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Is recycling a scam?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2026
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No Stupid Questions
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Metal and glass can be recycled almost endlessly. Two of the most renewable materials on earth. Paper can be recycled a few times before it just needs to go to the landfill to decompose. Everything else is not actually recyclable. And the environmental cost of collecting, shipping and re-processing those materials into something "possibly" useable is way more taxing on the environment than throwing them away.
We need to put money and time into finding renewal & recyclable alternatives to plastics and other non-recyclable materials, instead of wasting time moving empty plastic bottles all over the planet to be "recycled".
Plastic bottle made from PET are highly recyclable, actually. Other plastics are as well, to varying degrees. Sorting is the biggest issue. When you collect PET bottles separately, you can grind them down and make new bottles out of that.
Paper and cardboard are also properly recyclable. However it's not often economical to do so depending on shipping distances (AKA costs) to a facility that can process it.