California and Massachusetts have banned throwing away mattresses and are now recycling them instead

I went to Costco today and got a slice of pizza. I was shocked to see that their plates are not compostable in California. Who would have guessed.

When California’s groundbreaking law on single-use plastic passed in 2022 to address the growing scourge of plastic pollution, it had broad political support. There was the state Chamber of Commerce, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a powerful ocean advocate and Californians Against Waste.

But now as the law’s deadlines and requirements finally take shape, a hefty industry-oriented consortium is quietly organizing to burn it — and its companion law, the state’s Truth in Recycling law — to the ground.

Internal industry documents obtained by The Times show how a group called the Print Creative Alliance and its allies plan to kneecap the laws. The alliance is an industry advocate and resource hub for printers, print brokers, packaging and label businesses, vendors, and creative marketing professionals across 13 western states.

The organization sees the laws as financially perilous for the packagers and producers they work with, and therefore, for their own work.

Read more at the link.

I tested our county's curbside recycling by putting 72 luggage trackers inside 72 PET water bottles. The bottles were put in 50 volunteer bins, plus school recycling dumpsters and condo and apartment dumpsters. 7 died during the pickup by the recycling truck, which are garbage trucks with compactors. (so, they were crushed during pickup).

All the remaining trackers first went to a MRF, where the commingled recycling is sorted. None went straight to a landfill or incinerator. 17 different companies were tracked.

Most trackers died during the sorting process at the MRF because the plastic PET is baled under great pressure so it can be shipped to a plastics recycler here in the USA.

Not all the trackers were crushed. I was able to track them to 7 different states, where they ended up at real plastic recyclers where they were washed, flaked and pelletized. I emailed one, he confirmed they make new PET bottles out of 98% of the PET they received. The other 2% was too cloudy and something else was made. It seems most of the pellets were sold on the open market. No bottles went directly to China.

3 trackers were sorted at the MRF and sent to landfills and an incinerator. The optical sorting equipment isn’t perfect, and I don’t know the condition of the PET bottle after it road around in a garbage truck with compactors for several hours.

During the tracking, I talked to a few people who had volunteered the use of their blue bin that held the idea that recycling didn’t work. But Waste Management and Republic Services are spending Billions of dollars upgrading their facilities to recover more recycling. They wouldn’t do this if they just dumped everything. I walked into a local MRF and asked where the stuff went. The manager proudly opened up his laptop, showed me the previous months report on where the plastic was shipped. Just over 50% was shipped to Mohawk Industry, a major carpet manufacturer. There were a dozen other smaller brokers and recyclers that received the rest. They tracked tons into the MRF and tons to each recycler, not only for plastic , but for aluminum, paper and everything else they received. I was on a webinar with a Minneapolis MRF owner, and she said they SOLD 89% of what they brought into the MRF. Single stream curbside recycling works very well.

But the biggest fault of the curbside single stream recycling is that so few people do it. You can’t recycle what isn’t put into the system. Here in Virginia we have good curbside recycling, yet we recycle only 8% of our PET and 21% of our aluminum cans. Contrast that to Oregon, with a bottle bill, and they recycle 72% of their PET and 82% of their aluminum cans. Curbside recycling works, but few participate in it. Curbside recycling isn't a standalone system.

Keep Recycling!

anyone know what this means/why it’s compostable everywhere except california? it was just a normal dixie brand plate, i’ve never seen this on anything before

Recently stumbled onto this issue that doesn’t get enough attention. Our CRV program has basically been turned into an $820m emergency fund. The recycling processing plants able to charge whatever they want, which has been squeezing out independent recycling collection places, forcing more and more to close. So, what does CA senate do? They ask for another $250m to “solve” the problem. The bottom line, I don’t see the CA senate with much of an incentive to actually do anything much about this.

Aren’t used pizza boxes not recyclable?

Found this in my hedge? The tip won't take it! Local Council can't deal with it! They suggested taking it to the police station? Help!

Ok so here is an update! Thanks for all your advice - Tried the tip again, deffo no. Emailed the police, and they said to take it to the tip or drop off at the station.

Took it to the police station, and they wouldn't take it - Says it costs them too much to dispose of it? Thats bonkers!

Tried the scrap yard, they said they couldn't take pressurised canisters and advised a hazardous waste company. Took it to Woodland Oils, and they disposed of it, which ended up COSTING ME £36.50. No wonder people dump stuff at the roadside.

I was going through TikTok when I encountered a video of a trash truck dumping all the trash in a neighborhood because a battery caught on fire. Reading the comments made me feel so mad and sad. LIKE DO U GUYS NOT CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT? “I don’t know anyone who recycles batteries” EVERYONE SHOULD DO IT. I keep mine in a box along with my weed pens and take them to a recycle place once I have a bunch