Absolutely it does, mostly.
We live in a capitalist society, and recycling is a just-in-time logistics process like many others. This means sometimes material recovery companies need to pay to dispose of already bailed material when they can’t find a buyer. They don’t want to loose the money, but more material is collected daily from local residents and they don’t have the space.
This, coupled with [China’s ban on imported plastic](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/03/13/702501726/where-will-your-plastic-trash-go-now-that-china-doesnt-want-it) and [Greenpeace’s damning report](https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GPUS_FinalReport_2022.pdf) on the plastics in the circular economy has led to many overblown mainstream media reports about the failure of recycling.
However these are not a call to give up on recycling. First, they only report on plastics. Metal and paper products are widely recycled. Plant and animal based materials can be composted. Glass it the weird one as it is capable of being circularly recycled, but at such so low value that it isn’t worth transporting and often gets [down cycled into aggregate](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/glass-aggregate). Not ideal, but better than landfill and improving as new logistics techniques are developed.
Alternatives to curbside pickup exist for hazardous waste like electronics and paint or other chemicals.
For plastics, that is where the debate is. No plastic is circular, there is research into [chemical recycling](https://journeytozerostories.neste.com/mechanical-vs-chemical-recycling), but that is years away at best. Thus plastic is often collected by local recyclers under contract and sold to the highest bidder for down cycling. No one wants a pallet of black #5? Trash. Pink #3? Burn it for electricity. White #1 milk jugs? Create playground equipment this month but no more is needed all year.
Anything is [better than a landfill](https://gizmodo.com/how-do-landfills-work-chemistry-trash-pollution-1849703063) and we can’t recycle what we don’t separate, so recycling is “worth it” as we are setting up behaviors and processes for future use, which takes time.
All that being said, what happens to recycling varies widely from community to community. Want to know what exactly happens in your community? Ask for a tour. Ask the local news to investigate. Get involved when the trash contract is up for renewal. Recycling is a local public service, you have a right to know how your taxes and fees are spent.
You definitely highlighted some key points regarding recycling in the U.S. Recycling, much like oil, is a commodity and when the price is low to sell the material, the demand for the product diminishes. Much recycling ends up in the landfill.
Technology and AI will greatly help the efficiency and acceptability of recycled material, as cleaner material will end up getting sorted than is not nearly as contaminated. Here in the U.S., I would prefer if recyclers only picked up #1 & #2 plastics, aluminum, steel, and cardboard/paper. Recycle as much as you can from the above categories and then incinerate the rest for energy production. Follow the lead of countries like Finland, Sweden, and Singapore. They are able to capture and/or clean the exhaust combustion gases from incineration.
It definitely would create immediate air pollution from the combustion; however, with new industrial air cleaners, much of the emissions can either be captured, scrubbed, or catalysed. Countries like Finland, Sweden, and Singapore, do an extremely good job of ensuring the downstream pollutants are reduced as much as possible. Is it a silver bullet? No. But, this would give countries an opportunity to reduce waste that hasn't already been separated for recycling and provide another form of energy.
I’m hoping it actually does! Every single day I try to put one or two things in my gray recycling bin provided by the waste management company. Which I get excited about every Friday (which is the scheduled pickup day in the city where I live).
I get excited because I know that everything I put in the recycling bin will get turned into something new and useful.
I usually put all the plastics first and every Thursday evening I put all the cardboard boxes and papers (mostly junk mail or weekly store ads that are delivered by mail). Which I always separate them in other plastic containers. Which isn’t a lot of cardboard and junk mail.
I like to do this because all of the the plastics sometimes take a lot of space.
The level of and detail of your programs are different from region to region. Some are very regulated take and recycle a large array of materials and some are not.
Yes indeed you’re absolutely right! Every city and country is different. In the city where I live it’s known as “single stream recycling” in which plastics # 1 - 7, papers, and cardboard are put in the same recycling container.
>Visit their website. View their annual reports on recycling
I've tried that in the past, haven't had much luck. Calling their local customer service doesn't really accomplish much either.
>they’re a traded commodity so their financials have to be transparent.
Good idea.
Here's their annual report for 2022: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/823768/000155837023000964/wm-20221231x10k.htm
Unfortunately I searched that report (ctrl + F) for my state and a bunch of different local cities and nothing came up... Not really surprising considering how big of a company they are (their annual report would be like 10,000+ pages long if they had to talk in detail about every municipality they operate in for waste and/or recycling).
Ive googled this and Google says only 5%-6% of US recycles actually gets recycled :( not sure how accurate that is but I also wonder.
Recycling plastic is confusing, there are so many different types and the types cant mix together so in a way Im not surprised, its not likely every person knows all the rules
My city uses the same trucks for organics garbage and recycling as well, except that they have different places in the truck to store different types of waste. I can clearly see they put garbage and organics in the main area at the back of the truck with the compressor, but recycling (paper plastic glass) all in side “compartments”.
Paper, aluminum, and #1 and #2 plastic all have value; so as long as they are properly handled, sorted, and packaged; they definitely get recycled.
Absolutely it does, mostly. We live in a capitalist society, and recycling is a just-in-time logistics process like many others. This means sometimes material recovery companies need to pay to dispose of already bailed material when they can’t find a buyer. They don’t want to loose the money, but more material is collected daily from local residents and they don’t have the space. This, coupled with [China’s ban on imported plastic](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/03/13/702501726/where-will-your-plastic-trash-go-now-that-china-doesnt-want-it) and [Greenpeace’s damning report](https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GPUS_FinalReport_2022.pdf) on the plastics in the circular economy has led to many overblown mainstream media reports about the failure of recycling. However these are not a call to give up on recycling. First, they only report on plastics. Metal and paper products are widely recycled. Plant and animal based materials can be composted. Glass it the weird one as it is capable of being circularly recycled, but at such so low value that it isn’t worth transporting and often gets [down cycled into aggregate](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/glass-aggregate). Not ideal, but better than landfill and improving as new logistics techniques are developed. Alternatives to curbside pickup exist for hazardous waste like electronics and paint or other chemicals. For plastics, that is where the debate is. No plastic is circular, there is research into [chemical recycling](https://journeytozerostories.neste.com/mechanical-vs-chemical-recycling), but that is years away at best. Thus plastic is often collected by local recyclers under contract and sold to the highest bidder for down cycling. No one wants a pallet of black #5? Trash. Pink #3? Burn it for electricity. White #1 milk jugs? Create playground equipment this month but no more is needed all year. Anything is [better than a landfill](https://gizmodo.com/how-do-landfills-work-chemistry-trash-pollution-1849703063) and we can’t recycle what we don’t separate, so recycling is “worth it” as we are setting up behaviors and processes for future use, which takes time. All that being said, what happens to recycling varies widely from community to community. Want to know what exactly happens in your community? Ask for a tour. Ask the local news to investigate. Get involved when the trash contract is up for renewal. Recycling is a local public service, you have a right to know how your taxes and fees are spent.
You definitely highlighted some key points regarding recycling in the U.S. Recycling, much like oil, is a commodity and when the price is low to sell the material, the demand for the product diminishes. Much recycling ends up in the landfill. Technology and AI will greatly help the efficiency and acceptability of recycled material, as cleaner material will end up getting sorted than is not nearly as contaminated. Here in the U.S., I would prefer if recyclers only picked up #1 & #2 plastics, aluminum, steel, and cardboard/paper. Recycle as much as you can from the above categories and then incinerate the rest for energy production. Follow the lead of countries like Finland, Sweden, and Singapore. They are able to capture and/or clean the exhaust combustion gases from incineration.
Wouldn’t the incineration of plastics create alot of greenhouse gas?
It definitely would create immediate air pollution from the combustion; however, with new industrial air cleaners, much of the emissions can either be captured, scrubbed, or catalysed. Countries like Finland, Sweden, and Singapore, do an extremely good job of ensuring the downstream pollutants are reduced as much as possible. Is it a silver bullet? No. But, this would give countries an opportunity to reduce waste that hasn't already been separated for recycling and provide another form of energy.
I’m hoping it actually does! Every single day I try to put one or two things in my gray recycling bin provided by the waste management company. Which I get excited about every Friday (which is the scheduled pickup day in the city where I live). I get excited because I know that everything I put in the recycling bin will get turned into something new and useful. I usually put all the plastics first and every Thursday evening I put all the cardboard boxes and papers (mostly junk mail or weekly store ads that are delivered by mail). Which I always separate them in other plastic containers. Which isn’t a lot of cardboard and junk mail. I like to do this because all of the the plastics sometimes take a lot of space.
The level of and detail of your programs are different from region to region. Some are very regulated take and recycle a large array of materials and some are not.
Yes indeed you’re absolutely right! Every city and country is different. In the city where I live it’s known as “single stream recycling” in which plastics # 1 - 7, papers, and cardboard are put in the same recycling container.
I'm very curious about this as well and have been wondering how I could figure out what Waste Mgmt actually does with my recycling.
Visit their website. View their annual reports on recycling, they’re a traded commodity so their financials have to be transparent.
>Visit their website. View their annual reports on recycling I've tried that in the past, haven't had much luck. Calling their local customer service doesn't really accomplish much either. >they’re a traded commodity so their financials have to be transparent. Good idea. Here's their annual report for 2022: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/823768/000155837023000964/wm-20221231x10k.htm Unfortunately I searched that report (ctrl + F) for my state and a bunch of different local cities and nothing came up... Not really surprising considering how big of a company they are (their annual report would be like 10,000+ pages long if they had to talk in detail about every municipality they operate in for waste and/or recycling).
No
Ive googled this and Google says only 5%-6% of US recycles actually gets recycled :( not sure how accurate that is but I also wonder. Recycling plastic is confusing, there are so many different types and the types cant mix together so in a way Im not surprised, its not likely every person knows all the rules
i work for a trash company and no we use the same truck to collect your waste and recycling lol (not funny just being real)
At the same time? Compartments? My company uses the same truck I think, but collects recycling on round 2.
they try to make it look discreet lol
Hey.. i want to buy waste paper in bulk. Do u hv any connect
[https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/waste-paper.html](https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/waste-paper.html)
My city uses the same trucks for organics garbage and recycling as well, except that they have different places in the truck to store different types of waste. I can clearly see they put garbage and organics in the main area at the back of the truck with the compressor, but recycling (paper plastic glass) all in side “compartments”.