Recycling has been all the rage for years, with more cities pushing the practice and more companies making their packaging more recycle-friendly. But that recycling push that almost seems second nature to us now may be changing because of a ban that goes into effect January 1st.
As it stands right now, the U.S. exports about one-third of its recycling, and nearly half of that goes to China. {Wowza!} For decades, China has used our recyclables to supply its manufacturing boom. But this summer China decided that our recycling waste included too many other nonrecyclable materials that are “dirty,” even “hazardous.” In a filing with the World Trade Organization, China listed 24 kinds of solid wastes it would ban “to protect China’s environmental interests and people’s health.”
Although the complete ban takes effect on January 1st, effects have already been seen as some Chinese importers have not had their licenses renewed. That is leaving U.S. recycling companies trying to figure out what to do with all that waste. It’s beginning to pile up and unless an alternate solution is found, all of that recycling will begin showing up in landfills. That totally bums me out!
I suspect we’ll see some huge changes with the way or what we can recycle. What do you guys think? I wonder if this will have an impact in the way everything is packaged? I bet we’ll see things like those clam-shell apple containers go away in a hurry. And I suspect a lot of convenience packaging, that used to be easily recyclable, will be reduced or eliminated all together.
It’ll be a sad day if recycling starts to fade away! It also makes me wonder if the price of having trash hauled away is going to skyrocket. Then again, maybe this will be a HUGE wake up call to people and they’ll start to buy more in bulk, or make different decisions about a product based on it’s packaging.
What do YOU think?
~Mavis
Marie says
Timely topic! Our recycling/compost monthly bill is now more than our tiny garbage bill! We canceled our service yet have found other issues arising as all of our neighbors r doing the same but don’t know how to truly recycle/compost. Having always lived with “free pick up” until this past October, personally, I have been struggling to keep the rats/raccoons/stray dogs out of our compost piles now that there are so many new “snacking” spots sprouting up in our neighborhood. We use 3 wooden bins (for turning & mixing) lined with hardware cloth under and up the sides & a fancy tight fitting top to enclose. Short of giving books on composting for Christmas, how do we combat this new title wave of unwanted visitors to our bins? Suggestions?
Michele says
You could try worm composting. That’s what we do for all our food scraps and kitchen waste. It’s wonderful because the worm casting is great for your garden!
Marie says
Thanks!
LIVINGRICHONTHECHEAP says
I truly believe that the companies that produce the waste (like individually wrapped eggs and things with packaging that absolutely don’t need packaging) should be charged more money for disposal so they will be less inclined. People have to start thinking differently. Many places in Canada have banned plastic shopping bags, that is a step in the right direction, I wish more would. Instead of buying everything new people need to look at the used market, there are so many unnecessary products that are produced new every single day. All of these measures will help. Canada has had no glass market for a long time to sell recycleables to so we have to trash them, instead I use them around the house for containers. I hate seeing something like a glass jar going to the trash bin.
Linda says
I reuse a lot of the jars we buy things in also. I hate putting left overs in plastic containers. I use the little black containers my mushroom etc comes in for organizing containers in my drawers.
Deborah says
I don’t generally make any resolutions for the year but..I bought a really nice water bottle at Starbucks today. (It was on clearance plus an additional 30% off)
I have been uncomfortable with the number of disposable water bottles I have been using, so this should help…
Lauren says
That’s a fantastic first step to less plastic waste! and will save you money as a bonus too. I had a change of plan yesterday and when out without my water bottle and was not happy with myself having to buy water, but it was 39 deg C (102F) so couldn’t really avoid it : )
Marcia says
From Zero Waste Home:
Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, rot
There is so much waste in life and in packaging these days, and people think it’s normal. Heck, I used to think it’s normal! My sister once said “I don’t recycle, that’s what the landfill is for.” I was shocked! I think part of that is due to her living in a beautiful rural countryside in the northeast. The dump (which was a mile from our house growing up) was invisible. I mean, who cares! Plus all of the spots that people would just “dump” things they didn’t want. Cleanup was a mess.
I really really try to look at each thing that comes into my house and ask “what happens to this?”
Honestly, this is a really good opportunity to bring jobs back to the US, for recycling.
Lace Faerie says
When we moved out of our apartment and into the same semi-rural home we built, recycling was free (26 yrs ago, Whatcom county). I was a SAHM and darn near militant about not throwing anything into the trash that could be recycled. Labels removed from cans and glass, seperate bins, no shiny or colored ink papers, washed aluminum foil. We used the smallest can the garbage company allowed and had it picked up monthly. Had to, one of many things I did to afford being a single income family.
Then the trash company increased the prices and started charging for recycling. I still try my very best to recycle everything I can but when the bins are full and it’s gonna cost more to recycle more, into the trash can it goes. And therein lies a point of contention. My hubby feels he is paying for it either way/anyway, why bother?
When the cost of disposing of packaging equals or exceeds the convenience factor or costs more than the man hours, then we are still going to have excessive packaging. Costco, are you hearing our concerns?
Linda says
Cnia not taking our recycling calling it dirty- hazardous. hmmm What about their toys even Matcha tea that was found to have lead. I never eat anything from China. I do think too many things come in plastic.
Patty P says
Our county houses a huge landfill. There are lots of names for it (Garbage Mountain, Mount Trashmore, etc) around here, but it’s a huge eyesore, it stinks something awful, and it’s just not good for our environment. We pay for recycling through our town taxes. Unfortunately, after discussing trash/recycling with a former employee of the landfill, we found out that most of the recycling gets dumped at the landfill…only about 10% is actually being recycled.
I have picked up with putting paper and cardboard into my compost. We use a ton of compost in our garden every year, and compost everything from kitchen scraps to the hay/straw/waste from our sheep, goats, rabbits, and chickens.
I’m trying to get better with using my reusable bags when I go shopping. I also have my own “net bags” for produce that I made after reading the Zero Waste lifestyle book.
I think it’s a responsible thing to do to come up with ways to avoid waste or be more responsible about getting rid of it.
Lisa Millar says
Having travelled to both the USA and Japan this year, it was a real eye opener as to the amount of waste packaging I came across.
I am so used to eating a lot out of the garden, so of course no packaging there and we reuse and recycle a lot of our rubbish. (Honestly, we could still do better though)
Our supermarkets in Australia are getting worse instead of better with packaging but it has nothing (yet) on the US and Japan.
I felt quite bad about the amount of rubbish we bagged up from a few weeks in Japan. It was close to the amount we put together in about 4 months!
Japan is good with its recycling programes though – in fact whole islands have been constructed using rubbish!
I hope the US finds a good solution to its recycling upcoming issue.
Worldwide we need to be cutting down on so much unnec. packaging and stop inventing new ways to pollute the planet! (those single use coffee pods for instance!!)
Lauren says
We definitely need to do better and I think the ABC show “War on Waste” really did make a difference for a lot of people (I haven’t watched the follow up show yet) but I see a lot more people using keep cups at Cafe’s.
I think that were we as a general population get caught is that we have been sold on the idea that recycling is the solution. It’s not it comes last, It’s reduce, reuse and then recycle.
P.S – Lisa we haven’t seen an update from you in ages!! : )
Lisa Millar says
You know I have yet to see that War on Waste! I really have to catch up but I have seen the results of people using cups etc so it was a good thing!
You are very right… recycling is the last bit. I never thought of it like that.
Reduction is the big thing we really need to do. It kills me going to the supermarket seeing fresh fruit and veg on a Styrofoam tray shrink wrapped. So very unnec!!
lol re update! I have had a crazy year. Once I have some semblance of control in my garden I will have to bug Mavis with some photos and stories!
Mavis Butterfield says
Please do! Everyone loves hearing from you Lisa!!! Especially me. 🙂
Lisa Millar says
Awww thanks Mavis! I’ll work on making things pretty and throw you a line soon! 🙂
Practical Parsimony says
Maybe the US can start businesses to take the place of the Chinese recycling plants. Yes, there is hazardous stuff, so maybe the US can develop a cleaner way of recycling hazardous items. Of course, less packaging and other measures, all used at once, would help us in this dilemma. Personal, municipal, and corporate measures could help us to not drown in our own trash.
Brianna says
I still don’t understand why our landfills are so primitive. We are a smart country and are always looking to stay ahead of other countries with technology like solar power, Amazon, and Silicon Valley, but yet we still can’t effectively manage our trash and landfills. I remember watching a documentary that showed a foreign hotel and they had their own recycling center in the basement and nothing hardly ever left the hotel as trash. I wish I could remember which documentary it was, but it was a Netflix or Amazon one. I just don’t get how we can drop the ball on trash production and poor recycling efforts and landfill management. I’ve become more aware of shopping and really think about the packaging because how many mini bags do you need inside of larger bags inside a box that sits in a cardboard tray with other boxes grouped onto a pallet and plastic wrapped again? And those Costco apple clamshells work great for Christmas ornament storage.
Stacey says
I have long thought that recycling wasn’t the answer. We have been back in Vermont now for a few years after living in Arizona for 13 years. When we left Vermont, the emphasis was on not using disposable containers. The local natural food store allowed us to bring in our own jars for peanut butter, which I loved. We only threw out a small bag of garbage per week for our family of 5. When we came back, I was disappointed to find that the emphasis is now on recycling. We now throw away 1 larger bag of garbage per month for the 2 of us, and a lot is put in the recycling bin. With the exception of reusable shopping bags, so much is recycled. Imagine all the resources needed for the recycling process. It would be better to cut down on the packaging to begin with and reuse a whole lot more of what we already have!
Jen says
Our garbage service in Oregon has sent out the heads-up that the 9nly reason they can take our recyclables is because there is a market for them. If they cannot find companies to buy the recyclables, the garbage company will not be able to continue to accept them. This was all about the changes in China’s policies.
I think the one thing I need to figure out is meat packaging. Styrofoam trays are often not recyclable and plastic vacuum wrapped meats aren’t always recyclable either…
Marsha says
So we are/were shipping our recycling to China? While I am certainly pro-recycling in theory, I question the amount of energy used to actually recycle items. It just seems counterproductive. How is shipping recyclables to another country energy-efficient? Doesn’t make sense to me. Wish there was a simple solution to this mess…
Colleen says
Wow, I had no idea. Thanks for sharing this information. It’ll help with motivation/inspiration for producing less waste.