A Planet Money recently talked about which items are recyclable, which are not, and how global economic trends effect them. Like how China buys our recycled plastic, unless oil prices dip low enough it's cheaper to make new plastic.

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/03/27/395815221/episo...

Also, this article is from 1996? I'd like to know what has changed (and what hasn't) in the last 20 years.