Comment on How important is it that cans are clean when i put them in the recycling.
Letsdothisok@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I live in the UK
I was gonna say, I think most “recycling” is basically a scam in the US. I’m talking about the bins given to you by the city. They are just as big as the trash bins, and picked up every other week. Nobody is making sure what they put in the recycling bins is actually recyclable, and no is checking and sorting that shit.
No one wants to believe that’s possible. Try to do some unbiased research about it.
null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
It’s probably not quite that nefarious, although I agree that the majority of what goes in the recycling bin doesn’t get recycled.
The bins are the collection system. You can’t recycle anything if you have nothing. People aren’t good at following instructions. So everyone gets a bin for plastic, cardboard, and cans.
Here in Australia the guy in the truck is looking at what’s in the bin before it goes in the truck. Obviously not checking every last little thing but once I tried to put a big chunk of polystyrene in and the truck just didn’t take it.
Then at the collection centre it all goes on a conveyor belt and staff pick off the items that are recyclable. Anything not picked off gets dumped into landfill.
The problem you’re alluding to is that there’s a lot more recyclable stuff being discarded than there is demand for recycled products. For plastic for example the types are represented by those little numbers in the triangles.
I think 1 is PET and that’s readily recyclable, everyone wants to recycle that. I don’t remember the rest but 2 and 3 are recyclable but it’s expensive and it’s always down-cycling into some lesser product like black plant pots or green park benches, then 4, 5, and 6 just plain aren’t viable for recycling.
I imagine Aluminium and Tin cans are readily recyclable, and clean uncontaminated cardboard, but the rest just goes in to landfill.
I think this system sucks because it gives people the illusion that their stuff is being recycled, however it’s not an intentional scam.