5 recycling myths busted What really happens to all the stuff you put in those blue bins?

nationalgeographic.com ^ | 10/31/2018 | Brian Clark Howard

[rktman]

Last Earth Day, I published a column in the Washington Post on common recycling myths. I received so many comments and emails in response, often asking additional questions, that I wanted to follow up with a new list here at National Geographic.

The recycling industry is changing rapidly, as are advancements in materials science and product design. The field has an increasingly global footprint and is affected by complex forces, from oil prices to national policies and consumer preferences.

As investor Rob Kaplan of Circulate Capital recently told National Geographic, “There's no silver bullet to stop plastic pollution. We're not going to be able to recycle our way out of the problem, and we're not going to be able to reduce our way out of the problem.” We have to pursue both those tracks while seeking new solutions at the same time, Kaplan noted, which is why his firm is raising tens of millions of dollars to invest in new litter cleanup efforts in the developing world.

[Undecided 2012]

I think recycling could be profitable. I think if the people separate their recycles and they dump it all in the same spot is wrong. In days past, China took all our plastic, glass, cardboard, paper, but when they stopped all our dumping the recycle market collapsed. I think if they used grounded up plastic and glass, they could be used with asphalt or maybe concrete. Or paper or rags or clothing could be grounded up and used as insulation. I wish where I lived in rural East Texas we recycled but we don’t. Garbage, paper and plastic go into the fire pit and glass and cans are dropped off in the local small town dumpster.

[Undecided 2012]

Most of those supermarkets are doing self checkout to keep prices lower. Look at Aldi, they leave palleted food and bring your own bags and they are the cheapest which is why they are growing.

[Bullish]

I’m in SoCal and every fast food joint I go to still gives you plastic straws without asking if you want one. It’s Berkeley that fines for straws I think. I would say Berkeley has lost their minds but they did that long long ago.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Look at the big picture. Back in the 50s and 60s, stores and gasoline stations did everything for you. There was no tech; everything was done manually.

Prices in real (constant dollar) terms were lower then and a family could have one breadwinner and the spouse (usually the wife) could stay home with the kids.

Today we are all forced to do the work the stores once did — they have offloaded that work from their employees onto you, the customer. And this is the supposed “service economy” where you get everything done for you.

It doesn’t make any sense.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I’ve always used the blue can as a 2nd garbage can. I have no doubt it goes to the same place. If not, they can frickin’ sort it.

[Mrs. Don-o]

We've never recycled. Knew it was a scam 30 years ago. We do compost, because that has the advantage of producing prodigious amounts of carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor. The three principal "greenhouse gases."

Aim for 1500 ppm CO2. (Always think big!) Do your part to green up the Earth.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Forty years ago people were sorting paper from plastic, colored glass from clear glass for recycling.

Then someone followed the recycling truck and found them dumping everything in the landfill.

But every one felt S-O-O Good about recycling.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

No kidding. My wife always wants to direct me to the “bag-it-yourself” area because there’s no line there. I tell her, “If they want me bagging my own groceries, they need to give me a discount.” Till then, I’ll stand in line and check my messages.

[VietVet876]

I work for a county government in the DC suburbs. Most of the trash is picked up by contractors and dumped at several landfills. One of my smoking buddies is the woman who oversees the contractors. Monday is trash pickup and Thursday is recycling day. She told me that all the pickups from both days go into the same piles at the landfills. My wife won’t believe it so I humor her and put out the dry stuff on Thursday mornings. It does save on trash bags, though and I guess it makes the children feel more secure about their futures.

[rktman]

We used to have the tri bins in FL. Now it’s “single stream” at our house. It all goes in the big green tote and into the truck every Wednesday.

[NutsOnYew]

Quick story of government efficiency. When I moved in to my small town in central Florida, Waste Management told me that I should contact the town management to get a recycle bin. I actually spoke to the town managers and was told I had to contact Waste Management about recycling. So, I called Waste Management and was told that the town managers would make arrangements for a recycle bin. I visited a different town management office and was told that someone would eventually take official notice of my presence in the town and would take action. Two years later, I am still unnoticed. I actually wanted the bin for weeds, small branches, and other garden debris, but I have managed to make due with plastic bags.

[daniel1212]

I note how the liberal describes what is often carelessness:

Overzealous recyclers, in their desire to avoid waste, are too often tossing everything from banana peels to wooden picture frames to broken cellphones into blue bins, ignoring the posted rules.

Today, about a quarter of everything consumers place in recycling bins ultimately can’t be recycled by the programs that collect them. This includes such items as food waste, rubber hoses, wire, low-grade plastics, and many other items that overly hopeful residents toss in.