Recycling is everything in today’s single-use world. While your grandmother or, perhaps, great-grandmother made many things from scratch and reused the same set of canning jars over and over, today’s consumer buys something to use until it’s gone and then recycles it.In 2018, 3.1 million tons of glass containers were recycled. That breaks down to […]

What do you do with your plastic bags when they’re no longer needed? Do you put them in the trash? Do you put them in your curbside container and hope for the best? Plastic bags are not easily recycled through conventional means. Yet, they’re not a great item to throw in the trash either. It’s because […]

Life in a busy urban area creates challenges when it comes to waste disposal. Even with city-wide recycling and waste management programs, the lack of space and reliance on public transportation make recycling difficult. If you have a car and can drive to a drop-off center, it can be an all-day venture and costly when […]

Have you been following California’s pair of nesting Bald Eagles that had three chicks hatch in 2025? If so, you watched as Jackie ended up with a fishing line dangling out of her beak after eating some fish, which left her unable to feed her chicks until she got it dislodged from her throat. It […]

A British study found that paper and cardboard recycling rates decline by 40% during the winter. Why is that? Much of it comes down to contamination from snow and ice. The problems occur both in curbside collections and at recycling facilities. RecycleNation helps you take steps to prevent recycling from ending up in the trash. Winter’s […]

In 2018, Americans generated 35.7 million tons of plastic waste. Some plastics are recyclable, but not all of them are. Less than 10% of plastic items are properly recycled. HDPE (29.3%) and PET (29.1%) are the types of plastic with the highest recycling rates. Some people don’t recycle as they should due to confusing policies […]

In its first week, the new administration made several policy changes that may impact recycling programs across the nation. One of the biggest involved freezing funds for the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for at least 60 days. There’s also been talk about gutting the EPA. All of this has people […]

As much as I’d like to say that there is hope for 2025 to be the year the nation achieves zero waste, the reality is it’s tough if everyone doesn’t do their part. In the U.S., less than three out of four households have access to recycling programs. Single-family homes are more likely to have […]

Plastic has become essential to modern life. It’s durable and offers a level of versatility that makes it indispensable across multiple industries. However, with this type of convenience comes at least some costs. In the case of plastics, it’s the environmental impact of plastic disposal that weighs heavily on the industry. Recycling plastic is critical […]

When an item in your blue bin shouldn’t be in that bin, two things happen. First, improperly recycled items can damage the recycling equipment. Second, workers have to remove the incorrectly recycled items and move them to trash bins to be hauled to the landfill, which raises operating costs.Items that are typically accepted in blue […]