Just found out my city's recycling facility burns half of what we sort

I was dropping off cardboard at the center in Harrisburg last week and the guy working there told me straight up that over 50% of the stuff people put in their blue bins ends up in the incinerator because it's contaminated or can't be processed locally. I asked him what counts as contaminated and he said greasy pizza boxes, plastic bags, and anything with food residue. Made me realize all the time I spent rinsing jars and separating plastics might not be doing much good. Anyone else been told something similar at their local dump?

2 comments

2 Comments

brooke4841mo ago

Oh man, so basically we're all just playing recycling roulette and losing. I spent like 20 minutes last week scraping peanut butter out of a jar only for it to probably get tossed in the flames anyway. Guess I'll just start throwing my greasy pizza boxes straight into the trash and save myself the effort lol.

ward.piper1mo ago

Honestly "recycling roulette" is the perfect name for this whole mess. Ngl I'm just gonna start throwing everything in the trash and save myself the therapy bills from trying to figure out what's actually recyclable. At least then I won't have to stare at a greasy pizza box and wonder if it's going to the fiery pit or a second chance at life.