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VIDEO: Is Recycling Worth It Anymore? People On The Front Lines Say Maybe Not

NPR | By Annabel Edwards,
Tsering Bista, Beck Harlan, Nick Michael, Mito Habe-Evans
Published April 21, 2021 at 6:00 AM EDT

Recycling works, but it's not magic. As America continues to lead the world in per capita waste production, it's becoming more and more clear that everybody — from manufacturers to consumers — "over-believes" in recycling.

This is a story about responsibility and what happens when everyone keeps trying to pass it off to the next person — and what happens, when finally, there is no next person.

This video is based in part on Throughline's podcast episode "The Litter Myth."

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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NPR News
Annabel Edwards
Tsering Bista
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Beck Harlan
Becky Harlan is a visual and engagement editor for NPR's Life Kit.
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Nick Michael
Nick Michael is the Acting Supervising Editor for Video at NPR. He joined NPR in 2014 as the lead video producer for Jazz Night in America, NPR's first program with companion radio and video content. Jazz Night's 2017 portfolio earned a Peabody nomination and a Webby Award for Online Film & Video. Since then, he has co-managed the growth of NPR's award-winning video team, highlights of which include co-crafting the look of NPR's signature interviews with President Obama, leading NPR's experimentation with 360 video and audio and coordinating 22 filmmakers across the country to document 2017's solar eclipse. Before NPR, Michael co-founded 1504, a creative video studio now based in Birmingham, Ala. He earned a masters in photojournalism at the Missouri School of Journalism.
See stories by Nick Michael
Mito Habe-Evans
Mito Habe-Evans (she/her) co-manages NPR's Video team and is responsible for the creative direction and sensibility of NPR videos. She leads the team in its pursuit of projects that are "smart with heart," from the comedic economics explainer series Planet Money Shorts to the short film Senior Spring, a national portrait of teens and guns. She developed NPR's signature documentary style with What Democracy Looks Like and One Nation Under The Sun.