first things first: the recycling market really did collapse. Franklin, NH used to be able to sell a ton of recycling for $6. now they have to pay someone $125 to haul it away.https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/china-has-stopped-accepting-our-trash/584131/ …
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roughly a third of our recycling used to go to China, which was eager for the material. now that they have their own robust consumer market, and their labor costs have increased, they don't need to put up with contaminated American trash. so they won't.https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/recycling/blogs/soon-cant-ship-recycling-china-thats-problem …
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previously, China accepted contamination levels of up to 7% or 8% (1 in 13). now they accept contamination of up to 0.5% (1 in 200)! basically no American recycling is that clean. even after intense cleaning, one of SF's major sorting centers is > 1%https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/San-Francisco-is-surviving-the-global-recycling-14423494.php …
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this blindsided American municipalities, which were used to recycling programs paying for themselves. they've responded in different ways. in well-heeled municipalities like Westchester with good recycling programs, it's still a cheaper to recyclehttps://yonkerstimes.com/are-westchesters-recyclables-getting-recycled/ …
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even cities are struggling. until April last year, Philadelphia was driven to burn recycling from the most contaminated districts. they've now negotiated a deal where they can recycle everything, but it's expensive.https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/04/24/philadelphia-recycling-program-return/ …
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New York City has been lucky on a few fronts. we have relatively low contamination rates, mostly driven by having customers separate paper from plastic / metal. we've also benefited from a wider range of plastic (like "clamshell" containers) becoming recyclable
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further, it's more expensive for NYC to landfill garbage than most other places, because we're so short on space. we typically need to ship it out of state. since it's a game of keeping recycling cheaper than landfill, we're able to keep ahead.
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NYC also has a history of investing in local recycling programs, which has paid dividends through the crisis.https://citylimits.org/2019/09/17/other-cities-face-trash-crises-but-nyc-is-navigating-chinas-recycling-import-ban/ …
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however, we still face headwinds. NYC had previously been planning on switching to single stream recycling to simplify our recycling story, and reduce landfill and it probably won't happen, now that we know how important contamination levels will be.
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further, our composting program has not gone as well as we hoped it would. residents are confused by what is compostable (veggie products, yes! meat products, no!) and it's still not rolled out to many neighborhoods.https://www.wastedive.com/news/2030-zero-waste-goal-new-york-city/544155/ …
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NYC's recycling program in general has been receiving significant scrutiny recently.
@SallyGold and@muoiod wrote an excellent series highlighting some of our failings for@politico, "Wasted Potential"https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/01/13/wasted-potential-politicos-full-series-on-the-failures-of-new-york-citys-recycling-program-1250706 …Prikaži ovu nit -
I was fascinated to learn that canners who make a living by finding bottles and cans are taking the most lucrative part of the metal recycling, making it harder to balance the recycling budget
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another highlight was the revelation that although we think of "environmental issues" as being one big issue, they're not always complementary, and are sometimes even at odds. in particular, some power-intensive ways of dealing with recycling exacerbate the climate crisis.
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but it's not all bad. China's higher standards for recycling are because China is more prosperous, and this may be the kick in the pants that the US needs. there are rumblings about recycling our material closer to home, and pushing for reduce over recycle https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/markets/nationalsword/stateresponse/ …
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and there are models for countries that do much better at recycling than the US doeshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-taiwan-has-achieved-one-highest-recycling-rates-world-180971150/ …
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in the mean time, what can you do to help out? look up your local recycling regulations, and recycle as much as you can! I was surprised to learn that waxed paper and napkins are not recyclable in NYC, but that all metals (even clotheshangers!) are.
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the other thing is to continue holding our elected officials accountable to accepting a wider variety of recycled goods, and continue prioritizing recycling programs at the ballot box. we may not be there yet, but we'll get there. it's just going to take some elbow grease
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@bdunogier also made the excellent point that recycling should be our last resort, after reduce and reuse, so even better than changing your waste habits is to change your acquisition habits!https://twitter.com/bdunogier/status/1219316998477426690?s=19 …Prikaži ovu nit
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