Recycling in the US (and many Western countries, for that matter) is a sham. It always was.
In reality, most of the plastic placed in recycling bins were never turned into new products.
Now China has stopped taking that waste, the myth of near infinite consumption without the guilt of waste has been exposed for the lie that it always was.
That's not to say that we shouldn't aim for a sustainable circular economy. Of course we should.
But we'll need much bigger changes to make it happen.
"For decades, we were sending the bulk of our recycling to China—tons and tons of it, sent over on ships... But last year, the country restricted imports of certain recyclables... Waste-management companies are telling [municipalities] there is no longer a market for their recycling.
"These municipalities have two choices: pay much higher rates to get rid of recycling, or throw it all away.
"Most are choosing the latter.
"When [its kerbside recycling] program launched, Franklin [in New Hampshire] could break even on recycling by selling it for $6 a ton. Now the transfer station is charging the town $125 a ton to recycle, or $68 a ton to incinerate.
"This end of recycling comes at a time when the US is creating more waste than ever. In 2015, the most recent year for which national data are available, America generated 262.4 million tons of waste, up 4.5% from 2010 and 60% from 1985."
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/china-has-stopped-accepting-our-trash/584131/
#Recycling #CircularEconomy #Politics @green #ClimateChange #Environment
@ajsadauskas @green
This is a problem with a clear legal solution, and guilting consumers into feeling responsible is not effectively solving it and never will. Nor was it really designed to, it was just a scheme to divert responsibility.
@Urban_Hermit @ajsadauskas @green
Rather than calling it guilting, perhaps take it as good advice?
Often essentially all the focus is placed on the companies who produce the stuff, then we go and buy little plastic bottles of cola.
We don’t need to drink cola.
Clearly in that case, in buying the cola, we are putting brief pleasure and convenience over the environment. Maybe while telling ourselves we have a conscience and trying to place the responsibility solely with companies that exist because people buy the product.
@siobhansarelle @Urban_Hermit @ajsadauskas @green Requiring consumers to evaluate how great an environmental impact a specific purchase is going to make is an extremely ineffective way of managing how consumption as a whole effects our planet. Government and producers have to regulate how products are made and bare the costs of mitigating long term and large scale use. People should be able to have a soda without fear it’s killing the planet.
@CinciMike @Urban_Hermit @ajsadauskas @green
People already do.