Not Taking Your Garbage Anymore

It’s no secret that the many of products you purchase come from far off places. But it may be less well known that recycling the boxes and plastic containers that hold those products is also part of the global economy. Container ships that deliver new stuff manufactured in China get filled with recyclable trash before making the return trip. But China doesn’t want your garbage anymore. And the reverberations are being felt around the world, from international landfills to the blue bin at the edge of your driveway. NPR: Where Will Your Plastic Trash Go Now That China Doesn’t Want It?

+ “Globally more plastics are now ending up in landfills, incinerators, or likely littering the environment as rising costs to haul away recyclable materials increasingly render the practice unprofitable. In England, more than half-a-million more tons of plastics and other household garbage were burned last year. Australia’s recycling industry is facing a crisis as the country struggles to handle the 1.3 million-ton stockpile of recyclable waste it had previously shipped to China … Communities across the U.S. have curtailed collections or halted their recycling programs entirely.” Yale Environment 360: Piling Up: How China’s Ban on Importing Waste Has Stalled Global Recycling. (I may have covered this topic before, but luckily content can still be recycled…)