Trash takes high-tech, circuitous recycling route at facility

CHICAGO | A labyrinth of conveyor belts, magnets and people move and sort about 600 tons of old plastic bottles, cans and used paper each day.

The power of waste

Two regional facilities produce enough electricity to power several thousand homes, or offset municipal power bills by hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Not your grandfather's landfills

With at least 20 years of existing capacity at Northwest Indiana landfills -- and room for expansion well beyond that -- there is no need to hit the panic button.

Messes pile up as Gary faces service backlog

Sam Anthony, of Gary, looks for scrap metal amid discarded furniture and other refuse outside of 1705 McKinley St. in Gary.

Messes pile up as Gary faces service backlog

A pile of furniture and garbage sit outside of 1705 McKinley St. in Gary several weeks ago.

Messes pile up as Gary faces service backlog

The home of Ella Joiner on McKinely St. in Gary several weeks ago. She said she tries to keep her house neat, which is why when refuse and garbage from two houses across the street were piled out front directly across from her, she called anyone she could think of to have the city remove the junk.

Messes pile up as Gary faces service backlog

Sam Anthony, of Gary, looks for scrap metal in a pile of discarded furniture and other refuse outside of 1705 McKinley St. in Gary It took the city nearly two months to clean up the front yards of two houses across the street from a Gary woman.

Messes pile up as Gary faces service backlog

A view of 1701 and 1705 McKinley St. from the porch of Ella Joiner's home in Gary several weeks ago.

Messes pile up as Gary faces service backlog

GARY | After nearly two months, the garbage has been cleared from the abandoned homes across the street from Ella Joiner.

Aluminum, glass makers seek Indiana container deposit law

INDIANAPOLIS | Could 5 or 10 cents entice you to recycle that empty pop can or wine bottle sitting in your trash bin?

County needs to scrap trash-to-ethanol plan, start over

My opinion is that all the towns debating the agreements to send their garbage to the proposed ethanol plant are unknowingly helping Mr. Powers solicit the funding he needs for the plant.

Gary ready for bids on trash service

GARY | About 800 Gary residents on a waiting list for new garbage containers could get a break — and a place to put their trash — if the city gets good garbage bid responses.

Mobile home owners pay taxes, deserve city services

Owners of mobile homes have to pay property taxes just like everybody else. If Portage isn't going to pick up the garbage, are they going to stop charging property tax?

Overturned trash hauler snarls U.S. 30 traffic

Green's Towing employee Gary Anderson untangles trash Thursday from a semi that overturned on the ramp from northbound Ind. 49 to eastbound U.S. 30 in Valparaiso. The crash closed the ramp and one lane of U.S. 30 for hours while the garbage was removed.

Overturned trash hauler snarls U.S. 30 traffic

A crew from Green's Towing removes garbage from a semi that overturned Thursday on the ramp from northbound Ind. 49 to eastbound U.S. 30 in Valparaiso.

Overturned trash hauler snarls U.S. 30 traffic

A crew from Green's Towing removes garbage from a semi that overturned Thursday on the ramp from northbound Ind. 49 to eastbound U.S. 30 in Valparaiso.

Garbage hauler overturns on U.S. 30

Valparaiso - Green's Towing employee Gary Anderson untangles trash from a semi hauler that overturned on the ramp from northbound Ind. 49 to eastbound U.S. 30 in Valparaiso, Thursday, April 19, 2012. The crash closed the ramp and one lane of U.S. 30 for hours while the garbage was removed.

Overturned trash hauler snarls U.S. 30 traffic

Shawn Woelfel, left, and Gary Anderson from Green's Towing throw garbage Thursday from an overturned trash hauler into a Dumpster on the ramp from northbound Ind. 49 to eastbound U.S. 30 in Valparaiso.

Appeals court upholds Gary trash fee

INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana Court of Appeals on Tuesday agreed with a Lake County judge's ruling that Gary followed proper procedures in enacting a controversial garbage fee in 2009.