Climate Changed
American Consumers Might Save Paper Recycling
China almost killed the market when it stopped buying U.S. waste, but environmentally aware shoppers are coming to the rescue.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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The epiphany came when a certain coffee chain started replacing plastic straws with paper ones. Despite increasingly dire warnings about Texas-size islands of plastic in the world’s oceans, the sudden public debate over straws was arguably a turning point in how American consumers think about sustainability.
On one hand, the rise of paper straws is a brazen case of greenwashing, since straws make up only a tiny share of waste. On the other, the proliferation of paper and bamboo straws marked the beginning of a larger commercial pivot away from plastic.