Big Recycling Problem: China is starting to refuse to accept recycling material, and that's going to be a big problem for the USA. The simple solution would seem to be to do the...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

China is starting to refuse to accept recycling material, and that's going to be a big problem for the USA. The simple solution would seem to be to do the recycling in this country and give thousands of people jobs. I thought we already did that, but I guess not.

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/09/568797388/recycling-chaos-in-u-s-as-china-bans-foreign-waste

melismus Loc: Chesapeake Bay Country

Has worked in China only because they have millions of people willing to work for low wages. That seems to be changing, as well it should.

dragonfist Loc: Stafford, N.Y.

Perhaps we wouldn't have so many recyclables if we gave up on conspicuous consumption and planned obsolescence. Also many of us can remember beverages coming in reusable glass containers.

Bunko.T Loc: Western Australia.

dragonfist wrote:

Perhaps we wouldn't have so many recyclables if we gave up on conspicuous consumption and planned obsolescence. Also many of us can remember beverages coming in reusable glass containers.

Here here, we live in a throw away society & now the resulting dregs of it is going to bite us on the bum.

GeneB Loc: Chattanooga Tennessee

it is time to go back to many of the old ways of packaging and bagging.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

dragonfist wrote:

Perhaps we wouldn't have so many recyclables if we gave up on conspicuous consumption and planned obsolescence. Also many of us can remember beverages coming in reusable glass containers.

Amen! People think if they recycle, they're environmentally proactive. Thing is, recycling is an industrial process that requires energy, uses fossil fuels and generates both solid and hazardous wastes...it's really a remanufacturing process. Far better, are the other two "R's"...reuse and reduce. Reusing a product requires no collection, reprocessing and redistribution but still requires a product to be manufactured the first time. Source reduction, ie not purchasing the product at all, requires no resources and generates no wastes. Better to first ask, "Do I really need that product?" and if the answer is yes, purchase something that won't wear out as fast (admittedly not easy, these days) and can be reused by someone else when your done with it.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Somebody on here posted a link to a (U.K.) Daily Mail article stating that most of the Oceans plastic waste was traced to 4 rivers, all of them in Asia. The item 'forgot' to mention that the waste was coming from the U.K. and probably the U.S. as well originally.

We are in the same boat Jerry. My guess is a lot will go into landfill.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

jerryc41 wrote:

China is starting to refuse to accept recycling material, and that's going to be a big problem for the USA. The simple solution would seem to be to do the recycling in this country and give thousands of people jobs. I thought we already did that, but I guess not.

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/09/568797388/recycling-chaos-in-u-s-as-china-bans-foreign-waste

It sounds to me like they are planning to let robots, not people, do the sorting.

spaceylb Loc: Long Beach, N.Y.

fourlocks wrote:

Amen! People think if they recycle, they're envir... (show quote)

One more "R"... Repurpose..

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

jerryc41 wrote:

China is starting to refuse to accept recycling material, and that's going to be a big problem for the USA. The simple solution would seem to be to do the recycling in this country and give thousands of people jobs. I thought we already did that, but I guess not.

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/09/568797388/recycling-chaos-in-u-s-as-china-bans-foreign-waste

It's a problem everywhere. The oceans are a dumping area for too many countries. Rivers and creeks are polluted here in the US. All that rubbish flows into the oceans. But we do not lead the world in cleaning up our planet. In some areas around the world people are cleaning their local beaches; those that are catchment areas for plastic washed up at every tide. The poor in India have formed themselves into action groups to clean their infected beaches. There is no reward in it, they do it because their homes adjoin the beach. Yes, shack dwellers are active but the affluent in good homes, around the world, do little or nothing except talk. We are poisoning our planet but the UN and political parties forming governments are talking but take no concerted action. They'll fund raise for gain and power but are content to see our planet poisoned for all forms of life including our children and their descendants.

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Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

The last time I went to our recycling center there was a guy trying to stuff his wife in one of the bins.

DonB Loc: Port Royal , Tn

Perhaps if law enforcement was practiced like the law is written, we would not be forced to buy a 1"square chip wrapped in one foot of plastic and cardboard in order to cut down on shoplifting. Etc, etc,

Spiney Loc: Reading, PA

I would bet the amount of cardboard box 📦 waste or recycling is way up in the USA due to Amazon. We are Prime members and purchase a fair amount from Amazon. It angers me that they will ship a very small item, with little or no packing material in a much larger box. I imagine they do this for efficiency and to get shipper price breaks. But instead of a memory card in a padded envelope they'll put it in a 6" cubed box.

I either break them down for recycling or reuse to ship eBay sales.

cytafex Loc: Clarksburg MA

Time for people to take personal responsability for resource use!