# Is Recycling a Scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896 "2019-03-10T16:51:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/41 "2019-03-12T18:56:22Z")
Recycling is not a scam. A magic green bucket that turns any random thing you put in it into unicorns, butterflies, and plastic park benches was never a thing, no matter how much some people wanted to believe it was a thing. There are limitations on what can be recycled, and when people don’t follow them, the recycling stream is polluted. That container half full of spoiled yogurt that was just thrown in the recycle bin? Now it’s ruined the recyclablity of the paper it just spilled all over. That pizza box saturated in grease? It might make that entire bale of cardboard unsalable. What people want is a place they can put their third plastic water bottle of the day into, and feel like they’re doing their part to save the earth. Or a place they can [throw their used diapers](https://earther.gizmodo.com/dirty-diapers-used-needles-and-more-the-worst-things-1833034949) and pretend they’re not going to a landfill. It doesn’t work that way, and it never did. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/42 "2019-03-12T19:23:36Z")
Warning: meta-discussion. I am wary of people who defend an extreme position. In this case that recycling is a feel-good waste of money/resources or that everything can be recycled economically. The answer is almost always in-between. This is the case with recycling. If you’re promoting one end of the extreme, you’re not informed enough. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/43 "2019-03-12T20:56:28Z")
I had heard that for a while (when oil prices were below $50 a barrel) that recycling plastic was not competitive and thus they were just landfilling it. They did not actually stop the collection services for some pretty obvious reasons, but they were not recycling the material. I don’t know if this was true. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/44 "2019-03-12T21:07:00Z")
One other point: At a local instance of a national fast food restaurant that kind of rhymes with Don Quixote, they have 3 trash cans inside to dispose of your trash, recycling and food waste (compost). The trash cans are routinely emptied and moved to dumpsters outside the restaurant. When leaving the restaurant the other day, my friend and I noticed that there was only a single dumpster with no subdivisions or anything like that. And then of course you go to some restaurants and you see something like [this](https://i.redd.it/sr4vwjkrkdb01.jpg) (link to Reddit picture). ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/45 "2019-03-12T21:10:11Z")
> [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > I had heard that for a while (when oil prices were below $50 a barrel) that recycling plastic was not competitive and thus they were just landfilling it. They did not actually stop the collection services for some pretty obvious reasons, but they were not recycling the material. I don’t know if this was true. [https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=34&t=6](https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=34&t=6) > [@](#): > > Although crude oil is a source of raw material (feedstock) for making plastics, it is not the major source of feedstock for plastics production in the United States. Plastics are produced from natural gas, feedstocks derived from natural gas processing, and feedstocks derived from crude oil refining. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is unable to determine the specific amounts or origin of the feedstocks that are actually used to manufacture plastics in the United States. The decline in plastic prices is more related to the plummeting natural gas prices. Yea, fracking! ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/46 "2019-03-13T01:46:26Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Recycling is not a scam. A magic green bucket that turns any random thing you put in it into unicorns, butterflies, and plastic park benches was never a thing, no matter how much some people wanted to believe it was a thing. > > There are limitations on what can be recycled, and when people don’t follow them, the recycling stream is polluted. That container half full of spoiled yogurt that was just thrown in the recycle bin? Now it’s ruined the recyclablity of the paper it just spilled all over. That pizza box saturated in grease? It might make that entire bale of cardboard unsalable. > > What people want is a place they can put their third plastic water bottle of the day into, and feel like they’re doing their part to save the earth. Or a place they can [throw their used diapers](https://earther.gizmodo.com/dirty-diapers-used-needles-and-more-the-worst-things-1833034949) and pretend they’re not going to a landfill. It doesn’t work that way, and it never did. All this has to be factored in when you are asking the public to participate. If you tell people to recycle cardboard, then no shit, they will throw pizza boxes in there. It is hard enough to get people to put their cell phones down while driving, let alone force them to sort their garbage properly. The system should have taken this type of known behavior into account. The fact that they did not shows the short-sightedness of it. But, no, thirty years ago we were promised the magic green bucket. Now, even thirty years later, the technology is not there to make it happen except for novelty shit like sweaters made of plastic. We were scammed on this, especially when some of the items are going directly to the landfill, again, thirty years later. It seems as if it is a game to treat adults like children and just to make us feel good about saving the planet. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/47 "2019-03-13T02:35:33Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Warning: meta-discussion. > > I am wary of people who defend an extreme position. In this case that recycling is a feel-good waste of money/resources or that everything can be recycled economically. > > The answer is almost always in-between. This is the case with recycling. If you’re promoting one end of the extreme, you’re not informed enough. True. Recycling,\* taken as a whole \*is a good idea. But there are issues. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/48 "2019-03-13T13:02:30Z")
This is why we need to treat waste from the starting point. For example, why try and recycle plastic gallon milk jugs - when we get rid of them all together with refillable glass ones? You know, the ones that come with a deposit? Instead of paying $2 for a plastic bottle if Nivea water, why cant I put 25 cents into a machine to dispense such water into my own glass bottle? At grocery stores why not follow the example of Aldi stores which make you pay for your own sacks whether they be paper or plastic? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/49 "2019-03-13T13:47:36Z")
There are tradeoffs. Glass is heavy as shit, so the same 10,000 gallons of milk now requires much more fuel to transport to the grocery store … and that’s not factoring in the safety issues from breakage. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/50 "2019-03-13T15:33:06Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > This is why we need to treat waste from the starting point. For example, why try and recycle plastic gallon milk jugs - when we get rid of them all together with refillable glass ones? You know, the ones that come with a deposit? > > Instead of paying $2 for a plastic bottle if Nivea water, why cant I put 25 cents into a machine to dispense such water into my own glass bottle? > > At grocery stores why not follow the example of Aldi stores which make you pay for your own sacks whether they be paper or plastic? Because this idea, like expecting the public not to throw pizza boxes into the cardboard recycling bin, expects a level of compliance from people that simply will not happen. Will you carry around a glass bottle in your car or you wife’s purse so that you can refill it at convenience stores? Will most people? You’ll do that to get your nickel or dime back on the deposit? What happens one day when you forget it because you took it inside to wash it? Once you have accumulated a few, are you going to put them all in a bag (if you even have any anymore) take them back to the store and stand in line to collect your fifty cents? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/51 "2019-03-13T16:03:19Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I guess it’s my time and energy on the front end, rinsing out, removing paper labels, etc. Why go through all that if it doesn’t matter on the back end? That’s kind of my thinking as well. Here in Dallas, I’m supposed to make sure and not put styrofoam, chip bags, plastic grocery bags, plastic utensils, coat hangers, clothing or extension cords into the recycling. I’m also supposed to remove caps from bottles, rinse cans, yogurt containers, etc… On top of that, there are limitations on size- can’t be too small or too large. And I’m supposed to take several categories to special locations (none co-located) on my own- clothing, furniture, electronics, household hazardous waste, light bulbs, So when after all that effort, they end up putting half of it in a landfill, I’m not going to bother in the first place. I just separate it out in a cursory fashion and throw it in the bin and let them do what they want. I figure eventually that plastic will either be valuable and someone will mine the landfills, or it won’t ever be, and it’ll just hang out until it’s eventually subducted into the mantle and recycled that way. ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/52 "2019-03-14T12:13:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Plastic is the current issue. Been an issue. It does have a place in the environment, doesnt it? A very SMALL SMALL place and totally required to be washed and recycled! Put a price on it and it will be taken care of mostly. Put a deposit on water bottles. Even at a penny a bottle, you’d have people picking them up off the side of the road! But then again, in the long run, where does it go? Where does the plastic pop bottle go in the states that require deposits? > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I dont see how putting things into a landfill itself isnt a form of “recycling”. > > I’ve been to the local landfill. Trucks come in and garbage is dumped then smashed around and spread out. Bulldozers and such create mounds of it. Over time as the mounds get large enough soil is put on top and grass planted. So over time you create new land. Now granted the soil isnt stable or strong enough to support building houses on but it becomes nice parkland. > > And really be honest. Everything eventually ends in a landfill. Oh you can reuse a water bottle a hundred times but eventually it gets worn out and you have to throw it away. Yes, you can turn plastics into something else but again, that eventually gets thrown away. > > Most products come from the ground anyways. Even plastics and wood. > > So hasnt it in a way been “recycled”? Um no. Plastic comes from oil! Granted, oil is from the earth, but, is not a renewable source Wood, paper are both renewable and water soluble and does disappear in a great deal of ions less than plastic will EVER go away. Parkland? Are you going to play there or let your children play there? If you like, there is land in St Louis Michigan, that was used for cows that were slaughtered because of PPB poisoning. [https://www.mlive.com/news/2016/05/velsicol\_superfund\_st\_louis\_pb.html](https://www.mlive.com/news/2016/05/velsicol_superfund_st_louis_pb.html) > [@Hermitian](#): > > Removing labels? If I had to do that I wouldn’t recycle anything. me too! Some of them buggers you’d have to work on forever to remove them! Easy enough to take off can labels! > [@UltraVires](#): > > It is hard enough to get people to put their cell phones down while driving, let alone force them to sort their garbage properly. The system should have taken this type of known behavior into account. The fact that they did not shows the short-sightedness of it. > It seems as if it is a game to treat adults like children and just to make us feel good about saving the planet. Treating adults as children doesnt work either! At recycling sites you have to rely on consumers to actually read the signs there or what should be recycled and what can be and what should NOT be left at the site. We go to our site and the bins are filled with trash. The ground around the bins are surrounded by garbage bags that do not contain recycled items. Just a dump site. > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > At grocery stores why not follow the example of Aldi stores which make you pay for your own sacks whether they be paper or plastic? I like this idea. It would go a long way to slow the plastic waste > [@UltraVires](#): > > What happens one day when you forget it because you took it inside to wash it? Once you have accumulated a few, are you going to put them all in a bag (if you even have any anymore) take them back to the store and stand in line to collect your fifty cents? We put crushed plastic milk bottles or whatever plastic bottle with a handle, on a string, rope, whatever and have those hanging around until we head to the recycle place. If only plastic would degrade in less than 10 million years, I wouldnt mind using them. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/53 "2019-03-14T21:21:56Z")
> [@WildBlueYonder](#): > > Treating adults as children doesnt work either! At recycling sites you have to rely on consumers to actually read the signs there or what should be recycled and what can be and what should NOT be left at the site. We go to our site and the bins are filled with trash. The ground around the bins are surrounded by garbage bags that do not contain recycled items. Just a dump site. A few years back, there was an article in the local paper asking people to stop putting their dead pets into the recycling dumpsters at the park. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/54 "2019-03-14T23:59:07Z")
> [@WildBlueYonder](#): > > … > > If only plastic would degrade in less than 10 million years, I wouldnt mind using them. I believe in evolution. I bet in 100 years there will be specialized bacteria in the soil that eat plastic. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/55 "2019-03-15T01:23:28Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > A few years back, there was an article in the local paper asking people to stop putting their dead pets into the recycling dumpsters at the park. That’s interesting, thanks. I had to go looking. [Dead pets dumped in recycling bins](https://www.northernstar.com.au/news/dead-pets-dumped-in-bins/2385337/) > [@](#): > > However it is okay to put them in the green waste bin along with your food scraps and garden clippings. > … > He also added that nappies and sharps (needles) should be kept out of recycling bins, as should asbestos sheeting. If you do not live in Lismore, please do not place dead pets in your green waste bins without confirming with your local authorities that they can accept them. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/56 "2019-03-15T02:04:14Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > A few years back, there was an article in the local paper asking people to stop putting their dead pets into the recycling dumpsters at the park. :eek: When I was a kid, I participated in a paper drive for some fundraiser (church? Girl Scouts? band? can’t remember) and we got a donation of newspapers that seemed awfully heavy. Someone put expired license plates in with them, presumably so they would weigh more. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/57 "2019-03-16T22:20:44Z")
NYT published an article about this today: > **[As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling (Published 2019)](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/16/business/local-recycling-costs.html)** > > With China no longer accepting used plastic and paper, communities are facing steep collection bills, forcing them to end their programs or burn or bury more waste. More communities are dropping their recycling programs, as it gets harder to sell the contaminated waste. Some are still collecting it separately, but then burying or burning it. So, yeah, sometimes it is a scam. You can probably find out what your community is doing, though. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/58 "2019-03-16T23:42:35Z")
I saw that. Funny enough Deltona is right down the road from me, maybe a 45 minute drive. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/59 "2019-03-17T18:16:08Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896/60 "2019-03-19T11:42:10Z")
[It appears we even have too many aluminum cans now](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/aluminum-makers-ditch-can-business/ar-BBUSQmj?li=BBnb7Kz). Not enough demand for the lower grade recycled aluminum. With prices for aluminum scrap falling it may turn around if new uses are found for recycled material, but for now the cans will be crushed and stacked up waiting to be wanted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-recycling-a-scam/830896.md?page=4)