[PinkString]

That is not right and if you see it happening, contact Republic about it. Every single time it happens! Keep calling. If it continues, call the local news about it. I don't wash out all my recyclables for the fun of it just to have it go into the trash. And it better not be going there.

[RationalExpectations]

There are a couple issues:

• The Federal Government has set % requirements for recycling that state & local governments must achieve or have lose some federal funding (I don't recall which specific programs).
• In order to achieve the % recycling required by the Federal Government, most local governments across the country have implemented Single Stream Recycling (everything in one big bin). In the old days, local governments used separate bins for mixed paper, aluminum cans, and plastic bottles -- but didn't achieve the % required by the Feds. They switched to Single Stream to make it easier on us end customers, thereby achieving the % required by the Feds.
• The idea was the recycling center would sort the single stream into its component parts. It turns out that wasn't particularly easy, and wasn't accurate enough.
• Single stream recycling also results in quite a bit of contamination from "aspirational recycling" -- things that are not recyclable such as pizza boxes (contaminated with food & grease), household batteries, plastic grocery bags, juice boxes, and the like. Plus mistakes where household garbage ends up in the recycling bin by accident.

Buyers of, say, used plastic water bottles will reject a batch that is contaminated with stuff from the single stream recycling. That batch will end up in the landfill. Ditto for buyers of newsprint, glass, etc. But it was "recycled" at the sort facility and hence counts towards the Federal % requirement.

Nowadays, many batches will end up in the landfill. Maybe even most. The culprit is single stream, for the most part. The root cause appears to be unrealistic Federal requirements.

[wpcoe]

Originally Posted by RationalExpectations

The root cause appears to be unrealistic Federal requirements.

Now, there's a shocker! (not)

[JonathanLB]

Hahaha “aspirational recycling” - I love that!! That’s my future mother in law, she thinks everything is recyclable. It’s ridiculous.

[equid0x]

Recycling has always been feel good BS. They either store it, or ship it to India or China where people live in the garbage dump and dig through trash all day by hand to separate it. They only recover high value materials from the trash, the rest typically gets burned.

[Futbolgirl]

I have seen them doing the same thing at my house in Anthem. It makes me made! I don’t even bother recycling anymore. I just have two trash cans.

[RationalExpectations]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

Hahaha “aspirational recycling” - I love that!! That’s my future mother in law, she thinks everything is recyclable. It’s ridiculous.

I can't take credit for the term - apparently it is widely used among industry insiders.

A buyer of, say, recycled water bottles used to accept batches with 20% contamination (made up number for illustration), then it only became economic for 15% contamination... then 10%... then 5%... All that aspirational recycling just contaminates batches such that the batch ends up in landfill.

The curbside recycling here accepts glass bottles. The curbside recycling in Park City does not - they say the glass bottles break in the sorting equipment resulting in broken glass contaminating everything. (I suspect Republic does not actually sort our recycling; I've seen the facility in Henderson and it appears they just compact everything with no sorting whatsoever, then ship the whole thing to China labeled "mixed" even though it will be contaminated with garbage. China, of course, has ratcheted down the percentage of contamination in a given batch they will accept, and non-accepted batches head straight to the landfill.

None of which matters from the point of view of the Federal Government, as it was counted as recycled at the recycling facility even if it ends up in landfill.

Have your future mother-in-law call her recycling company on the telephone and ask explicitly which things go in and which aspirational items should be put into garbage. If, for example, her facility does not accept glass bottles, have her ask where she can take them for recycling if she's so inclined.

[robr2]

Aspirational or wishful recycling also refers to the hope that something can be recycled simply because it's made of a material that can be recycled.

Things like a Swiffer mop or a razor blade cartridges get tossed into the bin because they are made of metal or plastic and people wish they get recycled. Those items could be recycled if someone took the time to separate them into their individual components.

My understanding is that single stream raises recycling rates but lowers the percentage of the recycling through contamination.