Recycling is a joke. I did not realize how big a joke it was.

[EatsShoots]

Obviously this is due to ignorance on my part, but I was of the impression that when I put stuff into my "no sort" recycling bin at least most of it was ending up recycled. This bin consists of cardboard (yard after yard after yard of cardboard from amazon), plastic (all manner of wrappers and packaging), cans (I don't bring cans to the dedicated can spot), etc.

I have weekly garbage pickup. Two bins. Two weeks ago I saw the recycling guys put 3-4 bags of my garbage (not in my bin due to overflow) into their recycling truck. Does it matter? Not really. This is green theater.

Did you know that almost nothing you "recycle" is recycled? First of all, most plastic cannot be recycled, second of all most of what can be recycled creates a lower quality product with lower demand.

NPR, Oct 2022 Recycling plastic is practically impossible https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131...y-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse
Smithsonian, May 2022 At least 85 percent of US plastic waste went to landfills in 2021 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...t-5-percent-of-its-plastic-in-2021-180980052/
CBC, Sep 2019 We asked 3 companies to recycle Canadian plastic and secretly tracked it. Only 1 company recycled the material https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/marketplace-recycling-trackers-b-c-blue-box-1.5299176

I did find one lazily researched counterpoint, devoid of any real analysis, that claims only 1/3 ends up in a landfill: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/...ained/65-eaae65b8-1b17-4e28-be4e-63ad7362c2d8

The reason I think this matters is not only because landfills are not super-great, but because I believe many people's profligate use of waste sits okay in their head because they think it's being reused, even though almost none of it is being reused in any way at all.

 

[drift]

Obviously this is due to ignorance on my part, but I was of the impression that when I put stuff into my "no sort" recycling bin at least most of it was ending up recycled. This bin consists of cardboard (yard after yard after yard of cardboard from amazon), plastic (all manner of wrappers and packaging), cans (I don't bring cans to the dedicated can spot), etc.

I have weekly garbage pickup. Two bins. Two weeks ago I saw the recycling guys put 3-4 bags of my garbage (not in my bin due to overflow) into their recycling truck. Does it matter? Not really. This is green theater.

Did you know that almost nothing you "recycle" is recycled? First of all, most plastic cannot be recycled, second of all most of what can be recycled creates a lower quality product with lower demand.

NPR, Oct 2022 Recycling plastic is practically impossible https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131...y-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse
Smithsonian, May 2022 At least 85 percent of US plastic waste went to landfills in 2021 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...t-5-percent-of-its-plastic-in-2021-180980052/
CBC, Sep 2019 We asked 3 companies to recycle Canadian plastic and secretly tracked it. Only 1 company recycled the material https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/marketplace-recycling-trackers-b-c-blue-box-1.5299176

I did find one lazily researched counterpoint, devoid of any real analysis, that claims only 1/3 ends up in a landfill: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/...ained/65-eaae65b8-1b17-4e28-be4e-63ad7362c2d8

The reason I think this matters is not only because landfills are not super-great, but because I believe many people's profligate use of waste sits okay in their head because they think it's being reused, even though almost none of it is being reused in any way at all.

Welcome to reality. Any recycling ended when the Chinese economy went south and they decided they no longer wanted our trash. As you found out it is not economical.

 

[smogne41]

Yes, plastic recycling is not really practical. We should not bother with it any longer. Perhaps if people had to put it right in the trash it would drive home the point how we need to use less. Glass and metal recycling though, much more useful and practical. We should be using those materials a lot more.

 

[brkaus]

Recycling was started by the beverage industry to make people feel good about using cans and plastic. Doesn’t matter if it actually gets recycled. Gives people plausible deniability so they can move on with their life.

 

[Midpack]

The OP is painting with too broad a brush. Plastics are a different case than some other materials.

WRT plastics I fell for it at the time like almost everyone, but I have since realized it was a scam all along in the case of plastic. The industry scammed us all with the required recycling codes so citizens thought 'oh good, this will be recycled.' The industry knew all along it was never going to happen, but their scheme made consumers think it was still OK to buy plastics without worrying about it - which kept plastics in production and growing.

Unfortunately that's led to a nation of "wish-cyclers." Most people throw anything even remotely recyclable into their bins, makes them feel better, but it makes sorting at recycling centers more difficult and less effective.

From what I have read only about 10% of plastics are recycled and it's never been much higher than that from the start. My wife and I practice reduce and reuse mostly, recycle is mostly a scam in the case of plastics - and that will never change.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Obviously this is due to ignorance on my part, but I was of the impression that when I put stuff into my "no sort" recycling bin at least most of it was ending up recycled. This bin consists of cardboard (yard after yard after yard of cardboard from amazon), plastic (all manner of wrappers and packaging), cans (I don't bring cans to the dedicated can spot), etc.

I have weekly garbage pickup. Two bins. Two weeks ago I saw the recycling guys put 3-4 bags of my garbage (not in my bin due to overflow) into their recycling truck. Does it matter? Not really. This is green theater.

Did you know that almost nothing you "recycle" is recycled? First of all, most plastic cannot be recycled, second of all most of what can be recycled creates a lower quality product with lower demand.

NPR, Oct 2022 Recycling plastic is practically impossible https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131...y-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse
Smithsonian, May 2022 At least 85 percent of US plastic waste went to landfills in 2021 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...t-5-percent-of-its-plastic-in-2021-180980052/
CBC, Sep 2019 We asked 3 companies to recycle Canadian plastic and secretly tracked it. Only 1 company recycled the material https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/marketplace-recycling-trackers-b-c-blue-box-1.5299176

I did find one lazily researched counterpoint, devoid of any real analysis, that claims only 1/3 ends up in a landfill: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/...ained/65-eaae65b8-1b17-4e28-be4e-63ad7362c2d8

The reason I think this matters is not only because landfills are not super-great, but because I believe many people's profligate use of waste sits okay in their head because they think it's being reused, even though almost none of it is being reused in any way at all.

In a lot of cities, the same truck picks up both carts, but when they get to the sort station, it just makes it easier to sort when all the recycling is in a bunch.

That said, for the plastics, even if they sort it at the sort station, as mentioned, it typically was sold to a collector which then ships it over to China, probably the only country that can extract some economic value out of it. In the US, it makes no economic sense to recycle it.

 

[brkaus]

And China gets value because of low wages and less worry about pollution. Including shipping it over there.

Of course China doesn’t want our junk anymore. So now what?

 

[EatsShoots]

The OP is painting with too broad a brush. Plastics are a different case than some other materials.

WRT plastics I fell for it at the time like almost everyone, but I have since realized it was a scam all along in the case of plastic. The industry scammed us all with the required recycling codes so citizens thought 'oh good, this will be recycled.' The industry knew all along it was never going to happen, but their scheme made consumers think it was still OK to buy plastics without worrying about it - which kept plastics in production and growing.

Unfortunately that's led to a nation of "wish-cyclers." Most people throw anything even remotely recyclable into their bins, makes them feel better, but it makes sorting at recycling centers more difficult and less effective.

From what I have read only about 10% of plastics are recycled and it's never been much higher than that from the start. My wife and I practice reduce and reuse mostly, recycle is mostly a scam in the case of plastics - and that will never change.

Good news on the batteries at least

We could be doing a lot more with glass, but it's super bulky and hard to move around without breakage.

 

[EatsShoots]

In a lot of cities, the same truck picks up both carts, but when they get to the sort station, it just makes it easier to sort when all the recycling is in a bunch.

That said, for the plastics, even if they sort it at the sort station, as mentioned, it typically was sold to a collector which then ships it over to China, probably the only country that can extract some economic value out of it. In the US, it makes no economic sense to recycle it.

I suspect some of the "we are paying somebody to take it over in <insert country>" is so that the stateside recycling program can claim it's being recycled even if the recipient of the trash is sending it straight to landfill.

 

[stopcrazypp]

And China gets value because of low wages and less worry about pollution. Including shipping it over there.

Of course China doesn’t want our junk anymore. So now what?

The NPR piece points out that charging extra bottle return fees for the types that are easily recycled, seems to work, although I would add there still needs to be some more enforcement (to prevent collecting the bottle fees and not actually recycling it or from people bringing in bottles not eligible for the fee return, as below).

The family that made $7.6 million from recycling cans and bottles was just charged with fraud

Officials claim the California clan imported 178 tons of recyclables from Arizona, then cashed in.

www.google.com

Also helps to tell the users that only a small subset of plastic numbers don't end up in the landfill, even though people naturally want to throw all plastics in the recycling bin. This will dispel the illusion that people have of all plastics being recyclable.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I suspect some of the "we are paying somebody to take it over in <insert country>" is so that the stateside recycling program can claim it's being recycled even if the recipient of the trash is sending it straight to landfill.

I'm sure some of that is going on also, but just wanted to point out it's very different from it all going straight to the local landfill without sorting it. You certainly aren't the first that observed the same truck collecting both the trash and recycling and being disillusioned, although it's not as bad as it seems (especially for the non-plastic items).

 

[pipestem]

And China gets value because of low wages and less worry about pollution. Including shipping it over there.

Of course China doesn’t want our junk anymore. So now what?

Honestly I always thought China was doing it to get some fake credits in the global trade balance sheets. Like we were probably paying them to pretend to take our recycling, but then they would just toss it. I don't know of course, but just have this naggijng suspician.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Honestly I always thought China was doing it to get some fake credits in the global trade balance sheets. Like we were probably paying them to pretend to take our recycling, but then they would just toss it. I don't know of course, but just have this naggijng suspician.

Here's a long piece on how China recycled plastics. Basically it's done by small families for little to almost no labor costs and they are able to make a good living on it, given the scrap plastic was brought in for cheap. The Western companies then get a source of plastic which they can then proudly claim is recycled (the labels you see about how a container is made from partially recycled plastic).

How Beijing--and the Rest of China--Recycles Plastic [Excerpt]

Adam Minter's Junkyard Planet explores how China copes with more and more plastic waste, along with the pollution problems it creates

www.scientificamerican.com

Of course as per article, the impact on the health and environment of the local area is horrible (and unrecyclable plastics are burned). That's why China finally put a stop on it.

For countries with much higher labor costs and stricter health/environmental rules, there is no way to make a profit (unless there is some kind of bottle return fee).

 

[HVM]

Yeah, tell that to the catalytic converter and copper wire thieves, depends on material...

 

[stopcrazypp]

Yeah, tell that to the catalytic converter and copper wire thieves, depends on material...

In context, we are talking about plastics specifically above. It's pretty clear there are other materials that are profitable to recycle anywhere (like wood and metals as someone pointed out in a table).

 

[Ed243]

Some things that make sense to recycle are aluminum, steel, lead-acid batteries, and oil.

 

[EatsShoots]

This popped up in my recommended list today.

I like the idea of looking into a lawsuit to sue the people who floated this myth. We did it with smoking.