The next generation of blue recycling carts will contain 40% recycled plastic - with some of that including plastic cleaned up from lakes, rivers and beaches - the city announced today. Read more.

Mayor Walsh today announced a series of steps aimed at reducing the amount of stuff now sent to an incinerator or landfill, including three extra weeks of yard-waste pickup between April and December, and pilot programs in which residents will be able to have somebody haul away their food scraps for composting and old clothing for reuse. Read more.

We need to stop litter and keep Massachusetts clean by spreading the word about the Yes on Question 2 campaign.

The Bottle Bill is the most effective recycling tool we have. Eighty percent of bottles covered by the Bottle Bill’s 5-cent deposit are recycled. Yes on Question 2 would add a bottle deposit to water, sports drinks, tea, juices, and other drinks that were not included in the original bill because they were not popular when the law was passed in 1982.

We need your vote on November 4 to update the Bottle Bill.

Start charging for trash bags or at the least, start enforcing the city ordinance against putting recyclables in the trash, our own eeka suggests.

The Dorchester Reporter reports that recycling rates have gone up dramatically in the year since Boston went citywide with those Julio Lugo-sized large blue wheeled carts, so much so that some people have requested a second cart.

The new recycling bins arrived at my apartment this morning in JP. I made quick video about them.

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports the city plans to roll out its 64-gallon mega-recycling bins to every neighborhood in July. With the new bins-on-wheels, residents can just stuff everything, from newspapers to plastics, in. The paper says residents who don't want to deal with recycling carts larger than Mini Coopers can ask the city to take them back after they're delivered and then get recycling stickers to use with a standard-sized trash can.

After a couple months with his new Julio-Lugo-sized recycling dumpsterette, Ed Copp reports he is, in fact, recycling more - just like the city hoped he would:

... Looking back I see why I didn't recycle more. The old bins didn't fit too much. Three days after trash pickup the bin was full so the rest of my recyclables went in the trash. ...

Karl Stier reports on the new plus-sized bins rolled out across West Roxbury this past week:

... The weight limit is listed at 250 lbs. so one could safely toss Julio Lugo in there and he would finally be dispensed with properly. ...