Choose a type of object that you often put in the recycling bin. Try to search on the internet what factors go into its production, and what happens to it after going through the recycling infrastructures. (Do no more than 30 minutes of searching and reading, unless you want to.) Is it typically made back into a similar product, or does it become something else? Include links to your sources.
Readings from this week:
Reno, Joshua, and Catherine Alexander. “Introduction.” In Economies of Recycling: The Global Transformation of Materials, Values, and Social Relations. New York: Zed Books, 2012, 1-32.
Katz, Cheryl. “Piling Up: How China’s Ban on Importing Waste Has Stalled Global Recycling.” Yale Environment 360. December 30, 2019. (Original link: https://e360.yale.edu/features/piling-up-how-chinas-ban-on-importing-waste-has-stalled-global-recycling).
MacBride, Samantha. “Does Recycling Actually Conserve or Preserve Things?” Discard Studies (blog), February 11, 2019. (Original link: https://discardstudies.com/2019/02/11/12755/)
Schlossberg, Tala, and Nayeema Raza. “Opinion | The Great Recycling Con.” The New York Times , December 9, 2019, sec. Opinion. https://nyti.ms/3c2Eu7T (watch the 6 min video)
John Oliver on plastics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiu9GSOmt8E