Garbage collection slows in many cities as COVID-19 hampers staffing

Jan 13, 2022
Municipalities around the country have had to delay or reschedule trash pickup days.
Cities across the country are seeing trash pile up as omicron spreads.
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

More working from home means we're generating more residential trash

Aug 31, 2020
Meanwhile, closed offices, stores and stadiums have been producing a lot less commercial garbage.
Workers sort recycled materials at a Maryland facility. Compared to pre-pandemic times, more refuse is being generated by homes and less by businesses.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Shanghai chips away at its mountain of trash

Oct 25, 2019
After nearly four months of a mandatory waste-sorting plan, the city declares better than expected results.
Shanghai has made it mandatory for residents and businesses to sort their waste.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace

Garbage won't pile up during this government shutdown

Jan 19, 2018
A few lessons were learned in Washington, D.C., from the 2013 closure.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Carting New Yorkers' trash to landfills is expensive. One solution: Make less of it.

Aug 4, 2017
A city plan to increase recycling and food composting is in the works.
One idea to get more people recycling in New York is to give them bags with a bar code on it that would attribute the load to a particular apartment. Above, bags of recycling are piled on a Manhattan street.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Why Pittsburgh is buying $1,200 garbage cans

May 18, 2017
The smart cans are meant to save time and money, but some trash collectors are skeptical.
Robert Sledge, from the Department of Public Works, empties trash cans in downtown Pittsburgh.
Erika Beras

2015: A Trash Odyssey

Oct 30, 2015
Quartz and Marketplace find out littering exists in space, too.

For public good, not for profit.

Lebanon copes with garbage crisis and sustainability

Jul 28, 2015
After a stinking week, disposal resumes in Beirut, but will the solution last?

Now there really is a start-up for everything

Jun 1, 2015
A trash moving company will save you the trouble of walking to your curb.

When Trash is Anything But Waste

Jan 27, 2011
In the 1970s, California faced growing concerns about the supply and cost of energy, in addition to worries about running out of landfill space....