Some Recycling Is Now Being Re-Routed To Landfills (wral.com)

"Thousands of tons of material left curbside for recycling in dozens of U.S. cities and towns -- including several in Oregon -- have gone to landfills," reports the New York Times. Slashdot reader schwit1 summarizes their report: One big reason: China has essentially shut the door to U.S. recyclables. The Times notes that about a third of recyclables gets shipped abroad, with China the biggest importer. But starting this year, China imposed strict rules on what it will accept, effectively banning most of it. That, the Times reports, has forced many recycling companies who can't find other takers to dump recyclables into landfills.
"Recyclers in Canada, Australia, Britain, Germany and other parts of Europe have also scrambled to find alternatives," reports the Times, though most major U.S. cities aren't affected, and countries like India, Vietnam and Indonesia are now importing more materials.

But at least some recycling companies are simply stockpiling material, "while looking for new processors, or hoping that China reconsiders its policy."

Comments

Re:Let's be clear...

[GerryGilmore]

You're almost half-right. The Economist magazine has been following this closely. China has long been one of the main destinations for plastic and - especially - paper refuse from western countries. They recycle it into new cardboard packaging for the next round of shipped goods.
Likewise plastic waste is recycled into other plastics. They *could* do that pretty efficiently until recently as their labor costs have risen.
A positive side-effect for them is to watch us squirm under the weight of our own waste.