Regardless of the argued value of recycling...I think there is something in "thinking" people that thinks it is wrong to waste...
Nonetheless...I live in one of the BLUE-est neighborhoods in one of the BLUE-est cities on the planet with almost all 20-something residents...(think Seattle)
Do you think they recycle...hell, no!!!...not even simple stuff like paper, cans, glass.
I go down to my garage and am just appalled. Like I say, there are cost arguments about recycling...but jerks aren't making a statement about that...they just don't give a SH*T.
Also, their cigarette CR*P is everywhere....
Recycling will only work, and is only useful, when there is an economic incentive. (Or intense social pressure of the sort that can exist in Japan, but probably not even in small towns here.)
If one lives in a densely populated area, where waste removal is a muncipal service, where landfill space at reasonable cost is very far away, it makes economic sense to subsidize recycling, so long as the cost the municipality is reduced. Part of the savings should be passed on to residents who recycle as an incentive. (No need for the recycling police.)
In places where waste removal is privately contracted, if recycling is cheaper, the private companies can offer discounts to recyclers.
I've always been mystified by people who think that somehow resources are wasted by being put in landfills. No so: if the price of resources commonly put into landfills rises enough, yesterday's landfills will become tomorrow's mines. (The way some people behave, you'd think the stuff was being rocketed to the sun.)