Bellevue, Wash., Grants Republic Services Permission to Temporarily Landfill Paper

China’s waste import ban and contamination standard have only been in effect for a short period of time, but many companies and municipalities across the U.S. are feeling the impact. In Bellevue, Wash., for example, Republic Services has requested permission to send mixed paper to landfill because more than 1,000 tons of mixed paper collected in Bellevue cannot be sent to China due to contamination. This request has been granted, and Republic now has permission to send mixed paper collected through April 20 to landfill.

Other haulers in Oregon and Washington have also asked for permission to landfill materials that previously had been diverted, and municipal governments in Lane County, Ore., and Madison, Wis., are no longer accept plastics they used to collect. 

Bellevue Reporter has more details:

Stricter regulations for importing recyclables to China has caught up to one of Puget Sound’s largest waste management companies.

Republic Services collects waste and recycling for Eastside communities that include Bellevue, Kenmore, Mercer Island, North Bend and Sammamish. The city of Bellevue has approved a request from the company to send mixed paper collected through April 20 to the landfill.

More than half of the 1,000 tons of mixed paper collected in Bellevue cannot be sent to China due to contamination.

Read the full story here.