logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2009
24m 28s

Recycling and the Great Pacific Garbage ...

iHeartPodcasts
About this episode
Recycling has come a long way since its debut -- and so have landfills. In this twofer HowStuffWorks podcast, discover the realities of modern recycling and find out why the world's largest landfill might be more aptly described as an "oceanfill." 
Up next
Nov 22
Selects: Rockettes: Still Kicking After All These Years
<p>Tune in to this classic episode to learn all about the legendary NYC Rockettes, who actually got their start in Missouri.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p> 
45m 40s
Nov 20
Graffiti: So Cool It’s A Pillar of Hip Hop
<p>Graffiti &ndash; the good kind, done with lots of style and skill &ndash; developed when some kids in NYC took up cans of spray paint and started to figure out how to outdo one another. They laid down styles that are so fine they&rsquo;re still being used by artists today.</p> ... Show More
48m 15s
Nov 19
Short Stuff: Victorian Flower Language
<p>What do you do when you want to tell someone you&rsquo;re smitten with them but you live in a society so repressive decorum prevents you from even speaking such things? Why, you can say it with flowers! And that&rsquo;s just what people in the Victorian Era did.</p><p>See <a h ... Show More
14m 24s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2021
Recycling! Is it BS?
The recycling bin — many of us have learned to view this humble container as an environmental superhero. It is, after all, the critical first step in turning our trash into… well, not treasure, but at least more stuff. Or is it? In this episode, we take a look at the science, hel ... Show More
48m 46s
Jun 2022
Is It Time to Dump Recycling? | 17
Are you a wish-cycler? Most people do their part to protect the environment by dumping basically everything that isn't food into their blue recycle bin. But is that what we’re really supposed to do? And are we making a difference? Nikki and Mr. Malone talk trash with Earth911’s M ... Show More
35m 11s
May 2022
Waste Colonialism, Recycling, & Microplastics
<p>Jesi Taylor joins Breht to discuss waste management, how the racialized, colonial and imperialist world order dictates where certain kinds of trash ends up, the impact of landfills on communities, the hyper-localism of recyclying and its effectiveness, the fear of microplastic ... Show More
1h 16m
Mar 2018
How Can We Recycle More, and Smarter?
<p>China has long bought waste plastic for recycling from North America and Europe, but their policies are changing. What can we do with a surplus of waste, and how can we make the situation better in the future?</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad-choices at <a href="https://ww ... Show More
6m 29s
Feb 2019
Is Recycling All Our Waste at Home Possible?
Waste, trash, garbage – whatever you call it, unwanted materials have become a major presence in many of our lives and our environment. Every year it is estimated that humans around the world produce 2 billion metric tonnes of waste. Listener Clare from Devon in the UK wants to s ... Show More
30m 38s
Jan 2022
Recycling and sustainable fashion
We can recycle to put materials to new uses not just to replace the original product. We hear how textiles and plastics are repurposed to make building tiles and how the fashion industry is trying to reduce, reuse and recycle. Mass produced clothes currently contribute enormous a ... Show More
54m 5s
Dec 2018
What’s Really Going On With Recycling, Hunny? with Beth Porter
Beth Porter is Green America’s Climate & Recycling Director, as well as the author of "Reduce, Reuse, Reimagine: Sorting Out the Recycling System." She joins Jonathan to talk all things recycling: what is is, how it works, whether plastic straws are as dangerous we’ve been told, ... Show More
43m 43s
Jul 2021
Vacuum Cleaners
Tracking the history of how we clean and why our cleaning needs have shifted also tells the story of human progress in a wider sense. How did we get from natural-fiber brooms to gasoline-powered vacuum cleaners and ultimately to the home-use models we know today? Learn more about ... Show More
41m 47s