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Neighbor kid corrected me on an old recycling myth I'd believed for years
Had a talk with the teenager next door in Phoenix after I mentioned those little recycling numbers on plastic meant they'd get recycled. He pulled out his phone and showed me how most of that stuff actually ends up in a landfill or gets burned. Made me wonder how many other things I just accepted as true without ever questioning.
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mileslane2d ago
Kid had me feeling like one of those plastic containers sitting in a dump somewhere, totally fooled by a fancy number on the bottom. Guess we're all just simping for the recycling industry without checking the fine print. Makes me wonder what other well-meaning lies I've been spreading at backyard barbecues for years.
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miasanchez2d ago
That line about "well-meaning lies at backyard barbecues" really hit me, @mileslane. I used to be one of those people who'd see the little triangle with a number and feel so good about myself for recycling. But after reading this thread and doing some digging, I'm starting to realize a lot of that stuff we toss in the blue bin probably just ends up in a pile somewhere anyway. It's wild how much trust we put into a system that's basically just telling us what we want to hear so we don't feel bad. Have you found any sources that actually break down what really gets recycled versus what doesn't?
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