Hot take: my plastic recycling is probably just going to a landfill anyway

I spent like 2 hours the other day sorting through my recycling bins really carefully. Rinsing out old yogurt containers, peeling off labels, checking the little numbers on the bottom. Felt good doing my part for the planet. Then I started digging into what actually happens to this stuff in my city of Columbus. Turns out a ton of plastic with the numbers 3 through 7 just gets trashed anyway because there's no market for it. Even the stuff that looks recyclable like those clamshell takeout containers often gets rejected at the sorting facility. I felt like an idiot for spending all that time when half of it was just going to the dump. Has anyone else looked into what their local recycling plant actually accepts and felt totally lied to?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_kim4d ago

Waited until I found out our local recycling center literally has a sign saying "no plastic bags or film" and then watched a documentary about how most single-stream recycling is basically a feel-good scam. Guess who spent 15 minutes untangling a grocery bag from their recycling bin for nothing? This guy. Now I just toss everything in the regular trash and call it a day, saves me like an hour a week of playing garbage detective.

kevin_adams4d ago

Dude, I feel your pain so hard, @the_kim. I did the exact same thing last year, finally looked up what our local place actually takes and realized I've been sorting trash for nothing. It's like the whole system is set up to make us feel guilty while they just dump it all in a landfill anyway. I still rinse out cans and stuff out of habit, but I don't beat myself up over it anymore either. What a waste of time.

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