Is Recycling a Waste?
Guest Blog Courtesy of the Massachusetts Recycle Smart Program
It seems like every day another negative recycling story hits the news. Here’s a recent sampling:
As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling (NY Times, 3/16/19);
Recycling is a Dumpster Fire. Literally (On Point Radio, 3/14/19).
Is This the End of Recycling? (Atlantic Monthly, 3/4/19);
Help, We’re Drowning in Recycling (Wall Street Journal, 3/2/19);
U.S. Cities Have Nowhere to Put Recycling (CBS Evening News, 3/20/19);
It’s no wonder our neighbors, friends and family are asking “is my recycling just going to a landfill?” or “should I even bother?”
China closing its doors to our mixed paper and unsorted plastics was a wake-up call. Over the last ten years our recycling habits got sloppy. (Wishful recycling, anyone?) But China kept gobbling up everything we sent, sorted out the bad stuff, and made new packaging and products from the good stuff – until they said, “enough.”
There…