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Articles on Garbage

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A worker sorts cardboard at a recycling center in Newark, N.J. Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste

New research shows that Americans may have absorbed public messaging about the importance of recycling too well.
Waste management workers stand outside a waste processing plant in Bengaluru, India. By formalizing the waste collection process, the ‘I Got Garbage’ digital platform transformed waste workers into micro-entrepreneurs. (Suchit Ahuja)

Leveraging digital platforms for public good: Stories of positive impact from India

To focus on sustainable development goals, platforms need to change from being exclusively focused on profits and value appropriation to perceiving themselves as public goods.
When people have to pay for every bag of trash they throw out, they produce less waste. Mint Images RF via Getty Images

What is pay-as-you-throw? A waste expert explains

When governments want people to do less of something, one way to make that happen is to charge them for doing it. That’s the idea behind pay-as-you-throw waste policies.
The Wheelabrator Waste to Energy Plant in Saugus, Massachusetts, has been burning trash to generate electricity since 1975. Fletcher6/Wikimedia

Is burning trash a good way to handle it? Waste incineration in 5 charts

Every year the US burns more than 34 million tons of garbage in incinerators. These plants are major pollution sources, and most are clustered in disadvantaged communities.
Plastic waste from Australia in Port Klang, Malaysia. Malaysia says it will send back some 3,300 tons of nonrecyclable plastic waste to countries including the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia. AP Photo/Vincent Thian

As more developing countries reject plastic waste exports, wealthy nations seek solutions at home

A year after China stopped accepting most scrap material exports, other Asian countries are following Beijing’s lead, forcing wealthy nations to find domestic solutions for managing their wastes.
A research study found that most of the debris in gulls’ stomachs is plastic – exposing the birds to high levels of chemical contaminants and potentially limiting their reproductive success. (Shutterstock)

All-you-can-eat landfill buffet spells trouble for birds

Seagulls have no qualms about sifting through dumps for scraps. But this buffet comes at a cost, filling their stomachs with plastic, glass, metal and even building materials.

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