2 ms·
> about 40% of its recyclable material stays in North America, where it’s supposed to be processed according to strict environmental and labor standards. The ot
by Scoundreller 4y ago
> about 40% of its recyclable material stays in North America, where it’s supposed to be processed according to strict environmental and labor standards. The other roughly 60% goes abroad, mainly to Asia
My guess is that if you broke it down, all of the metal stays on-shore, a mix of the paper and all the plastic gets exported.
- ZeroGravitas 4y ago100% of locally recycled aluminum cans, aluminum foil, tin and glass. It also has found domestic markets for 99% of local high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic (which is commonly used for milk jugs and shampoo bottles), as well as for 99% of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic (the type that is often used for soft drink bottles). Other plastics, paper and 95% of carboard go abroad, the latter two don't seem to be much of a problem, but the other hard and film plastics are probably the ones most likely to be mishandled, but since they seem to do a decent job of sorting the stuff, they likely have greater value than from other jurisdictions and so less likely to end up with such outfits. edit: checking the report, the hard and film plastics are only about 1% of the 60% that gets shipped, with about 40% being carbdoard and 20% being paper (presumably by weight).
- Scoundreller 4y agoThanks for the info. Export of cardboard makes sense: lots of trees in North America, so they can make the 'new' stuff, while other places can't. And at worst, it burns somewhat cleanly.