In , the Diamond State passed legislation requiring all retail stores to offer a plastic bag return option for shoppers. Florida's compost and mulching facilities help to repurpose more than 1. Georgia's Environmental Protection Division requires all local self-serve and conveyor car washes to abide by a water conservation rule and be inspected annually to ensure compliance. In addition to non-biodegradable plastic bags, paper bags containing less than 40 percent recycled material are outlawed in Hawaii's most heavily-populated counties.
Cities in southwest Idaho kicked off with a recycling ban that no longer allowed residents to recycle plastics numbered think berry containers and meat trays or any kind of bottle cap. Instead, households will be given special bags for collecting these kinds of plastics which will then be processed into a synthetic fuel. In , Illinois launched Recycle Thin Film Fridays as an initiative to relcaim thin-film plastic bags and encourage residents to use reusable alternatives when possible.
Since , the Indiana Recycling Coalition has hosted the Recyclemania Tournament - a nationwide competition encouraging college students to take part in various waste-reduction initiatives. Participants have helped recycle and compost The Hawkeye state generates more than 3 million waste tires every year. Since waste tires are banned from landfills, and it is prohibited to burn them, residents can bring these tires back to their dealer to be recycled properly.
In , Kansas State University's recycling center worked with campus housing services to recycle over mattresses. The mattresses were collected, cleaned, and redistributed to communities in need.
With statewide initiative Thinking Outside of the Box , Kentucky residents are encouraged to reduce waste and recyclable consumption by choosing products with minimal packaging, buying in bulk when possible, and "shopping the shelves" in their homes first.
To help prevent mercury pollution, Maine residents are encouraged to bring their old mercury thermostats to local participating hardware stores and drop-off sites in exchnge for a store discount.
In some parts of Maryland, residents don't even need a city-issued recycling bin to recycle - materials can go into any container as long as it is marked "Recycle" and is not a plastic bag. In , the state's Department of Environmental Protection banned the disposal of commercial food and organic wastes by any business or institution that already discarded more than one ton of organic waste per week. In , the state's Capitol building moved closer to becoming a zero-waste workplace with programs like organics recycling and the phasing out of desk-side trash collection.
In the Magnolia State, the recycyling indistury alone helps support 5, jobs. Since , the Missouri State Recycling Program has hosted a statewide Zero Waste Challenge on Earth Day encouraging local school students to pack lunches in reusable containers and opt for easily recyclable plastics when needed. With over recycling centers around the state, collecting 15 different materials from old batteries to cooking oil, 90 percent of all Montana residents live within range of a drop-off site.
In , Lincoln will become the first Nebraska city to implement a ban on sending corrugated cardboard to landfills joining cities in six other states. Since , the Silver State has hosted a recycled art contest , encouraging residents of all ages statewide to get creative with their recyclables and win a cash prize!
Under state law - New Hampshire joins nine other states as a member of the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse - the sale of any packaging with intentional use of lead, mercury, or other harmful chemicals is prohibited. In , Woodbury, New Jersey was one of the country's first cities to adopt a recycling program.
The southwestern state offers its local communities the option of implementing Pay-As-You-Throw collections where residential households only pay per unit of trash discarded rather than a standard fixed fee. Due to the falling costs of oil prices, virgin plastic is actually cheaper to make than using recycled materials. According to the Environmental Protection Agency , about 66 million tons of materials are recycled in the US, and almost one-third of these materials typically get exported.
The country began buying recycled plastic, then had small factories in China use the scraps to create inexpensive, plastic exports like shoes, bottles, hoses, and gadgets. The US used to send 4, shipping containers of recycled goods to China a day.
As of , China was importing 40 million metric tons of recycled goods annually, according to the United Nations. But the Chinese government has recently has been steering the country away from low-value sectors like waste and is focusing more on higher-earning industries like tech. Since January , China has banned the import of most plastic and papers.
It also tightened its restrictions on accepting other materials, like scrap metal. WasteDive , an industry website that covers waste management, has kept a timeline of how the Chinese recycling ban is affecting the US.
Some cities are killing curbside recycling pickup ; urban recycling centers all across the country are closing as well. Australia, for example, has resorted to burying its trash , while Canada now sends some trash to landfills or burns it. Burying and burning garbage are Band-Aids on the larger problem, but the global recycling system must be fixed.
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Now is the time for action. Out of Remember Me. The State of Curbside Recycling report calls for these clear, integrated strategies: Substantially greater support of community recycling programs with capital funding, technical assistance, and efforts to strengthen and grow local political commitment to recycling services. New and enhanced state and federal recycling policies.
Continued investment expansion in material processing and end markets.
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