Recycling Industry is struggling

[Stevicus]

Apparently, China doesn't want to buy our garbage anymore

As California’s recycling industry struggles, companies and consumers are forced to adapt

Visiting the Burbank recycling center is like stepping into an archaeological dig. Everywhere there is evidence of consumption — kombucha bottles, cardboard delivery packages, plastic water bottles, toothpaste tubes, vitamin bottles and plastic bags.

“Our garbage tells our story,” said recycling coordinator Kreigh Hampel. “It drives home how disposable our lives are.”

Not long ago, these byproducts of a throwaway lifestyle found a market in China, allowing Americans to toss their garbage in recycling bins with a seemingly clean conscience. But in late 2017, China imposed a stringent ban on imports of certain scrap papers and plastics, creating a glut of material and roiling the global recycling industry.

Apparently, the Chinese ban has nothing to with retaliating over tariffs.

China started banning certain scrap imports partly because of complaints that the United States was shipping “contaminated” and poorly sorted recyclables, and also because of internal changes in the Chinese economy and waste management systems.

The shift has prompted increased investment in U.S. recycling plants to fill the void. Nonetheless, scrap waste is piling up in warehouses and parking lots. Some is ending up in waterways, oceans, landfills and incinerators. In nearly all cases, waste disposal is more expensive.

They're talking about ending our recycling program here due to this issue.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Apparently, China doesn't want to buy our garbage anymore

As California’s recycling industry struggles, companies and consumers are forced to adapt



Apparently, the Chinese ban has nothing to with retaliating over tariffs.



They're talking about ending our recycling program here due to this issue.

dont blame the Chinese for this, it is about how Trump is treating China i would think. Why should China help America when all they get back is ****?

 

[Audie]

Apparently, China doesn't want to buy our garbage anymore

As California’s recycling industry struggles, companies and consumers are forced to adapt



Apparently, the Chinese ban has nothing to with retaliating over tariffs.



They're talking about ending our recycling program here due to this issue.

The USA should work out a deal to outsource
prisons. It would be way cheaper to house them
in China, they could do useful factory work-make it
the same conditions as for Chinese workers.

It would save a lot of money, and there would be
a lot fewer repeat offenders.

 

[Stevicus]

dont blame the Chinese for this, it is about how Trump is treating China i would think. Why should China help America when all they get back is ****?

The Chinese ban on recyclables has nothing to do with Trump.

 

[Audie]

The Chinese ban on recyclables has nothing to do with Trump.

I do not care for Trump, but, this TDS is really
making people insane.

 

[Spirit of Light]

The Chinese ban on recyclables has nothing to do with Trump.

So you think if Trump hadn't started the trade war toward China they would have still stopped the import of American waste?

 

[Stevicus]

The USA should work out a deal to outsource
prisons. It would be way cheaper to house them
in China, they could do useful factory work-make it
the same conditions as for Chinese workers.

It would save a lot of money, and there would be
a lot fewer repeat offenders.

Well, maybe certain types of prisoners could be sent to China.

 

[Stevicus]

So you think if Trump hadn't started the trade war toward China they would have still stopped the import of American waste?

That's what the article said:

China started banning certain scrap imports partly because of complaints that the United States was shipping “contaminated” and poorly sorted recyclables, and also because of internal changes in the Chinese economy and waste management systems.

 

[Estro Felino]

I can understand states like California are too big to manage the improvement of the recycling sectors...but most states are as populated as Montana....

 

[Audie]

dont blame the Chinese for this, it is about how Trump is treating China i would think. Why should China help America when all they get back is ****?

Neither country is interested in "helping" the other.
As for your "when all the get" is weirdly upside down
and backwards.

The way the trade arrangement has operated for
years is, they fill American dumps with cheap junk, and
Americans fill their banks.

 

[Audie]

Well, maybe certain types of prisoners could be sent to China.

It is only a half serious suggestion. But still.

 

[Audie]

So you think if Trump hadn't started the trade war toward China they would have still stopped the import of American waste?

You think it was Trump who "started" it? hahaha
You know not the Chinese!

 

[Stevicus]

I was just recalling the story of the infamous NYC garbage barge back in the 1980s which wandered around at sea, unable to find a place to dump its garbage.

Long Island's infamous garbage barge of '87 still influences laws

Officials, seeing landfill space running out on Long Island, decided to try something new: pay a private carting consortium to ship the trash to a North Carolina dump for a fraction of what it would cost to dispose of it in the Northeast.

The Break of Dawn tugboat and its barge sit near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge off Brooklyn on May 17, 1987. Credit: Newsday / Thomas Koeniges

But it backfired.

North Carolina officials, fielding complaints from residents who saw the barge trying to dock, wanted nothing to do with the fetid haul. After being turned away, the Mobro 4000 meandered from place to place for two months, desperately looking for a dump site. It would be turned away by Louisiana, Texas, Florida and Belize. Authorities in Mexico and Cuba threatened to fire artillery at the barge if it tried to dock.

I remember for those two months, the entire country was riveted with the travails of this poor, unwanted garbage barge. They were even threatened with an artillery barrage from other countries if they attempted to dock.

"We don't want your stinkin' garbage!"

 

[ChristineM]

Why is it a problem fir America to deal with its own waste?

 

[Revoltingest]

Why is it a problem fir America to deal with its own waste?

Changing goals regarding waste require adjustments.
I prefer to throw very little into a landfill.
- Garbage goes in the compost bin/pit or out in the yard for the coons, possums & other pets.
- Reusable bags for shopping.
- Burnables used for heat.
(Yes, I save them up the rest of the year.)
- Donations to various charities for re-sale & re-use.
- Fix things instead of tossing'm.

 

[Wandering Monk]

Apparently, China doesn't want to buy our garbage anymore

That's just as well because that recycling would just end up in the Pacific Ocean anyway.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...contribute-most-of-the-plastic-in-the-oceans/

 

[Revoltingest]

That's just as well because that recycling would just end up in the Pacific Ocean anyway.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...contribute-most-of-the-plastic-in-the-oceans/

I'd read of that study before.
It makes Ameristan look not so bad, eh.

 

[Stevicus]

Why is it a problem fir America to deal with its own waste?

 

[shmogie]

dont blame the Chinese for this, it is about how Trump is treating China i would think. Why should China help America when all they get back is ****?

Obviously you have no clue about the issues involved, no surprise there.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Obviously you have no clue about the issues involved, no surprise there.

ok