Hacker News Reader

I get your point but the “recyclables” we produce as Americans are not really recyclables. They are 90% recycling, 10% trash, or worse.

View on HN

You mean that the composition of the recyclables is 10% non-recyclable thus rendering the entire thing non-recyclable? That is indeed regrettable but it's never too late to change.

I mean that 'single stream recycling' has pushed 'diversion from landfill' and 'recycling' rates so high that it has changed the composition of what our recycling actually consists of.

Take a fictional recycling truck driving through a residential neighborhood - 10% or more of the material inside the recycling bins is going to be contaminated 'wish-cycled' material, such as barbecue laden plastic plates, nylon ropes, grease-stained pizza boxes, and soiled paper products.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com