My neighborhood recycling bin hit 50 bags in a single week and it got me thinking

I counted last Tuesday after the truck came, and we had 50 full recycling bags on our block. That's way more than the 20 bags I remember from a year ago. But then I started wondering, how much of that stuff actually gets recycled versus thrown out. Our city says they recycle 70% of it, but I read somewhere that the real number is closer to 30%. Has anyone else checked their local recycling stats and found something surprising?

2 comments

2 Comments

drew5517d ago

Looked into mine a few months back and found out our city's real recycling rate was closer to 40% once you factored in contamination and sorting issues. Getting the actual stats from the waste management office instead of the brochure numbers helped clear things up for me.

robinf5117d ago

Wait, does that actually add up though @drew55? If your city's reporting 40% after contamination, that still sounds pretty decent to me. Mine showed 55% on paper but the real story was like 22% after we factored in all the trash people throw in the blue bins. The waste management guy straight up told me most cities fudge the numbers to hit state goals. So 40% might actually be better than average if they're being honest about it. I'd trust that number more than the shiny brochure version.