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Where There’s Plastic, There’s Fire. Indiana Blaze Highlights Concerns Over Expanding Plastic Recycling
China’s ban on accepting most plastic waste may have led to a burning stockpile in eastern Indiana that sent black smoke billowing into the air—and local residents scrambling to safety.
By James Bruggers
The dense black smoke from a fire at a plastics recycler in Richmond, Indiana, that began Tuesday afternoon and continued burning on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of 2,000 nearby residents, was dramatic, but far from an isolated incident in the world of facilities that store or recycle vast quantities of plastic waste.