The Harsh Truth About Recycling: A 14-Year-Old’s Disillusionment

It’s a difficult confrontation of a truth, especially since ExxonMobil and others have been so successful at perpetuating the lie.

A 14-year-old I met yesterday was distraught over the fact that all the plastic items she carefully selected to make sure they have the chasing arrows on them and then placed thoughtfully and diligently in the blue container for recycling were, 95 percent of the time, not recycled. Instead, they went into the landfill, the environment, or were incinerated.

She was having a hard time, and I’m sure she’s not alone. Others will have the same difficulty getting their head around the actual truth.