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Originally Posted by SnowflakeinDeLaVista
It is my understanding that many recycling programs across the country are ending. Recycling is a complex process. In many cases, recycling requires chemicals and processes that are dangerous to breathe and drink if allowed to escape into the air and water. Communities across the United States want recycling to be done—only elsewhere. Large numbers of recycling agencies began shipping recyclables to other countries long ago. China was apparently a primary destination for US recyclables and they were essentially going into landfills there rather than actually being recycled. During the trade war with China, the Chinese government adopted a policy of no longer accepting what amounts to monthly tons of US garbage. Municipalities all over the US have been struggling to figure out what to do with our recycling, with much of it actually going to landfills for some time now. This new policy most likely reflects what’s been already happening for months.
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Had nothing to do with a trade war.
China's “National Sword” policy, enacted in January 2018, banned the import of most plastics and other materials headed for that nation's recycling processors, which had handled nearly half of the world's recyclable waste for the past quarter century.
Why the world’s recycling system stopped working | Financial Times