corporate didn’t ship “finish product” to clients in Indiana, in line with Reuters. Assembly such a deadline in Indiana was a situation of the corporate’s contract in Georgia.

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Ford mentioned current mechanical recyclers additionally didn’t wish to be put at an obstacle in comparison with superior recycling amenities’ potential regulatory break.

Reuters analyzed 30 superior recycling amenities and located that the majority are delayed or have closed down.

The World Alliance for Incinerator Options reported, of greater than three dozen amenities introduced for the reason that early 2000s, solely three are operational — and just one is creating new plastic.

The American Chemistry Council claims there are seven superior recycling amenities making new plastic at industrial scale.

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Missouri

No. 19 Missouri Wrestling Drops First Home Dual to No. 12 Cornell

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No. 19 Missouri Wrestling Drops First Home Dual to No. 12 Cornell


Missouri (2-6) faced Cornell (2-1) at the Beauty and the Beast event on Friday, in collaboration with the Missouri gymnastics team. The Tigers lost 26-12 against Cornell, marking their sixth loss of the season.

The Tigers have struggled with an injury-plagued season missing key wrestlers like Keegan O’Toole, Rocky Elam, and others who have been in the rotation as Missouri continues to find its rhythm without the key starters from the last four seasons. The Tigers were close in many matches but struggled to close out wins against Cornell.

No. 30 Gage Walker started off the dual for Missouri at 125 pounds against Marcello Milani (Cornell). The matchup started slow, but Walker secured a late third-period pin to put the Tigers on the board for the night.

At 133 pounds, Kade Moore wrestled Tyler Ferrara (Cornell) and got a few shots in, but it was not enough to score points. Ferrara got a takedown with 40 seconds left in the third period and won the match 3-2 as Moore struggled to get the late points he needed to win.

No. 14 Josh Edmond also dropped his match against No. 32 Josh Saunders (Cornell) despite a strong early double leg takedown early in the first period. Edmond kept Saunders on the mat, but as the third period approached, he struggled to find a strategy that did not rely on attacking Saunders’s legs. Saunders won 12-4.

At 149 pounds, Zeke Seltzer got Missouri back on track as he held Mark Botello (Cornell) to only scoring an escape point throughout their match. Seltzer took the lead in the third period with a three-point takedown and a one-point escape. He sealed the win with the riding time point at the end of regulation.

Before the break, No. 23 James Conway (157) wrestled No. 2 Meyer Shapiro. Shapiro quickly secured a takedown and maintained his momentum with additional takedowns as he attempted to get a cradle to win the match against Conway. Shapiro won 18-2 securing the technical fall win over Conway.

Joel Mylin stepped in for Cam Steed at 165 pounds against No. 5 Julian Ramirez (Cornell). Mylin put up a fight to keep up with Ramirez and stayed in control for much of the second period. Ramirez won the match 9-2.

The Tigers announced before the dual that No. 1 Keegan O’Toole would not be wrestling during January as he works on healing from an injury early in the season. For the Cornell dual, freshman Jake Stoffel took O’Toole’s place at 174 pounds against No. 13 Simon Ruiz (Cornell). While Stoffel lost the match 17-3, he kept Ruiz to a major decision instead of a technical fall, keeping Cornell from getting team bonus points.

No. 8 Chris Foca from Cornell defeated No. 9 Colton Hawks by a major decision, with a score of 9-1. Hawks kept the match moving and attempted many attacks, looking to get Foca on his back. Foca managed to execute a two-point reversal, which contributed to his momentum following to get two takedowns, ultimately securing both his victory and the win for Cornell in the dual meet.

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Jesse Cassatt dropped his match 2-0 to Cornell’s Aiden Hanning. To finish the match, Jarrett Stoner was in for Missouri at the heavyweight slot against Aiden Compton. Stoner worked his way through the match to secure the riding time point and got a takedown right before the end of the third period. Stoner won 5-0.

The Tigers will host No. 15 Stanford at home on January 12 at 2 p.m. CST. The dual will be streamed on ESPN+.





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Gov. Parson signs executive order in preparation of forecasted winter weather

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Gov. Parson signs executive order in preparation of forecasted winter weather


ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed an executive order today as a precautionary measure ahead of potentially hazardous winter weather expected in Missouri this weekend.

Executive Order 25-01 waives certain hours of service requirements for commercial vehicles transporting residential heating fuel and activates the Missouri National Guard for state and local response efforts, if necessary.

“With a hazardous winter storm forecasted for this weekend, we want to be prepared to respond however may be needed,” Gov. Parson said. “Missourians should be proactive in their preparations and so too should state government. This Order helps ensure Missourians’ homes stay heated and that state government and our National Guard members stand ready to assist. We ask that all Missourians stay aware and use extreme caution during this potentially dangerous winter weather event.”

The executive order suspends hours of service regulations for motor carriers transporting fuels such as propane, natural gas, and heating oil. It also gives the adjutant general the authority to call portions of the organized militia into active service to aid Missourians, if deemed necessary.

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The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch covering nearly every Missouri county from Saturday night through Monday morning. The forecast indicates snow and sleet accumulations of more than 10 inches in many areas, particularly in northern Missouri.

First Alert 4 has issued First Alert Weather Days from Sunday into Monday.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has provided additional health and safety tips to Missourians in preparation for severe winter weather.



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South Carolina women's basketball: Rapid Reaction – Missouri

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South Carolina women's basketball: Rapid Reaction – Missouri


South Carolina wore down Mizzou for an easy 83-52 win. Here’s what stood out to me from the game.

– South Carolina got out of sync offensively during Missouri’s 8-0 run in the second quarter. More than a defensive stop, the Gamecocks needed a solid offensive possession. 

I thought, this is where they miss Kamilla Cardoso or Aliyah Boston, that dominant post who can settle things down and get a good shot. Who can do that this season?

My question was quickly answered: Joyce Edwards. She was fouled on a rebound, made both free throws, found Tessa Johnson for a transition layup, converted a three-point play in the post, and then scored on a putback. The 9-0 run put South Carolina back in control of the game at halftime.

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Edwards isn’t super flashy, but she rebounds, defends, runs the floor, and finishes at the rim. Sometimes that is what you need.

– On the other end of the spectrum is MiLaysia Fulwiley. Somehow she even makes jogging back on defense look flashy. I often say “Fulwiley happens” when she catches fire and scores three or four baskets in a row. Well Fulwiley definitely happened Thursday night. 

She has shot well this season and at times has let that frustration carry over to her defense. Not against Missouri. She did miss a couple of early shots, but never got down. It ended up being her defense that helped Fulwiley catch fire. It was a rebound, an assist, and then a block that sparked South Carolina’s decisive 17-0 second-half run. Once the fuse was lit, Fulwiley added in a bench of baskets and finished with a game-high 17. 

[USC-Texas WBB: Win tickets, parking pass]

It was a nice start to conference play and hopefully a sign of how the next three months and a week will play out.

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– I’ve watched a lot of basketball over the years, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen what happened in the third quarter. Mizzou’s Laniah Randle was called for a foul, Knowing it was her fourth and she would be subbed out, she jogged over to the bench.

But nobody went to the scorer’s table to check in, so the officials didn’t stop play. With a five-on-four power play, South Carolina quickly inbounded to Te-Hina Paopao who was unguarded for a three.

Randall had to run back and rejoin the action. She ended up committing her fifth foul on the ensuing possession.

If you watch a lot of women’s basketball, it won’t surprise you that Roy Gulbeyan was one of the officials. He loves to call games by the letter of the rule instead of the spirit.

But it also reflects both teams’ level of focus. A substitution after a foul is such a routine occurrence that nobody pays much attention to the actual mechanics of the process. Missouri wasn’t locked in and lost track of the situation. South Carolina understood what was happening and took advantage. 

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If I’m going to criticize South Carolina when there is a lack of focus, I need to praise them when they are locked in.



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