The recycling business in America is in a heap of trouble. The environmental and economic ripple effects on towns and cities are ominous.
China used to take our recyclables but essentially shut its doors in 2018 because the paper and plastics we shipped were too contaminated with garbage. Unsurprisingly, the United States leads the world in per capita municipal solid waste production, and the volume of single-use plastics, rising for decades, has soared since the start of the pandemic.