recycling

A new report from Greenpeace found that people may be putting plastic into recycling bins — but almost none of it is actually being recycled. Meanwhile, plastic production is ramping up.

If you've been to a cannabis dispensary, chances are you've seen hundreds of plastic containers and double-zippered bags line the shelves. Most of that plastic will end up in a landfill. But eco-friendly packaging can be pricey, and environmental sustainability in Oklahoma's competitive cannabis industry is proving unsustainable for some.

New York is the latest, and largest, state to consider charging product-makers to dispose of their packaging. But lawmakers are clashing over how much to involve industry in creating a new system.

The benefits of the change will be equivalent to more than 650,000 people not using any plastic for a year, the company said.

Game-day fans can generate a lot of trash so with the return of tailgating comes the return of a lucrative side gig: collecting the empty bottles and cans left behind to return to stores for money.

More than 8 billion of the packets wind up in landfills each year. Now, the fast food chain wants customers to send them in so they can be recycled into other products.

Focus: Black Oklahoma is a one-hour news and public affairs program on various topics relevant to Oklahomans across the Black diaspora that airs on KOSU monthly. Listen to June's episode now.

Oil and gas companies make enough pellets each year to fill a stadium several times over. The oil industry has long known it has a pellet pollution problem, but that's not what it told the public.

The U.S. recycling industry is facing a quandary: Too much of the plastic we use can't be recycled, and taxpayers increasingly are on the hook for paying for all that trash to hit the landfills.

China is no longer taking the world's waste. The U.S. recycling industry is overwhelmed — it can't keep up with the plastic being churned out. This doesn't bode well for our plastic waste problem.