North America’s demand for convenient recycling programs has led to the mass marketing of low grade mixed paper and mixed plastics being sent overseas to be further processed and recycled. Convenience led to lower quality and contaminated materials.
In the past few years, international markets and China, in particular, have begun turning away entire barges of recyclables. Why? Contamination. Now, loads of paper and plastics are screened and many are being turned away.
In 2017, China essentially made a policy to demonstrate that they would no longer act as the world’s trash dump.