Seattle: You need to clean up your recycling act
Have you wondered where your recycling goes once it's picked up? A KUOW listener was curious about that, so we asked Hans Van Dusen, the solid waste contracts manager at Seattle Public Utilities.
He tells Kim Malcolm about the journey our cans and paper takes.
Van Dusen also breaks down the top mistakes Seattle residents make when it comes to what goes in those big blue bins, which is a problem because recycling companies can no longer ship materials to our largest market — China.
In January, the Chinese government banned some recyclables and increased their quality standards. Our region doesn't meet those new standards.
And if you want to see how it all happens, here's a video from Seattle Public Utilities showing the recycling process:
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Kim Malcolm
Afternoon News Host
Kim is the local news host of KUOW's All Things Considered, airing from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. weekdays. Kim covers breaking and developing daily news, both local and regional, as part of NPR's afternoon drive time programming.
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Katherine Banwell
Announcer
Katherine is the local host on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Prior to coming to KUOW, she worked at KPLU (now KNKX) as a fill-in host on All Things Considered and host of Weekend Morning Edition. She's also the voice of many telephone on-hold messages for businesses across the country and loves to act in her spare time.
More stories from Katherine Banwell »
