Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste
New research shows that Americans may have absorbed public messaging about the importance of recycling too well.
July 24, 2023 • ~10 min
New research shows that Americans may have absorbed public messaging about the importance of recycling too well.
Humans generate a lot of trash, but there are cheaper and safer ways to handle it than loading it on rockets.
Many countries export their plastic waste abroad – but the mismanagement of this plastic waste is one of the leading causes of plastic pollution in nature.
Public, government and corporate support for a world treaty to curb plastic waste is growing. Treaties addressing mercury pollution, long-range air pollution and ozone depletion offer some lessons.
Maine and Oregon have enacted laws that require makers of consumer product packaging to pay for recycling or disposing of it. Will other states follow?
The 'pots to planes' appeal in the summer of 1940 helped inspire a mass recycling effort, but problems soon emerged.
The COVID-019 pandemic has boosted use of disposable packaging and personal protective equipment, at the same time that many recycling programs are facing budget cuts. The upshot: More plastic trash.
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