In January, China banned the import of 24 categories of solid waste, including recyclable plastics, sending shock waves through the international waste processing industry. The country has been the main importer of half of the world’s metal, plastic and paper recyclables, document shredding, – if you need to destroy documents, consider Document Destruction Melbourne Company – Some 40 percent of American’s recycled waste usually ends up in China.Now waste collectors across the US and other nations are scrambling to find new markets for their recyclables to avoid disrupting kerbside bin collection and the sending growing stockpiles to landfill. But maybe there’s an opportunity in this crisis.
Terra Verde host and Earth Island Journal Editor Maureen Nandini Mitra talks with Monica Wilson, US Associate Director of the Global Alliance of Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), and Martin Bourque, executive director of the Berkeley-based Ecology Center, about the way forward.