News highlights from the past

1988: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 14,000 landfills have closed since 1978, more than 70 percent of the landfills that operated at that time. Some sites closed because they reached capacity, others because they were deemed unsafe or their owners declined to adhere to new, more stringent standards.

Five years ago: The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey accepts KTI Inc.´s definitive agreement to purchase Prins Recycling Corp., which was forced to seek Chapter 11 protection in July 1996 after the market for recovered paper collapsed.

A year ago: Ford Motor Co. says it intends to recycle all of the 13 million tires it recalled in May 2001 after concerns were raised about tread separation.

(i>(June 22, 2009)