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Just found out my local recycling center throws away half of what I sort
I was at the county drop off yesterday and asked the guy what actually gets recycled. He said only #1 and #2 plastics make it through, everything else goes to the landfill. That's like half the stuff I was carefully rinsing and sorting for the last 3 years. Found this out from a 2023 report the county put out that nobody reads. Has anyone else checked what their local facility actually accepts versus what they say they accept?
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craig.tessa1mo agoTop Commenter
Dang that's frustrating. I went through the same thing last year when I called my local MRF and found out they only take #1 and #2 as well.
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paulm951mo ago
Ugh, it's so common! I read that a ton of places stopped taking the higher numbers after China quit buying our recycling. Makes the whole system feel pretty broken.
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lee_gibson19d ago
Right? I had the exact same rude awakening when I tried dropping off some #5 yogurt cups and the guy just laughed at me. My recycling game crashed hard that day, I was standing there holding a bag of garbage like an absolute clown. I even tried to argue that it was the same plastic, just a different number, and he just shook his head at me lol. Now I just hoard all my #5 and #6 stuff in a corner of the garage like some sort of sad plastic museum curator. Pretty sure my wife is about two weeks away from staging an intervention for my recycling obsession.
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