1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,119 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bomb here. For years, China has been the 3 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: top importer of recyclable material taking in about half of 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: the world's plastics and paper and turning the rubbish into 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: useful materials, so it was quite a shock. In seventeen 6 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: Wendy Chinese government announced it was changing its rules on 7 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: the importation of waste. Instead of accepting bales of recycled 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: materials with five percent impurities, as had been the norm, 9 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 1: China said it would only accept bales containing less than 10 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: one percent, a nearly impossible standard to meet in the 11 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,919 Speaker 1: short term. When the Chinese announced the change, no one 12 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: was exactly sure how it would play out, but now 13 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: they know. As the new rule took effect in January eighteen, 14 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: many countries, including the United States, Canada, Ireland, Great Britain 15 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: and Germany, began to scramble to find ways to dispose 16 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: of their recyclables that just months ago would have gone 17 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: to China. As a consequence, tons of inventory began piling 18 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: up on docks in manicip landfills and in processing facilities. 19 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:05,839 Speaker 1: In Halifax, Nova Scotia, for example, the city needed special 20 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: permission to bury three thirty tons. That's three metric tons 21 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,680 Speaker 1: of plastic in the local landfill, and just for the 22 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: sake of simplicity, I'm going to refer just to tons 23 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: for the rest of this piece. Apologies, metric users. Just 24 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: keep in mind that our tons are a wee bit heavier, 25 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: and feel free to insert your own joke about Americans 26 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: and heaviness here anyway. Adina Renee Rattlers, Senior director of 27 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,199 Speaker 1: International Relations and international Affairs for the Institute of Scrap 28 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: Recycling Industries, says China didn't give the world a whole 29 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: lot of time to get ready for this. The rules 30 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 1: changing compasses twenty four categories of solid waste, including certain plastics, paper, 31 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: and textiles. The problem, Chinese officials claim, though others dispute this, 32 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: is that large amounts of contaminated material were being mixed 33 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: in with the recyclables that the country was accepting. The 34 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: officials also said that much of what they were taking 35 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: in was not properly scrubbed and sorted. They wrote to 36 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: the World Trade Organization when announcing the move. Large amounts 37 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: of dirty wastes or even hazardous wastes are mixed in 38 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: with the solid waste that can be used as raw materials. 39 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: This polluted China's environment seriously. Since the nineteen eighties, China 40 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: has been the world's largest importer of solid waste, using 41 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: these recyclables to power its manufacturing industry and to fuel 42 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: its burgeoning economy. As Chinese industry grew more robust, the 43 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: country also became one of the world's most polluted, forcing 44 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 1: the government to take steps to protect the environment. Adler 45 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: says they do have a tremendous environmental problem on their hands. 46 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: One of the government's directives has been to better manage 47 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: waste domestically and do it quickly. They gave us practically 48 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: no time for any kind of transition. Regardless, China's crackdown 49 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: has provoked a soul searching moment as the rest of 50 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: the planet tries to find both near term and long 51 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: term solutions. For years, the world's nations relied on China 52 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: to take in its unwanted refuse. In for example, China 53 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: bought almost fifty million tons of trash, while the European 54 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: Union in sent eight percent of its sorted plastic to 55 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: the Asian giant Ireland of its plastic waste, and the 56 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: United States sixteen million tons of recycled scrap. In sixteen, 57 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: China processed seven point three million tons of paper, metals 58 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: and used plastic. Now that China has essentially closed its doors, 59 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: there are those who say its actions should be a 60 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: wake up call because there's simply no more room at 61 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: the local landfill or incinerator plant. Consider these numbers. Every 62 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,640 Speaker 1: American will send about sixty four tons of waste to 63 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,639 Speaker 1: a landfill over the course of his or her life. Moreover, 64 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 1: the average American throws away four point three pounds that's 65 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: one point nine kilograms of trash every day. Americans as 66 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: a whole toss out eleven million tons of glass each year. 67 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: All that glass weighs as much as four hundred and 68 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: forty Titanics or thirty Empire State buildings. According to the 69 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: US Environmental Protection Agency, Americans recycle or compost only a 70 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: third of the solid waste stream. The world produces more 71 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: than three hundred million tons of plastic each year. The 72 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: World Economic Forum says that by any fifty there will 73 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: be so much plastic floating in the ocean it will 74 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: outweigh all of the world's fish. So what's the solution. 75 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: Simon Ellen, chief executive of Britain's Recycling Association told The 76 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: New York Times, we've got to start producing less and 77 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: we've got to produce better quality recyclable goods. Consider the 78 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: example San Francisco has set for the rest of the planet. 79 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: That city is one of the most recyclable friendly communities 80 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: in the world. It's so called zero Waste initiative, one 81 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 1: of the most muscular in the nation, is designed not 82 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: to send any trash to the landfill or incinerator, but 83 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,479 Speaker 1: rather to increase the rate of recycling and composting. In 84 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:38,680 Speaker 1: two thousand two, the city set a goal to be 85 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: zero waste by To that end, Recollogy San Francisco, the 86 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: employee owned firm that runs San Francisco's recycling program along 87 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,479 Speaker 1: with the city, has developed many programs to produce better 88 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: quality recyclables while drastically reducing the amount of trash people toss. Together. 89 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 1: Recollogy and San Francisco instituted one of the first programs 90 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: that picks upcome postable material at the curb. People simply 91 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,279 Speaker 1: put compost into green bins so it doesn't co mingle 92 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: and contaminate other recyclables. Robert Reid, spokesman for Ecology, set 93 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: in an email. The goal of these zero waste initiative 94 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: encourages San Franciscans to reduce waste, reuse materials, and be 95 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: more attentive to recycling and composting. Last November, we reached 96 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 1: the milestone of composting two million tons. We diverted all 97 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: that material from landfill disposal and instead turned it into 98 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: nutrient rich compost that's applied to local farms and vineyards. 99 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: Recycling is good for the economy too, he continued. We 100 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: created more than two hundred new jobs permanent local jobs 101 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: in San Francisco in ten years while expanding the city's 102 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: recycling program. Each day, the world's population generates nearly three 103 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: point five million tons of garbage, ten times the amount 104 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: from a century ago in and that number is expected 105 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:52,599 Speaker 1: to grow to eleven million tons by the end of 106 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: the twenty first century. But there is a glimmer of hope. 107 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: The zero waste movement is strong in many communities. The 108 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: best way out of the trash and we've created, it seems, 109 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: is to recycle and recycle smartly. Today's episode was written 110 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 1: by John Paritano and produced by Tristan McNeil. For more 111 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: on this and lots of other environmental topics, visit our 112 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: home planet, how stuff works dot com.