Serious question, my city's recycling program feels pointless now

I used to separate everything carefully, but then I read that a lot of it just gets sent to other countries and burned or buried. I mean, I'm putting in all this work for what feels like no real change. Idk, maybe it's just me, but I think we should focus more on using less stuff instead. It's kind of frustrating to see how broken the system is.

4 comments

4 Comments

karens125d ago

China used to take most US plastic until they banned it in 2018. I mean, reducing what we buy feels like the only real fix now. I've switched to bar soap and refillable bottles to cut down on packaging waste. Maybe we need laws that make companies use less plastic in the first place.

skyler_jackson275d ago

After China's ban, we just ship it to countries with even fewer rules.

elliot_bailey5d ago

Yeah, Skyler's point about sending it to places with no rules isn't always true. A lot of it goes to countries with their own recycling systems, though how well they run is a whole other mess. The bigger problem is that the stuff we send is often so dirty or mixed up it can't be recycled anyway. So reducing what we use is key, like Karen said, but fixing the recycling system so it actually works is just as important. We kinda have to push for both at the same time.

charles_mitchell2d ago

Elliot, you mentioned fixing the recycling system is just as important, but I gotta push back on that. Look at stuff like chip bags or juice pouches, they're layered plastics that can't be recycled at all. Even when we clean our bins, a lot of it gets burned or buried because the systems are broken. Throwing money at recycling feels like we're ignoring the root problem. We should make companies stop creating so much junk in the first place, through strict laws. Otherwise, we're just moving trash around.