"WASHINGTON, DC -- For decades, affluent families have flocked to Spring Valley, a quiet neighborhood hugging the northwestern boundary of the nation’s capital. True to its name, magnolias are blooming and daffodils carpet the yards. But during World War I, soldiers called it Death Valley. It was here that the Army cooked up chemical weapons, launched poison-packed mortar shells and sent gas clouds billowing over the fields."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today added nine new hazardous waste sites to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites, and is proposing to include 10 additional sites."

"SAN FRANCISCO -- In 2005, the USS America aircraft carrier was towed out to sea on her final voyage. Hundreds of miles off the Atlantic coast, U.S. Navy personnel then blasted the 40-year-old warship with missiles and bombs until it sank."

"Bottled water is trickling away from college campuses nationwide, thanks to the efforts of student activists and the non-profit groups that support them with campaigns like Ban the Bottle.

But that's not going over too well with the International Bottled Water Association. The industry, which had $10.6 billion in revenue in 2010, went on the defensive this month with a YouTube video to counter what it calls "misinformation" used to turn college students against bottled water.

"MONTREAL -- The transboundary movement of spent lead-acid batteries in North America has environmental and public health consequences to communities in Mexico that are the subject of a new investigation by the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, CEC."

"The millions of gallons of chemical-laced wastewater that fracking produces must flow somewhere, and Ohio is trying not to be that place."

"Sea currents act like a conveyor belt, depositing trash on a remote stretch of sand in an ecologically rich region of coral reef and mangrove forests. Locals can only pick up the pieces, bit by bit."

"Old mattresses are among the worst kinds of household waste: Most recycling companies won't touch them, and landfills would rather not. But a new business in Nashville that started as a college project hopes to move mattress recycling into the mainstream — and employ former convicts in the process."

"The Seattle City Council voted Monday to ban single-use plastic bags from groceries and other retail stores, joining a growing trend among cities that embrace green values."

"Want a sleek tablet or a fax-scanner-printer for Christmas? As you part with the old stuff, be aware that more states have made it illegal this year to simply throw away computers, printers and TVs.

Seventeen states have banned electronic waste from landfills, requiring it to be recycled so its toxic materials don't leach into groundwater. Seven of these bans took effect this year, and two more will take effect soon: Illinois in January 2012 and Pennsylvania in January 2013.

"NAUCALPAN DE JUÁREZ, Mexico — The spent batteries Americans turn in for recycling are increasingly being sent to Mexico, where their lead is often extracted by crude methods that are illegal in the United States, exposing plant workers and local residents to dangerous levels of a toxic metal.

'Indian children play on the sloping face of a man-made mountain of mining detritus. Factory workers toil in a blizzard of white fibre with little or no protection. These are just some of the disturbing daily scenes in India where asbestos is a booming building product.'

"NEWARK — The first steps in a Superfund cleanup of massive dioxin deposits in the Passaic River were unveiled by officials today."

"SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In a move that could have a major effect on the recycling industry, California Attorney General Kamala Harris will sue three national companies that make plastic bottles or sell bottled water in California, contending that they illegally claim their bottles are 'biodegradable.'"

"Some 5 to 20 million tons of debris--furniture, fishing boats, refrigerators--sucked into the Pacific Ocean in the wake of Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami are moving rapidly across the Pacific. Researchers from the University of Hawaii tracking the wreckage estimate it could approach the U.S. West Coast in the next three years, the UK Daily Mail reports.