1. Recycling & REusing

2. Christmas Tree Lights (DQ 1)
Not in US…
…but in China
Need financial incentives for recycling
Labor is cheaper
Fewer regulations
High overhead
Reuse for production
U.S. ‘harvests’ lights
Copper in wiring, electronics
Plastics for local markets

3. US v. China Harvesting (DQ 2)
Gov’t coordinated
Not gov’t coordinated
Where economic incentive
Waste collected down line
Cost effective to sustain
Have after-market
Make profit
Reuse when possible
Need after-market
Must be easy

4. China’s Recent Policy (DQ 3)
Biggest to almost none
Green Fence, then National Sword (1/1/18)
Env. policy pollution, dirty shipments
Corruption
World’s dumping ground
Foreign v. domestic trash  still same view of harvested stuff
Basel Convention (1989)
Regulates e-waste, not plastics
Norway +20 want more reg; most others don’t

5. China’s Recent Policy (DQ 3 cont.)
Consequences
Bankrupted businesses in China
GN stuck with waste
Pushed exports to SE Asia
Move to processing pellets in source country
Chinese investment in GN
More GN investment
Push to rethinking recycling

6. Recycling Lie & Plastic Pollution (DQ 4)
Producer-created problem consumer burden
Single-use plastics
MNC campaigns
Created NGOs
Undermine federal laws
State laws
Bottles & bags
Need realistic approach
Onus on producers v. consumers
Circular economy model

7. Repairing Stuff (DQ 5) MNC-owned repair shops can’t handle demand
Planned obsolescence ‘Right to Repair’ mvt.
Consumer demand; gov’t policies
Lack of instructions write manuals
Lack of repair parts push MNCs to supply parts
Loss of repair people

8. Recap U.S. harvests for recycling; does some recycling
GS better reusers
Global shift due to China
Producer-created plastics pollution problem
Need top-down, not bottom-up approach