One year ago, China stopped accepting most American scrap plastic and cardboard, throwing a wrench into U.S. recycling programs. Now, cities and towns across the U.S. are dealing with piles of homeless plastic with no clear destination. Many have stopped recycling altogether or dramatically scaled back their recycling programs. Douglas County, Oregon, stopped accepting plastic […]

The EPA estimates Americans recycle about 90 million tons of material a year. But these days the stuff we recycle has to be purer than Ivory soap. That’s because China, the world’s largest importer of recycled materials, instituted strict new standards on the quality of the products they’ll buy, and the impact is being felt near […]

Recycling was shaken up by China’s trash ban. On January 1, China stopped taking 24 types of waste and recyclable items like plastic and paper from overseas. China was the biggest buyer of New Zealand’s waste and recyclables. The change meant councils had to find other overseas buyers for recyclable waste, but that came with a whole new set of recycling guidelines […]