This is just plain not true.
Steel is recycled all the time.
Every jeweler in the world recycles gold and silver as well as any other precious metal.
Motor oil is recycled all the time. Even used deep fat frier oil is recycled into biodiesel.
Some paper and cardboard can be successfully recycled.
The problem with plastic recycling is that different plastics do not mix. BUT most shops that manufacture plastic items take every ounce of clean scrap or defective parts, regrind them and mix with virgin material. Recycling at work.
There is an entire cottage industry that has sprung up over stealing catalytic converters and sellng them to have the precious metal catalysts recycled.
The common feature of all successful recycling is an economic incentive to do it. The material is worth more than the cost of reprocessing. This is just not the case with post-consumer plastic items.
-eye roll- I should have specified: “Neigborhood curbside recycling (glass, plastic, paper, aluminum).” They didn’t touch on industrial.
I know metals can be recycled. That’s why aluminum was the only one that wasn’t considered wasteful at the end of the episode.