The 1987 garbage barge was a fiasco, but it helped raise public awareness about recycling.

The Garbage Barge That Helped Fuel a Movement | Full Report Retro Report on PBS

Premiered October 14, 2019
The Garbage Barge That Helped Fuel a Movement | Full Report

In the 1980s, rising public awareness about waste was fueled by a bizarre news story: the story of New York’s meandering garbage barge. Today, Americans recycle about 68 million tons of trash.

About the Program

Retro Report on PBS

Retro Report makes sense of the present by revealing the past. Join journalists Celeste Headlee and Masud Olufani as they connect the present to the past through four distinct and varied stories, and New Yorker humorist Andy Borowitz adds his signature wit.

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