NPR interview analysis: Where Does Our Recycling Go?
Many of us have chucked our plastic containers and old electronics into trash bins and carelessly walked away, failing to realize that matter can not be destroyed, and waste is no exception.
Kate O’Neill, professor of environmental science policy and management at Berkeley and author of the book “Waste”, told “Fresh Air’s” host Terry Gross of NPR, that people need to think more holistically about their waste.
“It’s not something again we throw out and someone takes away and deals with,” O’Neill said. “All of these, many waste, particularly waste that are goods in a sense, have an afterlife.”
O’Neill mentions that sewage has an afterlife as fertilizer, promoting Gross to discuss the global economy behind waste, encouraging frugal usage of plastics and electronics for long-term economical and international benefits.
“To study waste provides a window into all aspects of society and its politics,” O’Neill said. “Everybody has a story about waste, but we can also see when waste piles up in the streets, government often fall.”
This may be the reason China and many other countries are no longer accepting our recyclables, fearing recognition as the “international garbage dump”.
In fact, “not everything we sent to China could be reused and manufactured,” said Goss.
After Gross adds that the United States has not built a recycling facility since 2003, the concern for rebuilding our recycling process became even more evident.
O’Neill said that although the United States has very few regulations regarding waste at the federal level, there has been a bill introduced to Congress that would limit the usage of plastic.
But plastic is not the only type of waste.
E- waste, or electronic waste, also needs to be considered.
Nowadays, our computers and phones are built in a way that makes it hard for the typical user to disassemble the good parts.
Thus, many environmentalists have started a movement called “the right to repair”.
People have been pressuring the big electronic companies to make their devices easier to repair and refurbish by getting rid of complicated screws.
This movement has been a big step in challenging the capitalist market to consider the environment.
O’Neill, as well as many others, hope that people begin to see waste as an integral part of our society that deserves proper treatment, not just something that magically disappears.
Kate O’Neill, professor of environmental science policy and management at Berkeley and author of the book “Waste”, told “Fresh Air’s” host Terry Gross of NPR, that people need to think more holistically about their waste.
“It’s not something again we throw out and someone takes away and deals with,” O’Neill said. “All of these, many waste, particularly waste that are goods in a sense, have an afterlife.”
O’Neill mentions that sewage has an afterlife as fertilizer, promoting Gross to discuss the global economy behind waste, encouraging frugal usage of plastics and electronics for long-term economical and international benefits.
“To study waste provides a window into all aspects of society and its politics,” O’Neill said. “Everybody has a story about waste, but we can also see when waste piles up in the streets, government often fall.”
This may be the reason China and many other countries are no longer accepting our recyclables, fearing recognition as the “international garbage dump”.
In fact, “not everything we sent to China could be reused and manufactured,” said Goss.
After Gross adds that the United States has not built a recycling facility since 2003, the concern for rebuilding our recycling process became even more evident.
O’Neill said that although the United States has very few regulations regarding waste at the federal level, there has been a bill introduced to Congress that would limit the usage of plastic.
But plastic is not the only type of waste.
E- waste, or electronic waste, also needs to be considered.
Nowadays, our computers and phones are built in a way that makes it hard for the typical user to disassemble the good parts.
Thus, many environmentalists have started a movement called “the right to repair”.
People have been pressuring the big electronic companies to make their devices easier to repair and refurbish by getting rid of complicated screws.
This movement has been a big step in challenging the capitalist market to consider the environment.
O’Neill, as well as many others, hope that people begin to see waste as an integral part of our society that deserves proper treatment, not just something that magically disappears.
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