China’s ban means recycling is piling up at Rogue Waste System in southern Oregon. Employees Scott Fowler, Laura Leebrick and Garry Penning say their only option for now is to send it to a landfill. > Jes Burns/OPB/EarthFix
How ironic, that China, who has been caught red handed tainting everything from pet food to pharmaceuticals, and vitamin and herb supplements, has become oh-so-picky about its recycled imports.
American households, businesses, municipalities do not do a good enough job recycling. Whether its by using outdated inefficient methods for separating, or, by not doing it anywhere near the volume we could be with real dedication. Here in Hamden, there are large communities that do single stream recycling. All kinds of crap thrown in the supposed recycling dumpsters. Really pathetic. Nobody cares. Nobody’s fined. Nobody’s accountable. There’s no excuse for towns to allow single stream recycling anymore. This is a lazy and wasteful cop-out approach to recycling.
Garbage is a daunting issue awaiting us that will eventually cause major global eco stress. Meantime, here’s an impressive video on robotics tackling the sorting challenge…
Recycling Chaos In U.S. As China Bans ‘Foreign Waste’
Like many Portland residents, Satish and Arlene Palshikar are serious recyclers. Their house is coated with recycled bluish-white paint. They recycle their rainwater, compost their food waste and carefully separate the paper and plastic they toss out. But recently, after loading up their Prius and driving to a sorting facility, they got a shock.