Care of a 30-year waste-management vet
InsideHook
March 14, 2019
By Alex Lauer
We are in the middle of a recycling crisis. Long story short, America used to send most of its plastic, paper and other reusable waste to China. Now, we’re being cut off.
You’ve probably seen an apocalyptic headline or two. The Atlantic went with “Is This the End of Recycling?” Gizmodo kept it short with “Recycling Is Broken.” The Guardian declared a “‘Moment of Reckoning.’”
Yes, the infrastructure problems are above our individual pay grades. But they’ve awoken all the questions we’ve harbored for decades, from “Can you recycle pizza boxes?” to “Is recycling even worth it?”
Today, we answer those queries and more with a practical guide featuring the wisdom of Randy Hartmann, a 30-year waste-management vet. Hartmann currently serves as the Senior Director of Affiliate Operations at Keep America Beautiful, a three-pronged national nonprofit with a mission to “End Littering, Improve Recycling and Beautify America’s Communities.”