They also told us all this stuff was recyclable. They got us to separate our trash. Municipalities changed their waste collections services. Added new trucks. For 40 years. Then they were like “yeah, none of this stuff can actually be recycled”. lol. And THEN after they got called out on that, they’re like “yeah, we lied last time. But now we really are working on a way to recycle these things. And it’s really really going to work this time totally for sure.”

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 17 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I think it's even worse. They didn't tell us what was and wasn't recyclable. They used symbols very similar to the recycling logo to stamp on various types of plastics to classify them. Most of the types used are one time use, they never were meant to imply recycling, that's just the symbol appearance.

[–] tektite@slrpnk.net 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

And even still, not everything of any particular code is recyclable.

I finally discovered that what is accepted in my recycle cart is determined by who will buy it for recycle. For example, some company might buy yogurt tubs and milk jugs but not other shapes of the same plastics.

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It's a system for more than just plastics, like batteries are that symbol with 43? In the logo. It is a classification system for waste handling, some materials more recyclable than others. The idea is as technology increases we may have methods to deal with more of them. For now, what plastic isn't recycled is often made into fuel pellets, and used as heating sources for industrial stuff. It's better than mining coal, and oil, but still not an ideal reuse method.