I thought curbside recycling was mostly fake until I toured the plant in Portland
Last month I got a tour of the sorting facility in Portland where my neighborhood's blue bins actually end up. I had been telling people for two years that most of it just goes to the landfill, because that is what a guy at my gym kept saying. Watching the optical sorters pull out #1 and #2 plastic at 30 tons an hour made me realize I was wrong about the whole thing. The guy giving the tour said glass is the real problem because it breaks and jams the belts, so now I rinse my jars and keep them separate. Has anyone else changed their mind after seeing where their stuff goes?
Tbh your tour convinced you but I still think most single stream stuff ends up in the trash, the numbers I have seen say only a small chunk gets recycled. Plastic recycling is mostly a feel good story pushed by the companies making the plastic.