China's National Sword policy is particularly affecting Southern Oregon recycling programs. Here's a round-up of news articles on this issue: 

​​Curbside Recycling Pickup Under Threat in Oregon Communities (A review of what's happening with recycling programs in Southern Oregon.) - from WRAL.com

China's recent decision to no longer accept post-consumer plastics has left local recyclers facing a serious challenge.

Oregon currently doesn't have a facility designed to separate plastics from the other materials collected.

Denton Plastics in Northeast Portland accepts plastics, but the material comes in separated from commercial and industrial sources, like grocery chains and nurseries.

In response to China's recent policies restricting the amount of contamination in recyclables it accepts, Coos County has reduced its contamination in its recycling by 85 percent in just two months.

Nina Bellucci Butler, CEO of MORE Recycling, offers insights into why the market for recycled materials is broken, and tangible steps we can take now to fix it.

Read more at Plastics Recycling Update

Waste Today reports: 

Assemblymember Mark Stone, a democrat representing the 29th California Assembly District, has reintroduced legislation to require plastic bottle caps to be tethered to their beverage containers. By banning bottles that don’t have attached caps, California will reduce one of the most prevalent sources of plastic litter in the state, he says.

Last fall, Manzanita became the fifth city in the state (joining Portland, Corvallis, Eugene, and McMinnville) and the first on the Oregon Coast to ban single-use plastic carryout bags. The Manzanita City Council voted unanimously to pass the ordinance in an effort to reduce plastic debris on beaches and in the Pacific Ocean.

As vendors across Oregon curb their recycling services, Milton-Freewater residents will no longer be able to recycle materials at their curbs.

City Manager Linda Hall said the city needed to make the transition when Milton-Freewater’s recycling contractor — Horizon Project Inc. — told city officials that the organization could no longer afford to provide recycling services.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) has established a new Recycling Task Force, created to provide guidance to members, industry stakeholders, state/provincial and local governments, and elected officials, concerning the challenges facing recycling programs in the United States and Canada.

Susan Palmer, the nonprofit’s economic development director, says the waste management operation at St. Vincent of Lane County has three main goals: divert materials from the waste stream, create jobs for the local community, and generate revenue for the nonprofit. It’s working.

It’s easy to be discouraged by the tons of reusable materials that are never reused. Thankfully, a group of 20 artists now showing their creations in "Back Talk: Recycled Art" at the Columbia Center for the Arts in downtown Hood River are finding ways to make art out of materials that most people consider garbage.