Edit to say - I’m really glad I asked my stupid question. I was so jaded by the con artists in recycling I forgot that when done right there’s so much good - and still loads of consequences to not finding a place to reuse the paper products. I’m not huge with using packaging - and thanks for all the thoughtful answers :))

I found myself wondering this as I got annoyed at the plastics industry and their stupid propaganda, as I do everytime I go to recycle something. But anyway, I had been thinking I’d heard something about people going to ‘mine’ landfills for metal because people weren’t recycling and it’s ‘bad for the environment’ and 'filling up ‘landfills’

Bitch Please. I can see the dollar symbols on your pupils from here.

So it made me think, paper and the such breaks down quickly. Food too. The huge drives for community composting efforts and cardboard drives for schools etc - It’s really all a matter of the fact we can re-use it all easily. Metal is worth money, used again and again, as it was straight from the earth. Just that plastic. Which is all but unrecyclable, save some clear/semi-clear containers.

But without the cardboard, my bin is pretty empty. It’s like recycling exists just to pretend plastic can be.

Edit - I should add in my area if the recycling the plant receives is tainted in anyway they just toss it. The whole load. So unrecyclable plastic? Dirty? Wrong material? Gone.

  • AceBonobo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Cardboard is the most recyclable material we have. Plastic is complicated.

    Better than recycling is to not consume in the first place.

    • snpalavan@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      reduce, reuse, recycle… what’s lost is that this is not alternatives, but an order

      first try to reduce usage then try to reuse what you do use then try to recycle when possible

    • Tigerfishy@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Oh for sure, anti-consumption is always important to remind. The packaging is out of control…and what paper does in terms of pollution - well I’ve simply had to come to terms I can’t control these garbage bags at the top, I can only control myself and do my best.

      One thing I have found that I love is land-fill biodegradable bags for my customers. Paper, as meantioned, makes me wary, so when I found these I was pretty happy. They seem legit and they’re inexpensive

      • marcos@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        land-fill biodegradable bags

        Just be careful with those. Some are really biodegradable and will be gone after a while. Others only degrade until they become entirely microplastics and stop there.

        • Tigerfishy@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          Thank you - I knew there would be more pieces to investigate but I wasn’t sure what questions to ask - based on the price ($.07 each) I thought they might be a little too good to be true…I’ll see if they still hold up!

          • marcos@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            $.07 each

            That’s actually a bit expensive. What of course still doesn’t tell you it’s good. But there’s no reason to be suspicious of hat price.

            • Tigerfishy@lemmy.worldOP
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              1 year ago

              Well other plastic bags are .03 - or the produce bags without handles are - I’ve shopped around, but primarily on Amazon since I have Prime, and the shipping costs elsewhere kill me

              It’s so effing hard to be ‘good’

    • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Better than recycling is to not consume in the first place.

      Well at that extreme it’s even better to simply not exist.

      • yata@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        No, there are several levels of nuance between your extreme and OPs suggestion. Reducing consumption would be the most obvious one.