recycling

Politics & Government

After more than 30 years, City of Winston-Salem takes over recycling collections from contractor

2:58pm April 04, 2023

The City of Winston-Salem has taken over residential recycling collections from Waste Management of Carolinas Inc., which had done the job for over 30 years.

Environment

Upgraded recycling directory for businesses is now available

11:42am September 06, 2022

by Neal Charnoff

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has overhauled and relaunched its Recycling Markets Directory

Environment

Sprite is ditching its iconic green bottle — but environmentalists say it's not enough

3:24pm July 28, 2022

by Becky Sullivan

For decades, the lemon-lime drink has come in green bottles — but clear plastic is more easily recycled, the company says. Environmentalists say the issue is not the color but the single-use plastic.

A mother bison leads her calf through deep snow toward a road in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., Feb. 20, 2021.

Environment

The federal government is planning to phase out single-use plastics at national parks

4:46am June 09, 2022

by Ayana Archie

More than 300 million tons of plastic are produced in the U.S. each year, with 14 million of them ending up in the ocean, according to the Department of Interior.

A worker carries used drink bottles and cans for recycling at a collection point in Brooklyn, New York. Three decades of recycling have so far failed to reduce what we throw away, especially plastics.

We never got good at recycling plastic. Some states are trying a new approach

1:32pm May 27, 2022

by Matthew Schuerman

New York is the latest, and largest, state to consider charging product-makers to dispose of their packaging. But lawmakers are clashing over how much to involve industry in creating a new system.

Trash sits out for collection on a Philadelphia street on Thursday. The omicron variant is sickening so many sanitation workers that waste collection in Philadelphia and other cities has been delayed or suspended.

Garbage and recyclables pile up as omicron takes its toll on sanitation workers

5:17pm January 14, 2022

by The Associated Press

Some cities are so shorthanded they have temporarily stopped collecting things like recyclables or oversized junk to focus on the grosser, smellier stuff.

Photo of a variety of single-use, disposable plastic from food products arranged on a colorful backdrop and photographed from above.

22 tips for 2022: To cut back on plastic, you need to audit how much you use

3:46pm January 10, 2022

by Rebecca Davis

The first step in cutting back on plastic is understanding what you're using and how much of it. Do an audit of the plastics in your home to get a sense of how much plastic you use.

Queue Listen Now

Holly Rutter collects cans from tailgaters on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing on Sept. 11, 2021. People in Michigan can get 10 cents for each can or bottle they return to a store.

National

Tailgater Trash At Michigan State University Is Treasure For Can Collectors

5:01am September 20, 2021

by Sarah Lehr

Game-day fans can generate a lot of trash so with the return of tailgating comes the return of a lucrative side gig: collecting the empty bottles and cans left behind to return to stores for money.

Taco Bell wants customers to collect its sauce packets so they can be turned into other products rather than sent to the landfill.

Environment

Taco Bell Wants Your Old Sauce Packets So They Can Be Recycled

4:27pm September 10, 2021

More than 8 billion of the packets wind up in landfills each year. Now, the fast food chain wants customers to send them in so they can be recycled into other products.

A sculpture created out of electronic waste in the likeness of Mount Rushmore and the G-7 leaders sits on a hill in Cornwall, England, near where the leaders of the world's wealthiest nations will meet.

2 Artists Want G-7 Leaders To End E-Waste. So They Sculpted Them Out Of Trash

12:13am June 11, 2021

by Frank Langfitt

Made of circuit boards and smartphones, a giant sculpture of the leaders of the world's wealthiest nations is greeting them at a summit in England. The creators want to raise awareness about e-waste.

Queue Listen Now