Global Recycling Policy Changes Heighten Need for New Solutions
by Staff Writer for Thomas.Net
Image Credit: Dalibor Danilovic / Shutterstock
By 2050, it’s expected that global waste will reach 3.4 billion tonnes. With the recycling industry in dire straits, “cleantech” may offer a solution in the form of innovative, trash-sorting robots. But without investment from venture capitalists, this fledgling tech solution will never get off the ground.
Given the high levels of confusion and misinformation surrounding recycling, it’s unsurprising that Americans are currently only recycling 32% of waste. The soaring cost of recycling means governments and waste management companies are oftentimes opting to send recyclables straight into landfills.
This problem was exacerbated in 2018 by China’s National Sword policy, which placed huge restrictions on the types of solid waste it would import when it banned four categories and 24 types of imports. Then, in 2021, it banned all solid waste imports.
The U.S. had, profitably, shipped almost 27 million tons of plastic waste to China to be recycled in the last 25 years. This upheaval has left the U.S. with simply too much waste to recycle; too much of it is too dirty, it’s backing up at recycling centers, and it’s an enormous expense for governments, businesses, and manufacturers to manage.
Efforts to find other countries to take plastic waste after China closed its doors have proven problematic, with many countries unable to cope with the volume. In 2021, an amendment to the Basel Convention made plastic waste a more highly regulated material, and U.S. scrap plastic exports declined.
