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That plastic wrap drawer drove me crazy for 6 months
I finally realized people treat individual recycling like a personal virtue instead of a system problem. Last week at my apartment complex I saw someone spend 10 minutes washing out a single yogurt cup while tossing a pizza box in the trash because it had grease. The recycling truck here in Portland picks up glass and metal that actually gets processed, but half the plastic ends up in the landfill anyway. Why do we put all this effort into sorting when the system itself is broken? Has anyone else looked up where their local recycling actually ends up?
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price.gavin20d ago
The plastic wrap drawer gets me too, store it under the sink instead.
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adam_patel20d ago
@price.gavin brings up a good point about storage but this is way bigger than that. The real issue is that recycling programs are designed to make us feel good not to actually work. Cities like Portland spend more on public education campaigns than on upgrading sorting facilities. Greasy pizza boxes get rejected because the paper fibers break down but the wax coating doesn't. Meanwhile those clean yogurt cups end up in the same pile because the plant can't separate the different plastics fast enough. I looked up where my local recycling goes last year - straight to a waste-to-energy incinerator. So you're right, the system is broken and we're just putting on a show for ourselves.
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