Just heard a guy at the hardware store say he stopped recycling because 'it all goes to the landfill anyway'

I was in line at the store in Bellingham yesterday and the man in front of me was telling the cashier he gave up on sorting his plastics and paper. He said he read one article about a recycling facility having issues and decided the whole system was broken. In my view, that's a really bad take. It lets people off the hook and makes the problem seem too big to fix. What small, local recycling programs have you all seen that actually work well?

3 comments

3 Comments

robin59115d ago

Yeah, hearing about the recycling truck dumping everything together like jennifer833 mentioned is super discouraging. I had a neighbor who quit recycling for the same reason after seeing a documentary about waste. It feels like one bad story makes people ignore all the local programs that do work. My town's pickup for paper and cans is actually pretty reliable, they send out clear guides on what they take. Giving up just means more stuff definitely goes to the landfill.

robin62815d agoMost Upvoted

That's a frustrating thing to hear, for sure. It's true the system isn't perfect, but giving up completely just makes the problem worse. Our local program in Bellingham actually does a pretty good job with glass and cardboard, from what I've seen. What did the cashier say back to him?

jennifer83315d ago

My cousin in Tacoma said the same thing last month. He saw a recycling truck dump everything into the same compartment. Makes you wonder where it all really ends up. I still sort my stuff, but it's hard not to feel like it's pointless sometimes.