New York may join crackdown on plastic bags

By Edith Honan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City may follow an international trend and crack down on plastic shopping bags, seeking to cut their use with a plan officials hope will be a model for other cities.

A proposal introduced on Monday requires stores larger than 5,000 square feet to set up an in-store recycling program and sell reusable bags.

Some 700 food stores plus large retailers such as Target and Home Depot would have to collect used bags and provide a system for turning them over to a manufacturer or to third-party recycling firms.

Stores would be required to use bags printed with a reminder to consumers: "Please return this bag to a participating store for recycling."

Environmentalists have targeted plastic bags as a scourge that take years to biodegrade and contaminate soil and water.

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Official Google Blog: A clean energy update

Official Google Blog: A clean energy update

Honda sees big hybrid volume push with next model

TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co will start churning out gasoline-electric hybrid cars in large volumes in earnest with a hybrid-only family car planned for a 2009 launch, Chief Executive Takeo Fukui said on Tuesday. Japan's second-biggest automaker ranks a distant second behind Toyota Motor Corp in the hybrid market, now selling only the Civic hybrid after discontinuing production of the Insight two-seater and gasoline-electric Accord.

"Right now, the Civic hybrid is pretty much hand-made," Fukui told an industry conference ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show.

"We don't have much of a desire to expand volumes under these circumstances," he said, citing the high cost of producing the fuel-sipping vehicles.

Honda, which launched its first hybrid, the Insight, in 1999 -- beating Toyota to the U.S. market -- has admitted to making no money on sales of hybrid cars, which add a pricey electric motor and battery to capture energy while driving.

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US-China Electric Car Joint Venture to Hold Meetings at ZAP in California

Electric car manufacturer ZAP (OTCBB: ZAAP) announced today that officials from its new US-China joint venture will be in California over the next few weeks to move ahead with plans to manufacture electric and hybrid cars, buses and trucks.

"Part of the meeting is to identify the potential key partners that would provide suitable and proven technology for the electric vehicles while using California as a springboard for the wide adoption of electric drive vehicles for the rest of the world," said Albert Lam, former CEO of Lotus Engineering and Chairman to the joint venture between ZAP and Youngman Automotive Group.

Last month ZAP signed a joint venture with Youngman for electric and hybrid cars, buses and trucks. Representatives from Youngman will be attending the meetings to be held at ZAP's Santa Rosa Headquarters and Beverly Hills.

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