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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/21/us-plastic-recycling-landfills
A Guardian investigation reveals that cities around the [US] are no longer recycling many types of plastic dropped into recycling bins. Instead, they are being landfilled, burned or stockpiled. From Los Angeles to Florida to the Arizona desert, officials say, vast quantities of plastic are now no better than garbage.
The "market conditions" on the sign [Pearl] Pai saw referred to the situation caused by China. Once the largest buyer of US plastic waste, the country shut its doors to all but highest-quality plastics in 2017. The move sent shockwaves through the American industry as recyclers scrambled, and often failed, to find new buyers. Now the turmoil besetting a global trade network, which is normally hidden from view, is hitting home.
"All these years I have been feeling like I'm doing something responsible," said Pai, clearly dumbstruck as she walked away with a full bag. "The truth hurts."
[...] [Cobe] Skye and [Habib] Kharrat emphasized that the situation was not unique to Los Angeles. "From what we're hearing from our colleagues, what's happening in Los Angeles county is representative of what is happening all over the US and all over the state as a result of these international policies," said Skye.
The China ban revealed an uncomfortable truth about plastic recycling, Skye said: much of this plastic was never possible to recycle at all.
"[China] would just pull out the items that were actually recyclable and burn or throw away the rest," he said. "China has subsidized the recycling industry for many years in a way that distorted our views."
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Snotnose on Thursday June 27 2019, @04:13AM (2 children)
Was it third world countries didn't want our plastic trash anymore? Nope. (6 months ago?)
Was it China saying "we don't want your trash!"? Nope (3 months ago?)
Was it finding out I was supposed to wash my recyclables before recycling them? DING DING DING (2-3 months ago?)
You might get me to rinse out my 2 liter Pepsi bottle. Emphasis on the "might". Is it worth $0.05 to me to not only rinse out that bottle, but to take it to a recycling place and prove I rinsed it? Notsomuch.
That plastic bottle of mustard? Yeah, not happening.
Reminds me of newsprint. Back in the 80s I was president of our HOA. We had an issue with the trash company quit picking up the newspapers. Turned out nobody wanted old newspapers (and cardboard) to recycle, there was a glut and nobody was buying. So for a couple months we paid the trash company to pick up our recycled newspapers. Except A) they were dumping them into the regular trash; and especially B) when members of the HOA found out we were paying the trash company to pick up our recyclables, well, 30 years later I still find feathers in my sheets and tar to scrub in the shower.
Relationship status: Available for curbside pickup.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 27 2019, @05:26PM
Username origin story confirmed! :D
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday June 27 2019, @10:30PM
I toss mine in the sink with the dirty dishes. When I turn on the hot water faucet to wash the dishes I direct the water into the various recyclables until it is hot enough to start filling the dishpan, that way I rinse the recyclables with water that would otherwise just be going down the drain unused. If the item being rinsed is something like a beer can or bottle, that water gets poured into a larger container and used to water plants.