Recycling has been all the rage for years, with more cities pushing the practice and more companies making their packaging more recycle-friendly. But that recycling push that almost seems second nature to us now may be changing because of a ban that goes into effect January 1st.
As it stands right now, the U.S. exports about one-third of its recycling, and nearly half of that goes to China. {Wowza!} For decades, China has used our recyclables to supply its manufacturing boom. But this summer China decided that our recycling waste included too many other nonrecyclable materials that are “dirty,” even “hazardous.” In a filing with the World Trade Organization, China listed 24 kinds of solid wastes it would ban “to protect China’s environmental interests and people’s health.”
Although the complete ban takes effect on January 1st, effects have already been seen as some Chinese importers have not had their licenses renewed. That is leaving U.S. recycling companies trying to figure out what to do with all that waste. It’s beginning to pile up and unless an alternate solution is found, all of that recycling will begin showing up in landfills. That totally bums me out!
I suspect we’ll see some huge changes with the way or what we can recycle. What do you guys think? I wonder if this will have an impact in the way everything is packaged? I bet we’ll see things like those clam-shell apple containers go away in a hurry. And I suspect a lot of convenience packaging, that used to be easily recyclable, will be reduced or eliminated all together.
It’ll be a sad day if recycling starts to fade away! It also makes me wonder if the price of having trash hauled away is going to skyrocket. Then again, maybe this will be a HUGE wake up call to people and they’ll start to buy more in bulk, or make different decisions about a product based on it’s packaging.
What do YOU think?
~Mavis
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Ingredients
Directions
Using the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil, grease a large bowl and add the dough. Cover with plastic wrap {I love using shower caps for this!} and place the bowl in a warm area until it doubles in size {about 1 hour}.
Quote of the Day Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Alright you guys, we’re about to tackle a super controversial topic with sides as divided as our current political climate. I’m talking about double dipping, and with holiday party season in full swing, it’s a topic that needs to be addressed—especially since science just confirmed that double dipping is unhygienic and super gross.