Countries tried to curb plastic waste, but the US keeps shipping more

Where the US’s plastic recycling is discarded

The US ships over a million tons of plastic waste overseas each year. A short video explainer from USA Today shows a breakdown of what really happens to America's recyclables.

More than 130 nations have enacted bans or restrictions on plastic items

Several US states have enacted similar restrictions on plastic bags, straws, food containers, and other single-use plastics, while others have prohibited plastic bans. Despite this, California’s plastic bag ban cut usage by more than 70%, showing the potential of these policies.

What the people on the front lines think about America's recycling crisis

America produces more waste per capita than any other country in the world. And recycling, which was once considered the solution to that problem, isn’t really working anymore.

The US produces far more waste and recycles far less of it than other developed countries

The US represents just 4% of the world’s population, but it produces 12% of global municipal solid waste. In comparison, China and India make up more than 36% of the world’s population and generate 27% of that waste.

A UN-led treaty may establish rules to phase out plastic globally

With support from more than 175 nations, a treaty led by the United Nations is being negotiated to establish enforceable global rules for plastic production and pollution by 2025. Negotiations come as the total amount of plastic in the ocean has increased by 50% from 2017 to 2022.

What percentage of the world’s plastic waste actually gets recycled?

Despite growing awareness of the world’s plastic waste challenges, the numbers showing how much of the world’s plastic waste actually gets recycled are abysmal. Only 9% of the world’s plastic waste is properly recycled, and a significant portion remains landfilled, mismanaged, or incinerated. Read this article for further analysis of why this is and what can be done in the future to better manage plastic waste.

China's National Sword policy banned imports of most recyclable materials

In 2018, China stopped accepting most of the world's recyclables. This highlighted how dependent the US recycling system was on a single foreign buyer and forced cities to landfill materials they had once diverted.

How plastic manufacturing could be sustainable again

From polymers to nurdles, learn how plastic is created and what we can do to slow the lasting repercussions this material will have on both our planet and our lives.

From soil to beer, microplastic pollution is all around us

Marine plastic pollution has been studied for decades, but the extent and effects of plastic pollution elsewhere is only just beginning to be explored.

The US exported more crude oil and petroleum products than it imported in 2025

In fact, the US has been exporting more oil and petroleum products than it imports since August 2021. Petroleum and petroleum product exports totaled about 10.7 million barrels per day, whereas imports totaled about 7.9 million barrels per day.

A 1987 garbage barge that no state would accept accidentally sparked the US recycling movement

In the 1980s, an Alabama businessman loaded 3,168 tons of mafia-controlled New York trash onto a barge. It was rejected by six states and three countries, sparking a media frenzy. This event helped convince Americans that they were running out of landfill space, giving rise to curbside recycling.

Plastic debris across the ocean aids the spread of invasive species

The durable, long-lasting material can serve as a platform for living organisms to latch onto and ride over vast distances. After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a large dock carrying 100 tons of living organisms native to Japan washed up on Oregon's coastline, confirming the ecological threat.

In 2024, Americans bought over $7B of cut flowers

That's more than any other country in the world. Most of the flowers Americans purchase are imported, creating an economy that's both booming and reliant on dwindling natural resources.

Why some US cities pay thousands of dollars for a single public trash can

The rationale supposes high-end, heavy-duty trash cans reduce litter and maintenance costs, justifying per-unit costs of close to $3,000 in some municipalities. But results are mixed, and some experiments using cheap 55-gallon drums were similarly effective.

Trade between the US and China has increased in recent decades

After China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the trade partnership between the US and China bloomed. But it's not without pros and cons, including lower prices for US consumers and higher profits for US corporations alongside the loss of American jobs due to import competition and multinational companies moving overseas.

The EPA partners with other countries to strengthen environmental protection

Through bilateral programs on every continent, the EPA shares American environmental expertise with developing nations and economies in transition. These partnerships support air and water protection, chemical safety, and pollution control, while advancing US environmental priorities abroad.

The US war on drugs, explained

The United States has been fighting a global war on drugs for decades. By making drugs more expensive and less available, the US has sought to reduce drug use and inhibit the international drug trade. However, increasing prison populations,...

Visualizing the world's food supply chains

The world's food supply chain is complex and lopsided, with much of the world's nutrient-rich food ending up in Europe and North America. This visualization illustrates the paths our food takes around the world, from starchy vegetables in...

How a black market for banned refrigerants still threatens ozone recovery and climate progress

Despite the Montreal Protocol's success, illegal trade in chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and hydrofluorocarbons persists. Driven by high profits and weak enforcement, smugglers supply banned refrigerants, causing significant ozone depletion and greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to billions of tons of carbon dioxide.

Spacecraft remnants and human waste left behind on the moon add to the trash in space

As more countries reach the moon with successful probe landings and unsuccessful crashes, more materials are left behind, adding to the amount of trash that needs to be retrieved. A United Nations treaty declared the moon a common heritage of humanity, exempting any one country from exclusive responsibility for cleanup.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

Most of the critical mineral supply needed for US data centers is imported

The country with the most data centers relies on other nations for about 80% of the rare earth elements needed for magnetic materials in storage drives, 64% of the silver and 85% of the platinum it uses for electrical circuitry, and about half the aluminum and copper used in heat sinks that dissipate thermal energy from electronic components.

Why Americans are drowning in credit card debt

Americans owe more than $1T to credit card companies. And with rising interest rates that prevent cardholders from paying down debt (not to mention the rising cost of living), that number is likely to keep growing. A podcast episode explains how the US got here, and what policymakers and individuals can do about it.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

Why it's so hard to end the use of toxic lead

Lead was one of the earliest metals mined on Earth, desired for its soft malleability and used in cosmetics, pipework, gasoline, and more. But even though researchers demonstrated its toxicity in the 20th century, much of the world still uses it.

Congress is passing fewer laws than in previous decades

A Reuters analysis shows that legislative output in the US Congress has declined as polarization deepens, bipartisan cooperation erodes, and lawmakers rely more on sprawling, must-pass spending bills rather than regular lawmaking.

How those Pakistani Mangoes make it to shelves near you is more complicated than you think.

Customs restrictions, high transport costs, and a short shelf life have made the world’s greatest mangoes — grown in Pakistan — difficult to come by in the U.S.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones in communities in West Africa have hampered Ebola responses.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.